This was timely for me too. I just yesterday started trying to get gmail organised as I have my first meeting with my new VA today! I’ve been an Outlook person for ever so it’s taking a bit of effort to retrain my eye to the new stuff but reading this has really helped me to keep going – especially the references, so thanks everyone.

For those people struggling with those pesky newsletter subscriptions – a tip – I’ve got a separate email address for those so they don’t come into my main account anyway. Interestingly this year has been so hectic that I haven’t been into that account more than once or twice, and I’m not missing it (although I can’t quite bring myself to delete them without reading them first – ok, maybe I need more coaching on that it ;-))

The tip Ronnie shared about creating a filter for all items with the word “unsubscribe” is priceless!

Thank you forever! I’m off to get more done in less time!
D’vorah

You’re welcome, Donna! I hope it help you in some small way 🙂

~Shelley~

One thing you could do is have all of the emails pulled into one central GMail account. Then have them automatically tagged appropriately (affiliate, bulk mail) and set most of it up to skip your inbox. To view those items you just click on the label (folder). You only have to log into one email account each day and you can handle them all at once.

Much of it goes to my Bulk Mail folder, but there are certain people’s email that I always want to read their email, so I set-up another filter and labled it Bulk – Priority. I have less than 10 different peoples regular email going into that folder and I try to view it every day.

As I am working through my email I sort them into folder (tagged) based on next actions. If I need to respond in some way to an email, or take some other type of action I tag it .action and archive it so that it is no longer viewed in my inbox. Some are tagged .action @computer if I need to do it at the computer and if I need to make a phone call I tag it .action @phone. I also have someday/maybe and .waiting on as well.

I like to review local GroupOn, Living Social , etc. offers so I have tagged those Bulk Deals and also have it archive so it avoids my inbox. When I want to view the local deals I open the folder, see if I am interested in anything, and then delete the emails.

I just counted and I actually have filters set-up to sort incoming mail into over 50 folders. I tag emails by client and so I can open up that folder and view the emails from that client when it comes time to work with them.

Because I homeschool I subscribe to field trip lists etc. and those are automatically tagged homeschooling so that I can review that folder during school hours and not work hours.

Setting up lots of filters keeps me from getting distracted from doing what it is I should be working on most. Some of the filters are set to automatically forward to members of the team as well.

Bottom line, I love Gmail and the ability it gives me to be more effecient.

Shelly,
thank you so much for this info.
Donna 🙂

@Heidi, Thanks for asking that question. You are so right. It would be great to be able to do that.

@Glennette, Thanks for answering it. I really need to check out that “labs”.

Also, thanks to everyone here who have given such great tips.

Donna 🙂

New labs feature – Auto advance – it’s awesome!

This was my only complaint about Gmail.

Now, using the labs feature, Auto Advance, you are taken to the next email when you archive, delete or mute a message!

You can even change the direction if you prefer to read oldest first.

I was fed up with all the emails flooding into my 2 email addresses and decided to go over to gmail and create different email addresses for different things. ( I know I can filter but I still like to keep them separate). Any free report I sign up for now goes into one email address and I usually unsubscribe straight away. I keep another for affiliate stuff and another for general emails. That works well for me because I have to go online to check them and I don’t do it as often as I used to when they downloaded onto my PC.

I do have a problem with unsubscribing from a bunch of other stuff because I like to see what other people are sending out and what’s going on. I am afraid to unsubscribe from too many in case I miss something. What does that tell you?