How to quickly and easily clean up your Gmail inbox

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The problem of the ever-increasing number of unread messages in the inbox is troubling a huge number of users. To solve it, dozens of extensions have been created and many articles have been written on the methodology of using Gmail. However, it is not at all necessary to invent something new if there are proven working tools. In this article, I'll show you how to deal with email traffic using the Gmail shortcut system.

Gmail labels are custom labels that you can use to categorize emails. At the same time, unlike folders, a letter can have several labels, that is, a letter can simultaneously be in several categories.

One of the reasons for the gradual overflow of the inbox is that many users use it to store all the mail that falls into their inbox. At the same time, the parsing of mail begins with the newest letters, so that those messages that lie at the bottom of your mailbox may never get to your eyes.

The system of labels that I use allows me to process letters not according to their arrival time, but according to their importance. You can easily sort all emails into categories of intended actions and devote your time to really important things, and not to advertising junk. To do this, you only need to create five new labels.

• "!Urgently!". Letters that require urgent action fall into this category. This label requires attention in the first place, since the messages marked with it must be processed immediately.
• "Planned." Mark with this label those letters that require you to act in the foreseeable future and have a specific date. For example, a reminder to pay for hosting soon or a notification of a future meeting.
• "To answer". This category will collect all the emails you want to reply to, but there is no time limit for your reply. Obviously, this mail will be processed as time becomes available.
• "Waiting". Sometimes there are situations when a business or project that you discussed in your mail correspondence, as they say, freezes. That is, you did everything that depends on you on your side, and now you are just waiting for a response or the next order. Letters that do not require any active participation from you at the moment, but are still important, we mark with this label.
• "Made". This is a label for completed cases and resolved issues. In principle, it would be possible to immediately archive such correspondence, but it is still better to temporarily put it in a separate daddy. This will allow you to indulge your self-esteem at the end of the work week, and will also serve as a material for analyzing your productivity.

Thus, the initial parsing of correspondence in Gmail comes down to a quick look at the headers or content and categorizing all emails. It will take you an order of magnitude less time than sequential processing of each letter, so very soon your inbox will be completely empty.

Once this happens, you can navigate to the "! Urgent!" and tackle those letters that really matter the most. When we have dealt with this priority category, then we go to the category of previously planned tasks and carry out those that are due to expire. If after that you still have time left, then open the folder with secondary letters awaiting a response. This process no longer requires, as a rule, much effort and special attention, therefore it can be performed at the end of the working day. Well, the letters labeled "Done" can be admired once a week when summing up the results.

Thus, with the help of these simple steps, you can always pay enough attention to important things and not waste it on empty correspondence. Your mailbox will always be empty, and you will never again lose a single letter in the chaos and confusion of thousands of unseen letters.

Do you use any Gmail tags to sort your mail?