Is Gmail Down? 3 Ways to Survive the Google Mail Outage

As many of us have noticed, Gmail is down and Google Drive is also kaput, with the outage reportedly starting around 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. 

The program was glitchy throughout this time period ... with Gchat at first shutting down, then the whole mail system crashing.

For those of us poor shmucks using Gmail and Google Chrime in tandem, if users tried to close and re-open Gmail, it seems to have crashed the whole Google Chrome browser.

If Chrome didn't crash, most of us then probably got this ominous page: 

Alas, when we try in 30 seconds, the system remains down.

:-(

This, of course, poses a massive problem: Gmail services some 720,341,564 people across the world. Hence the current mid-Monday panic. 

The crash is similar to another Gmail outage which happened eight months ago at the exact same time of day. 

I'm one the victims. I had several tabs with gmail open, and when I tried to refresh one of them, I received a message saying that there was a server outage and that my access would be restored soon. That was about two hours ago, and since then, I've tried logging out, shutting down and restarting my computer, logging into a linked account, and trying to use different computers altogether. All to no avail. 

The specific error message was coded by Google as error 93, which apparently has knocked out gmail usage for other users before, although there is no remedy for the problem. I have to wait until Google fixes the problem. 

For me, this crash has serious consequences. Most of my job involves using my gmail, and the number of archived messages with valuable information (phone numbers, contacts, tax information, appointments, etc.) is enormous. If my Gmail were to be permanently lost, then I might be permanently lost as a functioning member of my company and various other groups. I take this tool for granted most of the time and moments like this remind me that my paper notebook may, in some cases, be a better repository for my most critical information. Internet outages are moments of low-tech renaissance. 

On hour two, my coworkers are probably more frustrated than I am because overall, I love Gmail and its functionality. I'm not read to start screaming at Googlel, but f the hours drag on, then I'm going to start to become angry. Random outages are just so arbitrary. 

In the meantime, here's how to survive your gmail outing. 

1. Remember that your data is fine. No one has access to it and your'e not being hacked. It's all safe in Google's brain, assuming you can ever get it out again. 

2. Think about all the good times you've had with Gmail. I personally have been in awe of the interface. I've grown pretty attached to the keyboard shortcuts -- they just make you feel so productive right? But I've also enjoyed being able to run my life by automatic, using filters and canned responses to take care of everyone who wants my attention. 

3. Relish your unproductivity. If you can't work, then you can take a long lunch or listen to music. You're on a temporary, Google-sponsored vacation. Sure, you'll have to take care of all your work later on, but that's in the future. That's later.