Getting the most out of Google Desktop

Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager

When we were designing Google Desktop, we knew that people would use it in different ways. It's been interesting to see just what you're doing with it. Legal Andrew points out that one way to improve your experience is to simply have the right set of gadgets in your Sidebar, so that, for example, the email gadget keeps you from having to switch constantly between Outlook and your other programs. At Lifehacker, Adam Pash points out that you can tweak Google Desktop to get it to do more of what you want. And Ionut Alex. Chitu came up with a list of 10 Great Uses For Google Desktop, including control panel replacement, browser cache, and file recovery.

If you haven't already, make sure to check out our features page to see the full list of what Google Desktop has to offer. Or if you have other ideas, share them with us.

Helpful resources

Posted by Bryan Woodward, User Support Coordinator

With new versions of Google Desktop frequently being released, we've really been adding to the feature set. To help you navigate this maze of features and improve your experience with Desktop, here are two help resources you may want to check out.

U2U Groups

U2U (User to User) groups are official Google Groups that enable users to post feature requests, suggestions, bugs or problem reports, and general questions about Google products and services. What's unique about a U2U group is that not only do experienced users weigh in on your feedback, but an official Google presence, our very own Google Desktop Guide, regularly participates in the discussion. Expert feedback combined with the ability to search over all group posts provides a powerful resource. In addition to the Google Desktop Help and Enterprise U2U groups, groups are also available for other products like Toolbar, Picasa, Maps, Calendar, and more.

Help Center

We maintain a Google Desktop Help Center in 12 languages to help you use Google Desktop. You can browse the content or search the Knowledge Base to find an answer to your inquiry. If you're unable to find your answer on the Help Center or the U2U group, or you would like to leave us feedback or suggestions privately, you can, through the Help Center.

And if you have questions about other Google products and services, bookmark the general Google Help portal: http://www.google.com/support