Gmail Preview Pane Extend (v0.7.0)
Gmail’s latest feature, the Preview Pane, allows you to simultaneously preview emails while reading or replying to others. After several hours of use I’ve found this to be one of the best improvements to Gmail in years.
The only issue I found with Preview Pane was how the “People” widget and advertisements on the right of the page now waste a lot of valuable space (202 pixels on the vertical split, and 225 pixels on horizontal split).
This user script (for Chrome, or Greasemonkey for Firefox) removes that sidebar, allowing the preview pane to extend to the full width of the screen. Enjoy the extra space!
5/22/2013 Version 0.7.0
-Fixed: Now works for Chrome 27
-Fixed: Images automatically resize to fit preview pane on Chrome
1/16/2013
Gmail appears to have a bug with the Preview Pane lab, unrelated to this plugin. If you have Preview Pane turned on and Snippets turned off, the message list will appear distorted. I have submitted a bug report to Gmail about this. A temporary workaround is to enable Snippets (under the General tab of Gmail settings)
2/23/2012 Version 0.6.1
-Added: Set max-width on images, to avoid a long horizontal scrollbar when composing a reply or reading an email. Change the max-width on line 39 to suit your needs (600px wide by default)
12/15/2011 Version 0.5.0
-Fixed: Remove horizontal scrollbars for the preview panes on Firefox 8
11/4/2011 Version 0.4.2
-Fixed: Remove sidebar on “undo send”
8/14/2011 Version 0.4.1
-Fixed: Removed extra style
8/9/2011 Version 0.4
-Fixed: Chrome autocomplete now working
8/8/2011 Version 0.3
-Added: Now supports horizontal and vertical split views
8/7/2011 Version 0.2
-Fixed: Optimized code, now using GM_addStyle
8/5/2011 Version 0.1b
-Fixed: Attribute selector for Firefox
8/5/2011 Version 0.1
-Initial Release
Does not work for me. On Chrome 14.0.835.
Rob, I released a new version moments after you posted that. Try out 0.2 and let me know if it works for you.
Not working for me in Chrome 13beta. Tried version 0.1 yesterday and 0.2 today. . I have tried with ad blocker enabled/disabled and people widget enabled/disabled. Disabled any other extensions that could interfere. Tried in incognito window with only this extension enabled. Tried disabling any other labs that seemed could possibly interfere.
Is this dependent upon a specific theme? Any other ideas to try?
Also tried new install of Chrome 13.0.782.108m on 2nd machine with no success. It is also not working for me in Firefox 5.0.1. By not working, i mean the people widget and ads are still there. There must be something about my gmail setup causing this. I can send any supporting files needed to debug.
I tried with another gmail account with default theme, no addons/extensions except this one, and only the preview pane lab enabled in both firefox and chrome. It did not work.
jmk, what operating system are you using? Also, lets bring this conversation over to: http://userscripts.org/scripts/discuss/109238 , just in case there are others that can help out.
windows 7, 32-bit and 64-bit
jmk, try running other user scripts from that website to make sure it is working correctly. If those work and mine does not, please continue the discussion at http://userscripts.org/scripts/discuss/109238 so we can continue troubleshooting.
jmk, were you using the horizontal split view? If so I just updated the script to support that preview pane view as well.
0.3 is working for me in both horizontal and vertical modes. neither mode was working with 0.2. thank you!
Great! I’m glad the new version works for you.
a friend just noticed that, when the script is enabled, the “reply all” and “forward” buttons at the top right of the message no longer work. doesn’t bother me as i always do this at the bottom of the message but wanted to pass along.
great script!
reid,
Just tested it out on Chrome and Firefox and had it work. What browser version and OS are you using?
Works for me when using horizontal or vertical split, but it does not work when using ‘no split’. I still have an empty white space on the right after clicking on a conversation.
Works like a charm with Chrome.
