This makes Gmail even more like a desktop application, like the free emai client Thunderbird, by the Mozilla Foundation. My friend suggested this feature to me as something needed by Gmail, but it’s not possible for a web app because it depends on the browser. Well, turns out that it actually is possible, if you use Firefox. See the drag and drop upload extension for Firefox.

It’s very handy for attaching files to send via Gmail. Firefox Magazine says:

dragdropupload is a Firefox extension to Drop files into attachment boxes instead of browse for them or type in the filename. Drop multiple files and fill all the entries. In some websites it allows to add new upload files: in Gmail is possible to drop the files directly over the “Attach a file” link. It also support multiple files attachments for Gmail. A really great feature that will make uploading files more fun.

As of this writing, you can get dragdropupload 1.5.11, by Emanuele Ruffaldi, released on Apr 6, 2006.