Last week, Gmail launched built-in chat in Gmail. I tried it out for the first time today with a couple of friends, and it is very nice. So now that Gmail has chat, I want to be able to launch it at any time, really fast. I put a Gmail in my Quick Launch, but when I click on it, it opens Gmail in the current window. So, based off an article from Lifehacker, I?m going to show you how make a shortcut to Gmail that will open in a new window.
Put a Browser Shortcut in a Separate Folder
First, to make things easy, start off by creating a new folder somewhere on your computer. I?ve called mine “Gmail” and hidden it on the desktop. Next you?ll need to add a shortcut to the browser you want to use. Also, when making the shortcut, name the shortcut something simple. Like for example, I?d name Mozilla Firefox “FF” or Internet Explorer (heaven forbid) “IE”. Remember what you call it. You?ll need the name later.
Create the Batch File
Once you?ve added the shortcut to your browser, you?ll need to create the Batch file for it. And in reality, it isn?t as overwhelming as it sounds. To do this, open Notepad. Then type the word “start” followed by the name of the shortcut to your browser (remember the “FF” and “IE”?). Then add the path to Gmail, which is “mail.google.com”. So, if you?re with me this far, you should have the following typed in (assuming you?re using Firefox, and the FF shortcut):
start FF mail.google.com
Now, save it in your folder as yourfilename.bat, being sure to set the file type to ?All Files.? Once you have that created, simply drag the file to your Quick Launch. If you choose, you can customize this by changing the icon.
So there you have it, a simple way to have Gmail launch in a separate window. If you have any questions about these instructions, feel free to use the contact me.
Via JakeBechtold