Searching your Gmail more quickly
Earlier this week I wrote up a post at Download Squad about a new browser plugin called CloudMagic that can speed up your already pretty speedy email searches in Gmail:
CloudMagic is a Google Chrome and Firefox extension which indexes your email locally on your computer, and provides ridiculously fast results when you search. The extension provides a CloudMagic search field right in Gmail with a shortcut key of Ctrl-/ (rather than just / for Gmail’s regular search field). It features search-as-you-type that seems to react instantly to your keystrokes, and uses many of the same search operators that Gmail already uses, so you don’t need to re-learn how to search.
On a large email archive it can take a few days to complete indexing, but the search speed it offers will be worth it for some people.
Read MoreAutomating email
This five minute video describes the most interesting new email-related idea I’ve seen in a few years. Hilary Mason, a computer science professor, has created some shell scripts (very simple software programs) that help her deal with some of the more common ways that dealing with email wastes her time.
On her site she says that she is working on making the scripts generic so that she can release them as open-source projects anyone can use.
I’d love to see smarts like these bundled into popular email clients and web mail products.
[ via Gina Trapani ]
Read MoreHow to get through a full but unread inbox: The 10% Rule
It’s one thing to have an inbox that’s full because nothing has ever been cleared out of it; it’s all stuff that has been read, but never filed. Dealing with that kind of overflowing inbox is fairly straightforward. But what if it’s full of unread messages?
For example, have you ever gotten back from a holiday to find your inbox filled to the brim with unread messages? How do you tackle it? What do you do when you know there’s no way you can get it down to zero in one or even a few sittings?
Read MoreHow to get through your inbox in Gmail quickly
Gmail has a feature called Labs, which allows you to turn on various experimental features. One of those experimental features is called Send & Archive, which basically changes your Send button to a Send & Archive button. So when you reply to an email and hit that button, your reply is sent and the message is automatically archived. Not bad, right? It helps you clear stuff out of your inbox.
But there’s a better way.
Read MoreHow quickly do you expect people to reply to your email messages?
More importantly, how quickly do you respond to messages in your inbox? Do you try to get back to people as soon as possible, or do you let messages linger for days or even weeks? Most of the advice I’ve read on the subject suggests trying to respond as quickly as possible, because it fosters a reputation of reliability, and paints you as someone who is on top of things. I tried that when I was working as a project manager, and it definitely succeeded on both counts. Also, because I can be a bit obsessive, sticking to the instant-reply strategy justified living in my inbox and keeping it empty.
Read MoreHelp! My inbox is overflowing, what do I do?
Hopefully I’ve convinced you that you need to get to an empty inbox. But if you’re staring at a seemingly insurmountable mountain of messages… what can you do?
Read More
My recent Download Squad posts
- Gain a superpower by learning to touch-type - Back to School 8/31/2010
- Every Google acquisition plotted on an infographic 8/26/2010
- CloudMagic searches your Gmail faster than Google can 8/23/2010
- iTunes Sleep Timer stops iTunes from playing all night 8/6/2010
- Divvy makes window management a snap on your Mac 8/5/2010