How To Turn GMail Into A Productivity Powerhouse

GMail is distracting? It was for me!

Not only GMail, but whole mail system was a distraction for me. I used to spent a lot of time checking all my inboxes and finding needed mails(ask Shirley, who had to forward me mails every week because I kept messing up info between my 3 mail accounts).

While I always try to blog with maximum efficiency, emails have always been a big bottleneck. However, with some simple tweaks, I have managed to turn GMail into a productivity powerhouse that helps me optimize my workflow instead of distracting me.

In this post, you will learn:

• How To Use GMail To Be More More Organized: With the help of Google Calender, you can manage your time easily and be more organized right from GMail.
• How To Organize Your Inbox And make It Clean: A cluttered inbox is a big no-no for productivity. Learn how to keep your inbox clean without spending any extra time. My inbox never has more than 20 mails in inbox because of "Send & Archive" lab feature!
• How To Integrate All Your Accounts With GMail: Managing different mailboxes has always been a headache. Now now. Learn how you can integrate all your accounts into GMail. For example, I have added my two other mailboxes to GMail and now, I can send and read all my mail right from GMail.
• How To Turn Chat Off: Chat, while useful is the biggest distraction. It is better to turn it off. However, I still know how important it is and have included a small alternative!

So, let's start. Wait, I have to follow the standard procedure of warning you before it:

OK, now that official warning part is done, we can safely proceed.

We are going to do lot of experimenting, so let's proceed to (GMail) labs!

From inbox, go to settings -> Labs. Here are the labs I use(or have used in past) and recommend(remember, I never recommend anything before trying myself):

1. Authentication Icons: Shows a key icon next to the names of trusted services. Currently, it works only for eBay and PayPal. However, it helps to easily differentiate between spam and genuine mail from PayPal.
2. Canned Responses: Helps to save time. You can save common responses(for example, mails to guest post requests and clients etc.) and reply with them easily. I don't use it now. If you mail me about anything(and it's not about promotion of your service), I will personally reply back. More time saving techniques(not related to GMail): How To Organize Ideas And Save Time.
3. Extra Emoji: This one is not exactly a productivity feature but it's still fun! Adds extra emoticons for you to use!
4. Google Calender Gadget: Google Calender gadget for accessing calender right from your inbox.
5. Google Docs Gadget: Adds a gadget in left column that shows your starred documents and smart search.
6. Message Sneak Peak: Lets you see a conversation by right click. No need to go to message.
7. Navbar Drag And Drop: Allows dragging and dropping of widgets in left sidebar(navigation bar).
8. Send And Archive: Adds a Send & Archive button when replying. Saves time and keeps inbox organized.
9. Sender Time Zone: Displays time zone of sender. Useful to reply to clients at right time.
10. Title Tweaks: Makes your title Inbox (x) -GMail. Useful when you have multiple tabs open and want to know if there's unread mail.
11. Undo Send: Forgot adding something important to mail you just sent or sent to wrong person. Allows to undo the sent mail for a few seconds.

There are more lab experiments and you can enable the ones you want easily. Once you have selected the required lab experiments, click Save Changes.

Managing Time With Google Calender(Gadget)

Google Calender gadget is a good addition to your inbox and you can add and look for events right from your inbox. It makes it easy to manage time without going to Google Calender.

Well, that's all about it!

Keeping Inbox Clean

A cluttered inbox surely hurts productivity. Using the new "Send & Archive" button, you can keep only the important mails in the inbox. If you need to retrieve any mail later, just go to "All Mail" label and you will see all the archived mail.

Using Multiple Email Accounts

Most of us have several email accounts for different websites. I have three email addresses that I use regularly. I used to check each and every mailbox when I moved to web interface from Opera mail. This took some time and was far less productive than having all the mail together.

Do you know that you can add any email address to GMail?

No?

First, here are instructions to enable GMail to fetch your mails from your other account(for example, all mail sent to ishansharma(at)bws{expand BWS}.net goes to my GMail inbox}.

1. Click Settings -> "Accounts and Import".
2. Under "Check mail using POP3", click "Add POP3 account"
3. Add the full mail address and password for that account.
4. On next page, select other settings like leaving message on server etc.
5. Click "Add account"

Once you have added account, you will be presented with option to send email using the newly added email address. You can continue or go back to account and then set it up.

Here's how:

1. Go to Settings.
2. In the top navigation, click "Accounts and Import".
3. Under "Send Mail As", click "Another another email address".
4. A popup windows will appear. Enter your email address and password.
5. Next, click "Use your other provider's email address". Click Next >>
6. Provide the server address and click "Add Account". A confirmation mail will be sent to the given email account. Click the link in it and you can now send email using this account. By default, your email will be sent from GMail but you can change the account by clicking "Change address" next to the "From" field.

You have successfully set up GMail to fetch mail from your other address and also send mail via it.

Turning Chat Off

This is most irritating feature of GMail. Yes, it is useful but still, you will still get contacted by many people even if you set your status to "busy". The best solution is to disable chat altogether.

It is simple than it sounds. Scroll to the bottom of any GMail page. Look for "Turn chat off" link.Click it.

That's it! Chat is disabled now.

Yes, I know how useful chat can be as I myself use chat to notify clients about updates(who want to communicate that way). It is best to use a third party chat client like Pidgin or other alternatives to manage chat accounts. This way, you can control when you are available(and not get contacted every time you log in).

Alternatively, just set your status to invisible!

OK, now GMail is no longer a distraction. No need to check it every now and then, just keep a tab open and as soon as new mail arrives, you will notice it in title bar. You can manage Google Docs, Calender right from your inbox.

Have any other tips? Do not forget to tell us via comments.

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