Gmail API and Add-ons Video Library

The following videos explain concepts that help you learn various Gmail developer features such as the REST API, email markup, and Add-ons for your applications. Each video generally walks you through a short sample app to help you quickly get started with a specific feature.

Introducing the Gmail API

Why did Google create the Gmail API? This video gives developers a history of programmatic access to email and the motivation that led to why an API for Gmail was created. With the Gmail API, go beyond what standard email protocols allow developers to do!

(Running time: 5:42)

Revolutionizing email access with the Gmail API

After a review of the Gmail API, this video digs into an intermediate example that displays the Subject line for chatty email threads (those with three or more messages). Viewers not only get a walkthough of the code but also get a bonus US history lesson!

(Running time: 8:32)

Modifying your signature with the Gmail API

The Gmail API lets developers create apps that modify user settings. This video walks you through an example of modifying user signatures. Other settings the API can modify include email forwarding, vacation responder, external access via IMAP/POP, and filters.

(Running time: 6:01)

This feature is also described in the blog post “Modifying email signatures with the Gmail API”.

Creating great experiences with email markup

Developers can use markup to add actions to emails, increasing user engagement. This video shows how you can enhance your customers’ experience by simply adding email markup to the messages you're already sending them.

(Running time: 4:41)

Expediting expense reports with Gmail Add-ons

Add-ons let you extend Gmail as well as integrate functionality from your app into Gmail's user interface. In this video, learn about the ExpenseIt! Gmail Add-on — an app that helps working professionals process receipts directly from their inbox into a spreadsheet, creating a single place to complete their expense reports. Build the add-on piece-by-piece with its corresponding codelab.

(Running time: 5:18)

This feature is also described in the blog post “Gmail add-ons framework now available to all developers”.