Thanks. Also, I modified it to remove a bit of the margin that is no longer needed (there may be a cleaner way of doing it). Take a look and if you find it helpful, feel free to fork it.
Does not work for me possibly because I have right-side chat enabled. It moves the right-side chat all the way over to the left, and the emails are not visible
ticotexas,
The fact that you have right-side chat enabled is most likely the culprit. Disabling that should fix the issues you are having.
Hi, I just set up two pop accounts for two coworkers, on the same machine and the same browser. One, where the worker already had a gmail account, the preview pane lab works. The other, where we just created a new gmail account, it does not work?
Also, a major problem I have found (tried reporting elsewhere) , is when in preview pane and say in your inbox, when an email is selected there is no ‘refresh’ button appearing. when no email is selected, it’s there, but as soon as you select an email different tools appear and they don’t include that refresh. There is no way to unselect the email, so you have to go to a different label or folder on the left, hope that no emails are selected in there, then hit the refresh…
hope that makes sense. Others in the forums have agreed it’s a problem but I wasn’t reporting it in the correct place.
Kelly,
I have no idea why the preview pane lab is not working for both employees. I would verify both have that lab turned on, and you clear the cache (Ctrl+F5) when viewing the page.
I was able to recreate the disappearing refresh button, however that is an issue with the Preview Pane lab feature and not the Greasemonkey script I created. Clicking the inbox name on the left causes it to refresh which is the workaround I’ve been using.
Hi there,
First of all, great script, I have installed in chrome and firefox and it works perfectly.
I have one small gripe – I’m getting a horizontal scrollbar (with about 1 pixel of travel) in chrome, at 110% zoom, on a 1440×900 screen. It’s fine on my other screen, which is 1280×1024, and in firefox.
Any ideas?
Phil
Phil,
Which pane are you getting the 1 pixel of travel in? That is an odd screen resolution, is that a netbook?
Hi Chad,
Thanks for replying! The scrollbar is across the whole of the bottom of the Chrome window, and scrolls every part of the gmail window by 1px side to side, including the sidebar and top black bar.
It’s a Dell Precision M4400, I think this is a pretty standard resolution for a laptop screen of this age.
Phil
Apologies – the problem occurs even when the script is disabled, so it’s google’s fault
I didn’t realise. Sorry!
Excelent!!!!
Hi Chad,
I have kind of opposite feature request.
I have very large screen, lots of space horizontally. One thing that bugs me in Preview Pane is the intermixed From Names and Subjects in one column. Makes it really hard to spot things with naked eye. I’d like very much to spread them horizontally in one line (the same way the standard Gmail view does) and see names under names, and subjects under subjects.
Do you think you could incorporate thing like this?
Many thanks
Eugene
Eugene,
I’m on a 1920px wide screen, and even with the browser at full width I do not see any way to fit the name, subject, and date on a single line. I feel it is very important to see as much of the subject as possible, otherwise you might lose messages sent from the same person. I recommend playing around with the “Comfortable” and “Cozy” settings on the settings dropdown, it might space things out a little better for your screen.
how about Opera browser? can I use this script somehow?
Hi Chad,
This is a fantastic improvement, thanks. I have a problem, though: with the vertical split, each entry in the inbox occupies at least two lines (sender date \n subject). Is there any way to force this into one line, or choose to drop the subject? If this can’t be done in gmail, could you please point me to where I can do this manually in the script? I’d very much appreciate your help!
Best regards,
RnS
RnS,
You might be underestimating the importance of having both the senders name and subject visible. Without the subject line, if you have the same person send you multiple messages in a row you will have no way of knowing which message is which. If we moved them all into one line, that column would have to be extended, thus taking away our precious horizontal space!
Any chance of getting this added to the Chrome web store?
Drew, I’m pretty sure Google does not appreciate this user script to begin with! I will unfortunately not be adding it to the store because of that reason.
One can use Gmelius extension from chrome store. it is awesome!!!