When you're back from vacation, click "end now" in the banner that runs across the top of your Gmail page.

4. How to Learn More About Your Contacts

Gmail's people widget, located on the right-hand side of your messages, shows you contextual information about the people you're interacting with in Gmail.

Click on the contact's name on the right side to see information such as their name, email address or occupation; recent posts your contact has made visible to you, which you can +1 directly in Gmail; recent emails your contact has sent you; Google Calendar events if your contact's Calendar is shared with you; and Google docs, shared with both you and the contact.

If you have several contacts on an email thread, the contact with the first unread message in the conversation will have the above information shown in the people widget. You can find more information about others in the conversation by clicking the more link at the top of the people widget.