This is a guest post by Alvina Lopez. If you wish to write one, kindly check out the guidelines to write a guest post.
Have you ever been at your desk and wished that you could just text someone from your computer instead of pulling out your phone without going to a site that your IT department could easily track and find out what you’re doing? Texting from a computer is not a new technology, but generally you have to do it from sites that are dedicated to that service, which isn’t necessarily inconvenient as much as it limits productivity.
Well, now you can text your friends and loved ones when you need to straight from your email account (as long as you use Gmail, and let’s face it, if you aren’t using Gmail, you know you should be). The cool thing isn’t that you can send text messages necessarily (again, that’s not a new technology); the cool thing is that you can send and receive text messages in real time, effectively turning your desk- or laptop into a mobile phone. All you have to do is follow the steps below to enable SMS Messaging feature in Gmail.
Everyone has been in a situation where they can’t access their phone for one reason or another. By enabling this feature, as long as you have access to your email account, you can’t get a hold of anybody (and you might even be able to find your phone if you’ve lost it—just text yourself until you hear your ringtone!).
1. Click the icon in the top right corner of the screen in Gmail (it looks like a gear), and click “Mail Settings”
2. Go to the “Labs” settings tab.
3. In the search bar, type “text.”
4. Scroll down and find the SMS (text messaging) in Chat feature and click the “enable” bubble.
5. Type any U.S. phone number in the “Contacts” search bar.
6. Start chatting it up!
If you want a little more detail, and care to know what other features SMS in Chat for Gmail has to offer, check out Gmail’s guide. Either way, with this feature, you’ll never get caught sending text messages to your friends and family! (Don’t quote me on that :P)
Article by Alvina Lopez who is a freelance writer and blog junkie, blogs about accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: alvina.lopez @gmail.com.