Gmail

Before you read any of the tips below, you should familiarize yourself with the Gmail interface. (You may think you're already familiar with it. Humor me and click the link.)

Back so soon? Ok.

Seven things you can do in Gmail:

  1. Enable keyboard shortcuts. Here's why you should do this:

    • You're typing an email message and it's time to send it. Pressing Ctrl/⌘-Enter will do that far faster than if you take your hands from the keyboard, grab the mouse, and click the Send button.

    • You're reading a message and want to delete it? Press # (rhymes with "trash"). Want to mark it as spam? Press !.

    • You have a bunch of labels that you assign to messages as you read them. While reading a message, press v ("moVe") and start typing a label name. When the correct one shows up, use the arrow keys to select it and press Enter. (If you want the message to stay in your Inbox, use l ("Label") instead of v.)

Suppose you send 10 messages and receive 10 messages each day. The three tips above will save you 20 seconds every day, 100 seconds every work week, and, let's say, 4600 seconds (~75 minutes) every year. That's plenty of time to enjoy a beverage of your choosing with a representative from your favorite IT department.

  1. Set up some filters. Here's why you should do this: Suppose that you have a label where you put every message you receive from your supervisor. You could ...

    • Open the message, click the "Label" icon, and affix the appropriate label, OR

    • Open the message, press l, and affix the appropriate label, OR

    • Set up a filter that says "When a message comes from my supervisor and is addressed to me apply the appropriate label" and never have to apply the label again.

  2. Use a task-specific email address. So when someone sends you a message at "myaccount+spammy@ambs.edu" you can use a filter to automatically delete it.

  3. Mute your chat notifications for a while.

  4. Snooze a conversation. Like when reply-all gets out of hand.

  5. Schedule a message to send at a later time. So you can compose a message when you're thinking about it but send it when it matters most to others ... or is more likely to be seen. (Some of us have a terrible habit of thinking we should send important things on Friday afternoons.)

  6. Use the sidebar to manage your task list, view your calendar, or jot a note.