In the workaday world, it happens all the time. You get caught in a string of emails among colleagues, the thread grows and grows as everyone adds their two cents, and when the dust settles, you realize that you've managed to create a ton of good content. Unfortunately, you're now tasked with cutting and pasting all of that good content into a more formal document. If only you could press a button and turn that email into something more useful.
Just add the "Create a Document" Labs feature, open the email string you'd like to convert, and you'll notice a new option in your right sidebar called - appropriately enough - Create a document. Click the link and, after a few moments of conversion, you'll be transported to a Google Docs version of the email you were just reading.
But what if you're simply inspired by the email and not its contents? Create a Document can help you there, too. Once the feature and keyboard shortcuts are enabled, you gain the ability to start a new blank Doc directly from Gmail. Simply, hit the G