The Gmail feature that will help you speed through your inbox
Quartz’s Kira Bindrim highlights Gmail Labs’ auto-advance, “the digital equivalent of flipping through a stack of mail and trashing read or unwanted items as you go, like a normal person.” Setup instructions included.
How to auto-forward emails in Gmail and G Suite
There are plenty of reasons to auto-forward emails. For example, you might want to share them with an assistant or re-route emails to a new inbox. Tech Republic’s Andy Wolber has a step-by-step explanation.
This email trick’s so simple that I’m mad at myself for not using it earlier
The Daily Muse’s editor-in-chief describes how Gmail stars have helped her better manage her inbox. She explains using the stars ”creates a quick and easy inbox to-do list that only involves one click.”
Writing at Hacker Noon, CIO and strategy consultant Brian Greenberg argues that we’re getting notifications from way too many sources and that it’s basically impossible to stay on top of it all.
Inbox Exposed: B.J. Mendelson, Author, Social Media is Bullshit
Email is a non-negotiable part of everyday life. For some, it’s an unruly time suck, but enlightened email users have systems to ensure they’re not a slave to the inbox. We’re asking smart thinkers to give us a peek inside their inboxes, share tips, ideas, gripes, and everything in between.
This week, we chat with B.J. Mendelson, a public speaker and author of the book, Social Media Is Bullshit.
Let’s get right into it — what’s your email philosophy?
You just sort of have to be ruthless. You can’t just let stuff sit in your inbox, that’s what most people do or they use their inbox as a to-do list. If I don’t want to do something, I immediately archive it. Or if it’s something I need to act on then I’ll just write it down on a piece of paper and then I index or archive the emails. This way things don’t get crazy. It’s Inbox Zero all the way.
If there was a dream Gmail feature, what would it be?
I kind of wish there was a built in snooze button where I could say, I don’t want to look at those until next week. So instead of archiving it, have it bounce back to me at that designated time or be able to schedule them.
Or my biggest one is probably contacts. So right now, I have about 12,000 contacts that I put onto a spreadsheet. I hired a virtual assistant and all she is doing is cleaning it up and organizing it because there is no good way to do that within Gmail, and there is no way to constantly keep everything updated. People change jobs and usernames all the time. People talk a big game about machine learning, the technology is there to do that [keep contacts regularly updated], so I’d love an address book that is actually “living” where I don’t need to think twice about it. It’s just always updating itself.
“I think the biggest pet peeve is other people’s expectations — that if you didn’t write me back within an hour then you must be ignoring me.”
I’m in.