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getting control of my inbox (gmail)
Shazkar Shadowstorm
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
my inbox is a disaster
like 1000+ unread emails
i cleaned it up once long ago but it came back with a vengeance
things:
- i use filters to label things which is helpful, any suggestions with good labeling ideas
- i'm unsubscribing from a lot of newsletters, but a lot i am just filtering so they get slapped with a newsletter label and get archived automatically... is this a good idea? i'm not even sure what things are important to keep, like emails with sales and promotions... they do skip my inbox now though which is nice
- what emails do you archive, what e-mails do you delete, and what do you leave in your inbox?
and what do you star?
i just need general suggestions for how do get it and KEEP IT organized and clean
like 1000+ unread emails
i cleaned it up once long ago but it came back with a vengeance
things:
- i use filters to label things which is helpful, any suggestions with good labeling ideas
- i'm unsubscribing from a lot of newsletters, but a lot i am just filtering so they get slapped with a newsletter label and get archived automatically... is this a good idea? i'm not even sure what things are important to keep, like emails with sales and promotions... they do skip my inbox now though which is nice
- what emails do you archive, what e-mails do you delete, and what do you leave in your inbox?
and what do you star?
i just need general suggestions for how do get it and KEEP IT organized and clean
poo
Shazkar Shadowstorm on
0
Posts
Seriously, if you want to buy something go seek it out, don't let advertisers into your inbox. Even legit ones.
I mean if you are looking to buy a camera, maybe sign up for an photography deal alerts, but unsubscribe as soon as your purchase is made.
I used to subscribe to a bunch of IT and technology newsletters, but then I realized I never opened and read them so I unsubscribed them or flagged them as SPAM if they didn't unsubscribe me.
Any entity from which I need to get emails from (banks/financial insitutions/utility bills) I go to the site and crank down the notifications to the bare minimum and opt-out of everything. I've never had the desire to opt back in to anything.
What I have done is insert superfluous periods when I am using the address for services or websites that are likely to either give it out for spamming, or spam it themselves. Then I set up filters to catch the periods, and send them directly to Archive, rather than Inbox. So if you're address is ShazkarShadowstorm @ gmail.com, you can make use Shazkar.Shadowstorm @ gmail.com, and set up filters for that.
And personally speaking, I auto-Archive everything that I am not planning to either answer personally, or immediately Archive after seeing.
Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Last.fm | Pandora | LibraryThing | formspring | Blue Moon over Seattle (MCFC)
Things that I "star" are minimal. Just important e-mails from friends, or things of interest to me at that time, like important dates or something interesting I looked up. Usually less than 10 e-mails at any given time.
Things that I archive include bank statements, and receipts, as well as other things I want to hold on to for some time. Right now mines at 450 e-mails, so I need to go through it, but I do hold on to receipts for quite a while anyhow. These are put into the "All Mail" section and I look through it once a month deleting things that are no longer important.
My spam folder gets about 25 e-mails a day, mostly just a quick glance to see if it incorrectly marked something but only if I'm expecting an important e-mail and then I just wipe it.
Anyhow that's how I operate. Just systematically look at everything and delete anything you don't need. Newsletters should be read, If you want to hold onto it archive it, and then monthly go through your archive and erase it if need be.
385 MB (5%) of my 7449 MB
I delete everything except personal correspondence.
I don't even keep email from banks and insurance companies because I can access that stuff all online and I'm afraid that if my account was every compromised it would make it a lot easier for an identity thief.
I don't subscribe to useless mailing lists though so that avoids excess clutter. I also either read or at least mark items as read.
Using the default Family/Friends/Work labels also helps. The idea is to shift from one big inbox to several smaller, more manageable inboxes. Grandma gets her own label--all that chain email she sends (sometimes two or three per day) stays out of my sight forever, and she knows to call when she needs to get ahold of me.
As far as what's important, well, that's a subjective matter. I definitely keep my bank statements, personal mail and anything work-related, but everything else is junk in my eyes. Don't be afraid to use the keyword filter option, either, which can further keep what you really need to see up front. For example, most bill-related email gets tagged with my Reciepts label, which archives and marks as read automatically, but my Comcast bill is tagged to remain in my inbox so I know the moment it's due.
And unsubscribing from unnecessary newsletters and the like is always the best way to cut down on junk. You're on the righttrack, just play around with the filter setting some more and wait for results.
Inbox Zero: presentation at Google
Digest the above, modify to suit your needs. The critical pieces are:
- Process your inbox to zero every time
- Adhere to whatever system you put together, modify it only when it becomes obvious it's not working
- Don't be afraid to delete
As much as you can reroute the newsletters and announcements and so forth through web feeds (RSS/Atom/etc.) or Twitter, depending on urgency and the importance of catching every update. Unsubscribe wherever possible/comfortable.I star items in my Todo folder that require immediate attention. (Yes, I said folder. I access my Gmail-hosted mail through Thunderbird and the iPhone client.)
This is outrageously irresponsible. When you mark a message as spam on a hosted service, this contributes to the host's decision of whether or not similar messages are spam for everyone using that service. Marking anything other than spam as spam results in false positives. Outgoing mail server administrators have a tough enough job as it is without having their servers erroneously identified as spam conduits.
Do that on your local mail client all you want, but don't do it on Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, etc.
just watched inbox zero, very helpful
will see what i can do
Sales/promotions: I have some of these (newegg, dell, etc.) They go into my inbox, I look at them as soon as they get there. If there's nothing I want, delete.
Other stuff from online accounts (credit card payment reminder, bill payment reminders, facebook) gets stuck with a label for that service automatically (Bank of America, Verizon, etc.) but still ends up in the inbox. I read it, then I hit archive.
Basically the way this works out is that the only thing I have left in my inbox are e-mails from my friends. That's fine with me, I have no desire to reduce my inbox to 0.