Finding Your Contacts In the New Gmail

Q: I’m trying to find my contacts list in the new Gmail. Where is it hidden?

A: Google’s recent revamp of its Gmail service for desktop web browsers moves a few things around. In the previous version, you could switch to the contacts list by clicking the Gmail menu on the left side of the page, but that method no longer works once you update to the refreshed Gmail.

You can now get to the contacts page by clicking the Apps icon in the upper right corner of the Gmail inbox. When you click the Apps icon, which is a square made up of nine smaller squares, it unfolds to reveal a panel of icons for other Google programs and services, including Google Photos, Google News and YouTube.

If you do not immediately see the Contacts icon in the window, scroll through the panel until you find it. You can drag the Contacts icon to the top of the collection to find it more easily in the future, and can rearrange the other icons around it as you wish. Click the Contacts icon to open your address book.

You can also edit a sender’s contact card right on the mailbox screen. To do that, hover the cursor over the person’s name in your inbox list. A contact card should pop up, showing the sender’s email address and giving you a few options, like an “Add to Contacts” button if you do not already have the person in your address book. Icons for creating a new email, scheduling a calendar event, sending a text and starting a video call with that person are also available.

As before, you can always get to your Google contacts list by going directly to contacts.google.com in your browser.

Q: Now that I know how to turn off the automatic spelling correction on my iPhone, how can I turn it off on my Mac?

A: Like Apple’s iOS software for its mobile devices, macOS includes a spell check function that automatically corrects misspelled words and typos. The spell checker tool is part of the Mac operating system, and works in many of Apple’s own apps, including Mail, Messages and Notes. The system’s spell checker is separate from the grammar and proofreading tools included with programs like Microsoft Office (which has its own settings).

To turn off the Mac’s automatic-correction feature, open the System Preferences icon from the dock, or go to the Apple menu in the upper-left corner of the screen and choose System Preferences. In the System Preferences box, click the Keyboard icon, select the Text tab and turn off the check box next to “Correct spelling automatically.”

You can also disable automatic correction within certain programs without turning it off everywhere. To do that within an open app, go to its Edit menu, to Spelling and Grammar, and select Correct Spelling Automatically.

Windows 10 users can shut down Microsoft’s built-in auto-correction function too. Press the Windows and I keys to open the Settings box and click (or tap) on Devices. On the left side of the box, select Typing and turn off the button next to “Autocorrect misspelled words.”

Android’s auto-correction tools can also be enabled or disabled within the Language & Input settings, but Google recently announced new tools that move beyond basic spelling correction. At its Google I/O conference earlier this month, the company revealed a new, optional Smart Compose function for its Gmail service that uses artificial intelligence to suggest complete — and perfectly spelled — sentences as you write new messages.