Gmail Adds Drag-and-Drop to File Attachments, Deeper Calendar Integration

Google put out a pair of small, but useful Gmail updates on Thursday that make it both easier to use and more integrated with the company’s free Calendar service. Notably, both have skipped a trial through the service’s “labs” section, and gone straight through to the final product.

Gmail added support for a HTML5 feature that has been recently included in Firefox and Google Chrome: selecting files using drag and drop. If you use Firefox 3.6+ or Chrome 4+, you can now add attachments by dragging the files from your favorite file manager to Gmail. By reducing the main window, it is now possible to drag a file directly in the email. Then simply drop it in the green zone which is created automatically, and displaying the message “Put your files here”. We obviously can select multiple files simultaneously and drag them simultaneously.When you drag the files, Gmail shows a drop zone where you need to place the files.

Suppose you want to attach some files to an email, and you already have a folder open containing those files.

We used to have to click “Attach a file,” find the photos, click them, etc. Starting today, if you’re using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox 3.6, you can just drag and drop the files to attach them — easy as pie.

Isn’t this cool? The nice thing about this feature is that it no longer uses the Flash uploader, which isn’t very reliable. If you disable Flash in Firefox 3.6 and don’t use drag and drop, you can only attach one file at a time.

Another new feature in Gmail: the ability to integrate an e-mail a Google Calendar event to invite friends. This is a nice follow-up to the experimental rescheduling feature the company introduced to its Calendar product just last month. Under the entry window “Object” is now marked “Insert: Invitation.”

When you click it, a small window appears that displays your availability as well as that of the people you’re emailing provided you have permission to see their calendars.

Once the mail sent, the event is integrated into the calendar. The message is addressed are amended their agenda if they accept the invitation. You can check your invitee’s availability without going into Google Calendar to compare times. When you’re finished, a preview of the invitation will appear in your email message. After you send the email, the event’s automatically added to your calendar and your friend’s calendar.

Between the two, the drag-and-drop attachments is really the new, killer feature in Gmail. For those users on Chrome or Firefox (with Mozilla’s Prism installed) who are running Gmail as a standalone desktop Web app, this adds a whole new layer of functionality, and one that more closely resembles a real piece of software. It’s a good day for any Gmail user. What do you think?