Google Organizing- GMail

Day 38- Google Organizing0 GMail


This is the next segment of my multi-part series on organizing your life with Google. While the tips here are specifically for GMail, they can be tweeked to fit any email system around.

You are young, you are hip, you have GMail--just like every one else. And I don't blame you. I LOOOOOOOOVE my Gmail. With seamless integration with Google Calendar, Google Maps, and our new friend Google Reader as well as gChat, tons of space and an awesome spam blocker, it is hard not to fall in love with it.

But what does your in-box look like? I bet it is full of old messages from a year ago and tons of thing you want to read but haven't yet. I bet your in-box brings you stress and anxiety.

I bet your in-box doesn't look like mine.

I treat my GMail in-box like my post office box. I grab the mail, sort it, throw out the junk, read the things I want, save what I need and toss the rest. I *Don't* just leave it in the in-box.

That would be ridiculous! Imagine if your mail carrier met your post box full of read mail and old junk!

So, here are some tips for organizing your GMail life:

1. Labels- Unlike other e-mail carriers who have folders, GMail has labels. Utilizing Labels and Filters can make sure you know when your new mail is here. Learn to be a GMail Jedi Master from Lifehacker.

2. Trusted Trio- Trusted Trio is a great way to sort through your mail. Simply put: Archive what you want to keep, Delete what you are done with , and Star what you need. Then, every month, clear out your Archive and unstar what you are done with.

3. Mailing Lists- Do you have a bunch of people you regularly email, but they are not connected enough to make a Group? Make a mailing list instead. This way, you can save time and energy by just mailing the list instead of trying to remember every one you know.

With these easy steps, you can clean up your in-box and make your GMail account bring you joy, instead of anxiety.

Competence Moment of the Day: After realizing my Earlham W-2's had not arrived yet, I called Earlham HR and found that they had sent my forms to my previous address-in Richmond! They are now en route to DC.