Labeling and filtering Gmail

Skelli posted "10 tips for managing email effectively" at Daily Blog Tips on 11/5/07. Before I expand on one of those tips, here are the 10 good tips that were listed:

1. Handle you domain email with Gmail
2. Create useful labels and folders to keep you organized
3. Process emails in batches
4. Read it, answer it
5. Keep it short
6. Keep it sweet
7. Re-read once
8. Build an address-book for networking
9. Use bridging emails
10. Create a dedicated signature

Now I would like to expand on tip # 2. I find it much easier to create filters and let the filters help sort out what is important and what isn't. Call me lazy, but I don't really like sorting through hundreds of emails in my Inbox and labeling them individually. I use Gmail, so the following instructions apply specifically to Gmail. However other types of email accounts could be handled in a similar manner. The "Create a Filter" option is about in the middle of the Gmail page just to the right of the "Search the Web" button.

As an example, I have several filters for my affiliate merchants. I have my Gmail set up so that those affiliates which are automatically posted through RSS feeds are tagged with "Affils - auto" and then automatically archived. When I see I have new emails in my "Affils - auto" folder, I know I don't have to look at them right away because they are already taken care of through the RSS feeds.

I have another filter which archives and sends emails to the "Affils - active" label. These are the ones I need to check soon to see if there are some time-sensitive specials I need to post. Others filter out those affiliates that have been declined, or whose programs are ending soon. With that filtering system I know immediately which affiliate emails I have to check soon, and which can wait until I have more time, and which I can ignore completely.

Since there is no limit to the number of filters and labels that can be set up, your imagination is the only limit as to how to use them to sort out important versus not-so-important emails. Plus, if you have an old client or former friend (or ex) that you no longer want to ever respond to, you can set the filter to automatically delete the email. Then you won't even know it came in. How handy is that!

While I'm on the subject of handy features, there might be a category where you know you don't have to check each individual email, but you still want to keep them for possible future reference. such as my "Affils - auto" label. In that case you can simply click on the label, click on "Select all" and then "Mark all as read." Then the label shows you have no new emails, but you will be able to tell if new ones come in later. Another "how handy is that!" Now we're getting things done in a hurry!

When you get an email from a new account or client, you can simply set up a new filter and set it to the label which best applies. As long as you automatically archive all those for which you set up filters, your inbox will usually be empty except for new ones which don't have a filter yet. And your emails will be sorted into categories so you know immediately which need to be looked at, and how many there are in that category.

If you have certain clients from whom you receive a large number of emails that should be looked at immediately, you can set up a filter and label for that one client. Or group several together into a label you know you should check soon. Remember, your imagination is the limit.

For my original post on helping keep you inbox empty, see "Organize your email and/or gmail."

Gmail advanced organization

In January I did a post on "Organize your email and/or gmail." I gave some basic tips for keeping your inbox clean and tidy. I just ran across some advanced filter techniques if you are interested in moving on to the next step of Gmail organization. You can find these tips in a post by Matt Cutts, "Three solid Gmail productivity tips". Check it out if you are looking for a way to use your Gmail inbox to create a To-Do list from your Gmail, or several other advanced custom filters utilizing "persistent searches".

Organize your email and/or gmail

When I got my first Internet account, it was exciting getting email. In fact, the first email I received was one I sent to myself to see if it worked. At that time the "Inbox" was all I knew. Every email came into my inbox. This was back in the days of dial-up for me. It was exciting waiting for the buzz as the computer dialed up my Internet connection and watching to see if any emails came in. That wasn't a big deal until the spammers got hold of my email address. Then it started taking forever for my emails to download. And I got tired of paging through tons of emails only to discover that I didn't get anything important that day.

Eventually I discovered that Microsoft includes the ability to create new folders and "message rules" which allowed me to direct incoming emails to separate folders. For example, all emails from family members go directly to my "Family" folder. That helps because I don't have to look through all the incoming emails just to see if there is one from a family member. If you haven't discovered that yet, your email program should allow you to do that. In Microsoft Outlook Express, for example, go to File/Folder/New and create the folders you want. Then go to Tools/Message Rules to create the filters you need. Or if you have an email open, you can go to Message/Create Rule from Message. That will help keep your inbox empty.

Eventually, waiting for the dial-up to download emails got too tedious. I was envious of my son who had high speed service. He finally convinced me (and my wife who needs more convincing than I do) to switch to Roadrunner. My Roadrunner account has EZ anti-spam which does a good job of filtering out spam and sends it directly to a Spam folder where it is autaomatically deleted after 30 days. So my Inbox is basically always empty except for a few spams that sneak through. At that point I can click on "Block" on the EZ-Anti-Spam button, and it is gone.

Then my son, Brian, introduced me to gmail. This Google service works great for email. It puts emails in threads, so when I reply to a gmail and they reply back, it keeps them together like an ongoing conversation. I now use my gmail address whenever I'm asked for an email address. Gmail does a good job of filtering out spam. If something sneaks through, I click on "Report Spam" and it goes to the spam box.

Brian later pointed out that I can put labels on incoming gmail. It is a simple process of clicking on "Create a Filter" and following the instructions. After setting that up, I can now click on a label and see everything in that folder. Brian probably figured I would be able to figure out the next step by myself, creating filters to automatically direct them there. But later he had to point that out as well. It seems pretty basic, and I should have figured it out by myself. But I didn't. He is smarter than me and figures these things out by himself. That's one of the reasons he is referred to around the country as "The Brain," A.K.A. Mr.OneBox.

So following his instructions, I set up filters to automatically archive my gmails and apply labels. Now I can instantly see if I have any new gmails in any of my labeled categories. And my inbox is always empty. No sorting through a bunch to see if there is anything important. Important gmails automatically go where I want them.

Maybe you already have your email or gmail accounts all organized. If you don't, I would highly recommend it. It will save you a lot of time that could be spent on much more important or fun things. So spend a little time organizing. Then when your inbox is empty, take time to have some fun.