Three Gmail Icons You Should Never Ignore in Your Inbox — One Will Even Stop the Bank Wipe Disaster

GMAIL users should look out for several icons and symbols in their inboxes.

You may not need them every day, but they are worth knowing.

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We’ve rounded up three of our top picks.

Gmail spam button

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Google says on its support page: “Gmail automatically identifies suspicious emails and marks them as spam.

“If you open your spam label, you’ll see emails that you or Gmail marked as spam.

“Each email has a label at the top that explains why Gmail sent it to spam.”

However, sometimes Google can overlook a spam email and you have to report it yourself.

To do this, select the email in question and then click on the exclamation mark icon that appears in the bar above your inbox.

A box will appear that says, “This message will be marked as spam.”

You’ll be asked if you want to stop receiving email from the account that sent the offending message.

Gmail red broken padlock

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This symbol can be crossed out or show the lock as open.

This means someone else may be able to read the information in the email.

The lock represents a feature called Transport Layer Security.

Google explains: “Where possible, Gmail protects your data by automatically encrypting your emails, which turns them into a code during delivery.

“This security tool is called Transport Layer Security (TLS) and it prevents others from reading your email.”

It adds: “If you’re on a computer or an Android device, emails that aren’t protected by this security tool won’t show TLS.

“This icon looks like an open red padlock and means someone else can read the email.”

If you see the icon next to an email address that you want to send a message to, you shouldn’t send important documents to that address.

Google gives examples of things that shouldn’t be sent, like “tax forms or contracts”.

Gmail snooze button

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Another Gmail icon you won’t want to sleep on is the snooze button.

It’s a small gray icon that looks like a clock.

Postponing an email can help you remember it.

If you’re busy but see an email you need to read soon, defer it and set a time for it to appear at the top of your inbox.

Google says: “Move emails and temporarily remove them from your inbox until you need them.

“Your email will be back at the top of your inbox when you want it, whether it’s tomorrow, next week or tonight.

“You can find your on hold items in the menu under On hold.”