Webmail is great – unless you aren’t connected to the Internet. In a step that is blurring the lines between desktop email client software and webmail, Google is experimenting with an offline version of its Gmail service.

Google Gears users are now able to switch on the feature which will download a local cache of from their GMail account. The cache is regularly synchronized with Gmail’s servers, but if connection should be lost, Gmail will switch to offline mode and work with the locally stored data.

Users of the feature can read, star and label email while in offline mode and any messages sent while offline will be placed in their outbox, ready to be automatically sent the next time Gmail detects a connection.

According to the official announcement from Google, it’s still an experimental feature, so bugs may pop up, but Googlers have been using the offline service successfully for quite a while.

For further details about the feature and how to access it, view the announcement.