I switched to using GMail for my personal email in 2008 and never looked back. I now use GSuite as my business email provider as well.
If you are like me, you spend a lot of time in your inbox managing emails and determining what to do with them. Leaving them all sitting in my inbox creates several problems, most importantly that I may forget to reply to something important because the message got buried by newer emails.
Use Settings for Advanced Organization
Did you know you can make your GMail inbox more manageable by applying labels and filters to incoming emails?
Labels in GMail are like folders in other email providers like Outlook. This is why they are so great:
- You can add one or more labels to any email
- You can automatically apply labels to messages as they come in using a filter (see more below)
- Colors can be applied to labels for ease of visibility
Labels provide visual organization so you can find what you need quickly and prevent important emails from slipping through the cracks.
Filters are another highly useful tool to use to tame your inbox. Filters are created by setting specific criteria to create an action. Here are some examples of how to use filters:
- Apply a filter to an email to automatically apply a label(s).
- Create a filter to archive emails so they don’t hit your inbox
- Use a filter to star email from certain important senders like a client.
Above are the options for applying a filter. In this example all emails from Athleta will skip my inbox and go to Archive and I am applying the rule to the messages already in my inbox.
Once you figure out your organizational criteria, and start applying labels and filters to ALL of your frequently received emails, you will feel much less stressed about your inbox.
How many labels and filters will it take to tame your inbox?
What I Can’t Stop Talking About
My Pets
I was lucky to have pets growing up. Usually cats. When I got my first apartment, I promptly adopted a cat. When I got married I became a step “dog Mom” to Inka, a sweet chow husky mix. These days our house is ruled by a mini-panther named Lucy who is as strong-willed as she is lovable. In my opinion, a house is not a home without a pet. If you are in need of a new best friend, I encourage you to visit your local animal rescue. #adoptdontshop
