11–20 of 31 posts
Search is easy. I don't see the point in organizing my mail.
I don't understand this "Inbox Zero" stress. How hard is it to set up filters on your email? How hard is it to swipe it away to archive it? How many emails do you have to write a day?!
Living in the MS world, I struggle to use the Gmail model. I create an Archive folder and put it as a favorite folder. When I'm done with an email, instead of deleting it like Outlook wants, I stick it into the Archive folder. I constantly have to check my Sent Items folder to move those into the Archive folder as well, as there doesn't seem to be an automated way to move those there.
I currently have 2500 unread emails in my inbox :/
I wonder if the name "inbox" is what causes people so much stress. I don't think of it as an actual inbox. It's just where my mail goes - all of it. I read everything, but I don't bother organizing it. Occasionally I'll mark some message as important, or keep a few open so I can get to them later. But most often, I don't. Search is easy. I don't see the point in organizing my mail.
I currently have 2500 unread emails in my inbox :/
I'm interested in reading the solutions promised in part 2.
The easiest is: stop using your Inbox as a todo list, and use a dedicated Todo list system instead (like GTD). Any email that can be answered straight away is, anything else is archived and becomes an item in your Todo ledger.
How do you deal with the dozens/hundreds of tasks that may accumulate?
I wonder if the name "inbox" is what causes people so much stress. I don't think of it as an actual inbox. It's just where my mail goes - all of it. I read everything, but I don't bother organizing it. Occasionally I'll mark some message as important, or keep a few open so I can get to them later. But most often, I don't. Search is easy. I don't see the point in organizing my mail.
True for Gmail (and similar, I'm sure), not so true for my corporate Outlook account where search sucks and is really slow, and has ridiculously tiny storage allocated so I actually have to archive older messages in an actual file...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The easiest is: stop using your Inbox as a todo list, and use a dedicated Todo list system instead (like GTD). Any email that can be answered straight away is, anything else is archived and becomes an item in your Todo ledger.
I've trie this, but I never manage to deal with stuff once I file it. It piles up like my inbox. How do you deal with the dozens/hundreds of tasks that may accumulate?
I suspect if you get too much email, it's usually because 1. You are the boss and insist on being CCed on everything, 2. Your job description is vauge, and everyone sends tasks to you, or 3. Your coworkers feel like they have to notify you of everything. All three are organizational dysfunction, and not a technology problem.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've trie this, but I never manage to deal with stuff once I file it. It piles up like my inbox. How do you deal with the dozens/hundreds of tasks that may accumulate?
If you get dozens to hundreds of tasks to do in a short period of time, isn't that the root of the problem? I suspect if you get too much email, it's usually because 1. You are the boss and insist on being CCed on everything, 2. Your job description is vauge, and everyone sends tasks to you, or 3. Your coworkers feel like they have to notify you of everything. All three are organizational dysfunction, and not a techn…
I stay on top of stuff sometimes, but then my main work goes slower.
I do outsource a bunch, but some things I've found difficult.
I don't understand this "Inbox Zero" stress. How hard is it to set up filters on your email? How hard is it to swipe it away to archive it? How many emails do you have to write a day?!
You're using the Gmail model, where mail has labels and gets archived. I think a lot of people are using the other model, where email goes in folders and gets deleted. Living in the MS world, I struggle to use the Gmail model. I create an Archive folder and put it as a favorite folder. When I'm done with an email, instead of deleting it like Outlook wants, I stick it into the Archive folder. I constantly have to chec…
Right click on the folder (Sent Items in this case). Select properties, go to the AutoArchive tab. Specify the rules (where to move it and when). AutoArchive gets executed periodically, but you can also force it through the File menu. File -> Info -> Cleanup Tools -> Mailbox Cleanup -> AutoArchive (probably a faster way but that's the way I found).