As with almost everything you use on a daily basis, emails naturally get cluttered when you don’t make an effort to organize them. Although many people struggle every day, we have learned tricks on how to organize gmail to keep things in order. this is what we want to share with all of you today.
the basics of email
emails are on the internet like an online version of mailboxes. they became very popular since the beginning of the internet as a productive form of interaction, at a time when no other possible productive communication existed.
but when you think about it, even now with instant messaging and social media, emails are still very popular. many other solutions have come and gone, but email remains a trusted solution that integrates with other solutions, acting as a digital hub for online identity.
As a cultural part of the internet experience, email has a strong reputation and it doesn’t seem like it’s fading away, just evolving.
but…
If you don’t organize your gmail correctly, your life can become a little hell. so we’ve compiled some tips on how to organize your emails smartly and like a boss.
understand how gmail works
gmail offers many native tools to help you organize your inboxes, such as folders, labels, and even tabs. First, let’s discuss the definitions and the differences between them:
Labels: Labels are an easy way to categorize your posts. for example, you can set all messages from specific friends to get the “friends” tag, while others from work get the “work” tag. you can also attribute next steps to your tag names, like “track” and “checkout”.
folders: many folders, they come as standard, they are already in your gmail, like inbox, sent, trash… they are very common, but you can create your own folders and simplify it even more your e-mail.
tabs: tabs are the categories of your messages, so if it’s from a newsletter or a friend, they belong to different categories, for example.
once you classify your messages correctly, you are much better able to maintain this organization in the future.
labels and folders: your best friends in gmail
To label your messages correctly and create your first label, simply go to create a new label, on the left menu bar (you may need to click more to show this button).
With your tags created, all you need to do is go to a post, click the tag button, and choose the tags you want to apply. after using them for a while, the labels become very natural to you.
People also love to add colors to their labels; keeps emails even more intuitive and is very easy to set up:
- find the tag you want to add color to in the left menu bar.
- click its little arrow button.
- click on label color.
- choose a color
eyelashes: the love/hate relationship
People have been using Gmail since it launched 14 years ago in 2004. And with all the updates and changes, some people just can’t handle tabs. they prefer the classic view; it makes them feel more organized.
could be the same for you when it comes to tabs. many users say it seems like they are dealing with 5 emails instead of just one. so let’s see how you can simplify your inbox and then some.
1. with your inbox open, click on settings 2. then click on the configure inbox
tab
You will probably see under categories that all those boxes are checked. you can uncheck the ones you don’t want to see. it means that emails from those categories will be loaded in the “main” tab.
send relevant emails to the top
It is crucial to have the most relevant emails easily visible in your inbox. you can choose the type of emails you want to see at the top of your inbox by changing your inbox type. gmail offers the following options, depending on your workflow:
- important first
- unread first
- featured first
- priority inbox
To change this setting, do the following:
1. with your inbox open, click the settings button 2. select the settings option (yes, there is a “settings” option inside the “settings” button)
3. click the inbox tab 4. under inbox type, choose the options that suit you best 5. don’t forget to click save changes 🙂
feel free to hit the unsubscribe button
Promotional emails are annoying. But just like old emails, we often say, “I’m not going to unsubscribe, because what if I need it in the future?” well, this “what if” is largely responsible for the clutter in your inbox.
Again, assess how relevant your current newsletter subscriptions are. remember that the whole idea is to better organize your inbox. part of the process is to reduce the amount of email stored, but also to reduce the amount of email that will arrive in the future.
see which subscriptions don’t provide anything useful and get rid of them. a big part of a cluttered email inbox is made up of subscriptions and newsletters that we don’t even care about. Sorting through these emails is time consuming and will hurt your productivity.
There are a number of tools you can use to unsubscribe from useless newsletters, which will save you a lot of time (and GB) in your inbox.
clean your inbox constantly
To organize gmail, you must first clean gmail. imagine your email as a messy room in your house. if you want to keep it tidy and clean, you have to get rid of all the clutter inside.
one thing you should keep in mind is that don’t be afraid to archive and delete old messages. the less you see, the better your productivity, so clean up those old messages. basically, you should:
- delete when you are 100% sure your conversation is over and there isno need to view it again
- archive when it is You may need this email in the future, but you’re done.
Some users are afraid that by archiving files, they will lose them. not true. the archive folder is just like any other folder in your email, so your messages are safe there. on the other hand, when you delete a message, it goes to the trash and usually stays there for 30 days until it is automatically deleted.
By cleaning out your inbox, you leave only the essentials, and it will make the next steps of your organization much easier.
how to organize gmail – like a boss
During our years of work experience, we’ve noticed how much more productive we can be when we spend less time changing tools.
That’s why we’ve created an evolution of email and task management right here in drag: why not have labels, folders, tabs, tasks, notes, due dates, boards, all beautifully displayed on awesome trello-like boards? ?
By simply merging different technologies, our solution provides a great experience and makes your life simpler.
with drag, you take your gmail organization to another level. plus you have a shared inbox with so many features that will make a difference while you collaborate.
kanban: the best view to organize gmail
The first thing you need to do to organize your gmail is to choose the right layout. Sure, you can choose from the conventional layouts available in Gmail: important first, default, unread first, featured first, and priority inbox. all provide a standard view of your inbox and you can quickly select them. just go to settings and then choose the inbox tab.
From then on, you are free to choose the layout you feel most comfortable working with. the default will provide the standard format that organizes your gmail inbox by date. it’s most likely the one you’ve been using all this time, which hasn’t worked so well until now to keep your inbox organized. this layout will give you the option to select different categories to place your emails. the rest of the groups work more or less the same. Google will perform predictive analysis on the emails you are most likely to open.
all of these options will give you pretty much the same inbox display, and maybe that’s the problem. you need a tool that changes the way you’re used to managing your inbox, and that’s kanban. this layout will change the way your inbox looks, giving you more control and power over your inbox. a kanban layout turns your emails into cards, presenting them transparently.
use notes in email instead of emailing yourself
This is one of the reasons inboxes get so messy and cluttered. because we use email as a personal reminder or as a messaging tool for internal conversations with other team members. It happens so fast and before you know it, there are many emails with an endless thread of related messages just cluttering up your inbox. plus, you’re far from inbox zero, and it’s still costing you time and money.
There isn’t a single reasonable excuse to do this when you have email notes, which are one of the best business tools out there. It makes teamwork great because they’re so easy to use, even if it’s your first time.
There are a few options if you want to get started. google keep seems to be a convenient option as it’s already integrated as a gmail plugin, so there’s no need to toggle between the inbox and the to-do notes app.
With drag, you can add notes right into your emails or tasks to help you understand what the requirements are, the essential things you need to know about an action you need to take, or anything else related to it. this is what this cool feature looks like:
summarize
Organizing your email shouldn’t be a distraction that costs you time and money. having a cluttered inbox and not dealing with it will only bring you stress, which will affect not only your workflow, but everyone on your team as well. dragoffers a real solution that gives you power and control without the need to install expensive software. you’re just one google chrome extension away from experiencing change.