Google begins field trial to integrate Gmail into Search

Google has decided to enhance the search experience for users by including Gmail in the basic search. It plans to offer this as field trial to a small number of users, reveals the official Google blog. The field test will integrate Gmail search results with the Knowledge Graph in Google Search. It is now available to only a small number of Gmail users in the U.S., who can sign up here. “Sometimes the best answer to your question isn’t available on the public web—it may be contained somewhere else, such as in your email. We think you shouldn’t have to be your own mini-search engine to find the most useful information—it should just work. So we’re developing a way to find this information for you that’s useful and unobtrusive, and we’d love your feedback. Starting today, we’re opening up a limited trial where you can sign up to get information from your Gmail right from the search box,” states the blog.

Gmail in search results

Users will have to type the word ‘Gmail’ in the query string. Also, the search giant plans to work on additional useful features. Google reveals that in case a user searches for ‘My flights’, the search engine will organize flight confirmation emails for any upcoming trips in an easy-to-read way right on the search results page. The feature will also enable the Knowledge Graph to show a real-time update of the flight status which will be a quick way to check whether the flight has been delayed.

Google also plans to spruce up its voice search functionality. It has combined its speech recognition expertise with Knowledge Graph so that Voice Search can better interpret questions, and sometimes even speak out the answers back as full sentences. This functionality has been made available on Android, and will soon hit the Apple App Store for users of iOS 4.2 and above.

So, you tap the microphone icon, ask a question, and the search engine responds quickly with real-time updates. The blog adds, "For example, ask “What movies are playing this weekend?” and you'll see your words streamed back to you quickly as you speak. Then Google will show you a list of the latest movies in theaters near you, with schedules and even trailers. It works for everything from celebrity factoids to the height of Kilamanjaro and more".

Google says that it has received phenomenal feedback for its Knowledge Graph, and will now extend the feature to users outside the U.S. It has announced that Knowledge Graph results will show across every English-speaking country in the world. Google keeps adding small tweaks to its products, here and there. Yesterday, it introduced the Named Ranges feature in Google Spreadsheets, making it possible to protect certain sections in a spreadsheet from inadvertent or unwanted modification.