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.

Organize by dealing with it once!

Keeping ahead of the pile takes a little organizational effort. But getting rid of the pile takes a lot of effort. It is better to stay organized by "dealing with it once!" Some examples:

When you are looking through your mail or e-mail, do what needs to be done with it immediately -- respond to it, file it, forward it, delegate it, or toss it. Then you can put it out of your mind and be satisified that you took care of it. Otherwise it is easy to forget about it until it is too late or forget it is there and never get to it.

If you run across a magazine or newspaper article you want to keep, tear it out and file it where you'll be able to find it when you need it again. Then go back to reading. When you would like to refer to it again, you will know where it is, rather than trying to remember which magzine it was in, where you put the magazine, and which earmark it was.

When you get a phone call requiring follow-up, do it right then. If you are busy at the time, jot down a note. Then take care of it as soon as you have time and deal with the note just once. Then when it is time to leave work, or do something fun you'll thank yourself when you don't have to make a bunch of phone calls first.

If you are finished with a tool or a piece of garden equipment, deal with it once by putting it back where you always keep it. That way you won't have to try to remember to put it away later, or where you left it when you need it the next time. And it won't get left out in the rain.

By dealing with things once, you will be able to avoid the proverbial "To do pile." The pile just keeps getting higher with the things you should take care of first on the bottom "out of sight, out of mind." You'll notice that by the time you get to the pile, many of the items are out of date and it is too late to do anything about it. Being too late has some advantages. Now you can toss it. However, it may have been an important task which needed to be taken care of days ago. Now it is too late. But if it didn't matter enough deal with it right away, you should have tossed it then.

Taking the extra few moments now to deal with it once will save you a lot of time later and prevent missing some important tasks before it is too late. Try it and see how much time and frustration you save yourself. Then give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done and the feeling of being much more organized!