5 power user tips to gain control of your gmail inbox
TRANSCRIPT
Here are five features of Google’s Inbox that you might have overlooked, but will really
change the way you handle your mail. Put that Inbox to work!
1. Labels
2. Filters
3. The Priority Inbox
4. Searching the Inbox
5. Keyboard Shortcuts
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1) Labels
Other email solutions like Microsoft Outlook:
● Use folders to store and organize mail.
● The email physically moves to a folder for organizational purposes.
● Downside:
o Hard to retrieve an email unless you know where you put it.
o You can only keep an email in one folder.
In Google’s Inbox:
● Labels allow you to sort your mail under your terms, often labeling one email multiple ways.
● Labels are really mini-searches performed by Google as opposed to an actual folder. Some people call this tagging.
● For example, you might designate one label for the person automatically (find out more about filters next!), and also
sort based on subject matter, like “new recipe,” or something similar. That way, when you click on the label, you’ll get
other emails that have been labeled with “new recipe,” but that may have been sent from someone else.
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Fig. 1 - Labeling an email with multiple labels helps in retrieving old conversations quickly. Adding a dash of color adds visual
clues to the message’s importance or allegiance.
2) Filters● They’re often called “rules” in other email programs.
● Filters take the labeling of emails to the next level by automatically labeling emails as they comes into your inbox.
● Quick and easy to set up, and make your inbox really pop with all the colors of the rainbow - all of which makes
your job of identifying priority emails so much easier.
● To create a filter: select a conversation or multiple conversations and build a filter using parameters that fit your
need.
● You can create filters based on who the email is from and apply a label to that email, which causes labels to be
automatically applied and saves you time.
● Once an email has been automatically labeled, you can simply archive the email. To retrieve it, just click the label
in the left hand menu below the ‘Compose’ button.
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Fig. 2 - Once a conversation has been selected,
click the ‘More’ button in the toolbar, select ‘Filter
messages like this’, and start building your filter.
Notice all the options you have for email handling,
like applying labels, skipping the inbox altogether,
or sending canned responses.
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3) The Priority Inbox● The Priority Inbox is a great way to have Google help you automatically by showing you:
o Important and unread emails at the top
o Starred emails (stuff you need to follow up on later) in a middle section
o Everything else at the bottom
● To help your inbox identify what’s important, click on the little yellow marker next to an email (on for important and
off for not)
● After a while, Gmail begins to recognize what type of emails you consider to be important, and your inbox will truly
begin to take shape. You’ll go straight to the top for the critical stuff, and leave the email from your local car dealer
at the bottom, waiting for later.
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Fig. 3 - This is the best part of the day - your priority stuff has been handled, and you can check other, less critical mail
(that mail generally displays below the important section, though you can tweak the sections of the Priority Inbox however
you like.)
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4) Searching the Inbox● The search bar at the top unlocks the true potential of
the inbox by allowing you to quickly find information
otherwise stored inside emails, in your contacts, or
someplace else.
● Simply searching for an email address, and then hitting
your enter key retrieves all emails that match that
address.
● Using the advanced search option, you can easily
search for specific emails.
● To use this advanced search option: click on the tiny
down arrow in the search field and fill in the blanks.
● Note: You can keep it all archived instead with
Google’s amazing, and free, storage quotas. And
search to find it when you need it!
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5) Keyboard Shortcuts
● This is a great time saving feature but you need to turn them on.
● To turn Keyboard Shortcuts on: Go to Settings then scroll halfway down the page.
● Here are some power moves:
o To compose a new email:
1. Hit the letter ‘c’.
2. Type in the recipient - if it begins to autopopulate, just hit your ‘tab’ key to accept. Tab again for the Subject
line.
3. Tab once more to type your message.
4. Tab, then ‘enter’ to send the email. And nowhere did we use the mouse or trackpad!
● To archive:
1. Move up and down in your inbox using the keys ‘j’ and ‘k’ - look for the blue indicator next to each email to
tell where you are.
2. Select an email by hitting the letter ‘x’. You can select multiple emails that way.
3. Then, with a few emails selected that you’re not going to read but want to keep (‘cause remember, we don’t
need to delete email, right?), just hit the letter ‘e’ to archive them.
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Fig. 5 - Find all the power combos by hitting
‘SHIFT+?’ (using your right hand) which brings
up all the possible keyboard shortcuts.
Remember, you don’t need to know them all,
and I certainly don’t, but just learn a few that
make sense and begin taming that Inbox of
yours. The goal is to celebrate at the end of the
day, see Fig. 3, and the fastest way to do that is
to leave the mouse behind!
