DOWN 2 places this year but has had a consistent presence on the list over the last 12 years.
Gmail is a free web-based email service from Google. Also part of the Google Apps suite.
Website: gmail.com
Cost: Free
Availability: Online
Top 100 Tools for Personal & Professional Learning 2018: 29
Top 100 Tools for Workplace Learning 2018: 42
Top 100 Tools for Education 2018: 19
Past Overall Rankings
2017: 39 2016: 32 2015: 52 2014: 31 2013: 32 2012: 27 2011: 20 2010: 31 2009: 21 2008: 14 2007: 7
Comments from some of those who selected Gmail as one of their Top 10 Tools
“I still use email. I use it less than the past and I look forward to a few newsletters that I receive” Dennis Callahan, 2018
“Easily the most seamless mail service available” Anon, USA
“attachments & Inline attachments Very intuitive” Presanna, India
“To read newsletters from many workplace learning related sources. To read personal email newsletters from sources related to my hobbies” Sharon Wingron, Consultant, USA, 2016
“gmail is hands down my favorite tool – learning/non-learning. Simple but powerful. The labels keep me hyper-organized (which is saying something).” L&D Advisor, USA, 2016
“To communicate quickly with students with abilities to attach photos, documents, and links” Primary/Secondary (K12) teacher, USA, 2016
“Great mail system, can interface with different browsers and always (so far) available.” Marquita Poinsetta, Trainer/Instructor, USA, 2016
“The email compares to a shopping mall where entering through a single door opens you up to millions of choices.” Rose Ngacha, Primary/Secondary (K12) teacher, USA, 2016
““This is still my primary method of communication.” 2015
“Gmail – school and personal correspondence. I would be lost without my email and still feel it is the number one choice of communication for schools and business today. I would prefer to now have students use Google Classroom for all of their work, but some still struggle. This is a good way to ensure there is another option.” Virgina Goen, 2015
“I use this to participate in NSTA listservs, communicate with colleagues, and communicate with students.” Olivia Seger, 2015
“gmail for personal. For personal / professional purposes I use it to get notifications of blog posts, comments / discussions on social platforms (blogs, linkedin, meetup, even twitter sometimes) I’m involved in, register for events/webinars, and to discuss strategies, ideas etc with other facilitators in the learning communities that I help lead (edcontexts, Ozlearn, third place meetups)” Tanya Lau, 2014
Pre-2013 comments
“This is still one of my primary methods of communication with distance collaborators. I organize and archive my emails to make finding past conversations easy to find.”
“I live in Gmail – most of my work comes in via Gmail and I organise and prioritise my work there. Large storage, powerful search, conversations, tagging. I have stopped using the GTDinbox Gmail add-on for Firefox as it is too slow and many of the improvements in GMail allow you to implement this easily yourself using tags.” Brian Mulligan
“All my addresses are forwarded into my gmail account, which makes it convenient for checking my mail. I also use the gmail Tasks app to help me keep on track and avoid forgetting essentials” Joan Vinall-Cox
“Simple, reliable, sortable, with effective filters (including spam filters) and plenty of room for large files and archives. The included writing tools and survey tools form a significant part of my ‘cloud office’.” Rodd Lucier
“Simple, reliable, sortable, with effective filters (including spam filters) and plenty of room for large files and archives.” Rodd Lucier
“I started using GMail after some never-ending battles with spam. Not only is the spam gone, but GMail has a nice clean interface and a ton of free storage. With groups and labels, it is easy to put together mailing lists and retrieve specific e-mails that are archived. Even though the providers for my two websites provide multiple e-mail accounts, I find that I use GMail exclusively.” Don Simmons