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September 10, 2009

Listen to Google Voice Messages in Gmail

Gmail Labs has a new feature, but it's only useful if you have a Google Voice account. When you receive a new voicemail, Google Voice sends an email notification that includes a transcription of the voicemail.


The problem is that you have to click on a link and open a new page to listen to the voicemail. If you enable "Google Voice player in mail" in Gmail Labs, you can play voicemails in Gmail.

"Best of all, your message status will stay synced: messages played from Gmail will appear as read in your Google Voice inbox and won't be played again when you check new messages via your phone," explains the Gmail blog.

A simple Google search lets you find some public voicemails and their transcriptions, but it's worth pointing out that sharing your voicemail is optional.

While this feature is useful, it's limited to Google Voice. Gmail should provide a scripting framework like Google Apps Scripts that lets you add features and handle repetitive tasks.

12 comments:

  1. I think that Google Voice should just move their web service over to Gmail completely. A unified message center would be an advantage for Google.

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  2. If only Google Voice were available in Alaska and Hawaii. How long, Google? How long?

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  3. It would be nice to be able to call Google Voice and listen to your Gmail emails.

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  4. This doesn't seem to work from a Google Apps mail account... in fact, now I can't login to mail at all (which makes some sense since the Voice account isn't a Google App for Domains app).

    Unfortunately, now I can't login to mail at all (and the ?labs=0 URL extension doesn't seem to work for Google Apps either).

    Any suggestions?

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  5. Absolutely agree with kmohr25 above. Google Voice should be unified with GMail. There is no reason to have a separate interface. At the same time, Google Voice should be integrated with GTalk. Make this happen ASAP Google!

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  6. Libran Lover,

    I think we are on the same wavelength because I have been saying the same thing about Google Talk as well. Users should be able to pick up calls from Google Talk on their PC as well as from a phone (aka their Gmail should ring).

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  7. Works now, for some reason. Disregard above plea.

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  8. I love it! Works for us Google apps users too! A real time saver. Thanks Google.

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  9. What were the secret plans anyway?

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  10. ok libran lover n kmohr35 ideas are cool why don't u once think abt it..

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  11. I enabled this a week ago in my Labs settings and it still opens a new window and plays it in Google Voice. I'm using Chrome.

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  12. This is great and works well in chrome except we need a plugin that you can click on a telephone number and it will call your phone and the person you are calling. Someone wrote a great plugin for firefox.. now we need one for chrome

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