Google yesterday announced the availability of a new Labs application called Preview Pane which adds that missing feature to Gmail.

The Gmail layout does not change automatically after Preview Pane has been enabled. A tooltip on the inbox page guides the user to a button that adds another column or row to the window. Below is a screenshot of the vertical split mode of the new preview pane feature.

The preview pane column is added to the right of the Gmail inbox. The area is fully resizable, which is done with a click on the divider between the inbox and the preview pane.

A click on the down arrow icon next to the preview pane’s button opens a menu with options to switch from horizontal previews to vertical previews.

The selection boils down to personal preferences and the resolution of the monitor. Vertical preview mode has the look and feel of desktop email programs.

Email previews are displayed whenever an email gets selected in the inbox or another mail folder.

But the preview pane adds more than just previewing of emails in the Gmail inbox. It can also be used to quickly reply to the selected email. All controls are available right on that screen.

Gmail users can also hide the preview pane again by selecting the No Split option from the down arrow.

Preview Pane adds a feature to Gmail that has been missing since day one. While it won’t entice me to use the Gmail web interface more often, it can surely make a difference for users who work with that interface on a daily basis. (via).

Preview Config was developed to offer a comfortable way to add new file extensions to the list of supported file extensions. Before I explain the software I’m going to show you how you can enable the Preview Pane in Windows Vista. To enable it you need to click on Organize | Layout | Preview Pane in the folder’s menu.

Once you start Preview Config you notice a large list of file extensions on the left side. Selecting a file extension from the left menu will display information about it in the right pane. It will display if there if the file is currently set for previews and if that is the case if it is a text file, multimedia file or Other. Adding new file extensions to the preview pane is therefor done in a matter of seconds.

The user picks a file extension from the left pane and selects the appropriate type in the right pane. For php for instance it would be plain-text. The tool can be used to unregister previews for certain file types as well.