Overcome Email Bottlenecks: 4 Keys to Mastering Your Inbox 

My tip is learn to use email filters! Lots of email doesn't require a response, like order confirmations and stuff like that, you can easily make a filter to skip the inbox and archive and/or attach a label (in gmail). Other emails are not directed at me but only mention me in CC, I glance at the subject, decide if I need to read it, and archive it. If I do need to take action on an email I shift it to my google task list, then archive it. If it is on my task list, it doesn't need to be in my inbox anymore... Finally, every friday before I go home I archive everything that is read but still in the inbox.

Thanks for bringing up the inbox zero topic again. A clogged inbox is demoralizing! I took your advice after watching one of your earlier inbox zero videos and cleaned up *13 years* of emails. Over 20,000! It was so liberating! I cannot imagine having endless emails anymore. Thanks again.

So many great tips about organizing emails. I am going to put them all into action right now as I have my email open all the time. Starting with closing my email now and checking it in a few hours. Thank you so much.

This was just fantastic thank you! Keep up the great work and happy new year!

Steve... so guilty of the folders/labels issue. Will force myself to just archive and giver a go!

Thank you Steve this was just the thing I was looking for to manage my email better.

Very good information. I'm going to share this with others. Thank you.

Steve: You are a great teacher! I like most of your videos but this one is very helpful. Your presentation is articulate, succinct, informative, and motivating. Many thanks. I am going to apply many of your suggestions right away. All the best for your excellent work in helping us better use the technology which we have available to us. David Markham Brockport, NY

Great informative video Dotto Thanks for your videos please keep them coming.

Great advice. I must try using search more and labelling less. What I also do is forward ALL my emails to a separate email address. This is because when you delete an email by you may not be aware of its significance/importance until later (sometimes much later)! Maintaining a copy of all emails in a separate space can save you from over enthusiastic emailing culling!

11:25 I felt you were talking directly to me. I am guilty of having folders for different things. I am looking for solutions and you have given me some good ideas.

Thanks Steve. Great insight and advice.

Thank you. I needed the motivation to keep my email habits from slipping. My goal for Inbox Zero is to have zero emails in my inbox. I do pretty good at it or at least come close most of the time, but there are times when it gets away from me and I need to shape up.

Splendid advice, congratulated!

great video, thank you Steve

Thanks Steve 👍🏻

Excellent, as usual !

Great information - Inbox Zero. Thank you.

Very useful. Thank you

Woohoo!! I like your intent on momentum and focus!! And . . . I like your shirt! 😆😆 Thanks again Steve!

Thank you for producing this video. It is a great reminder to keep up the email discipline that makes time for other things! Good job!

The biggest note I found was email for external, Slack for internal and team communication. Hence, now we need tips to manage Slack! I lose tons of attachments sent through Slack.

Steve - Another great video. As you acknowledge at the get-go, many of us have heard these before but a refresher is always good. But where's Farley? You were there with just Mr.Bill in the room...

Thanks

Love the shirt!

Great episode! Bain of my life emails!! 👏🏻🎞🎬📸📹

I like your idea of being able to see "white space" at the bottom of the inbox. It seems to me that it's always good to have a few messages in there to remind you how it all works. Two years ago, I had to go through my husband's email account when he passed. Getting through 16,000 messages was overwhelming, but I began by sorting by "From". This allowed me to automatically see the "bounced" messages and other "junk". Once that was removed, I would gather the messages from his friends and put in a named folder. Gradually, I got to the messages that were left to be handled. If I had removed 100 messages, I knew it was time to move on to something else. It took me 2 months to get through it all, but I could see progress every day. When dealing with my current email accounts, I tell myself to delete 10 messages if there are no new ones. Once I've done that, sometimes I will continue until I reach a "round number", then move on to something else.

Rock on, nice video thanks!

Besides search, I use tags on Gmail (personal email) and categories on Outlook (work email), with colours, as an organizing tool for archiving instead of folders. You can use more than one for the same message if needed. It helps for the purpose of search also.

This is a great video but I don't find Gmail search that great because so many people don't, use subject headings effectively, so I still use staff folders...a la 1998 :/

Thank you again for another great video. Question: I use a Roadrunner email account and need to know how to move this same account to a new computer. I have searched and I know you will know! Thanks, Toni

It depends how many emails you have to deal with. A good email client helps a lot. I do not have business, for my personal emails I create folders for the most used. Search emails might be hard to find depend on the subject. I have few folders for most used people's emails and I use Thunderbird. If I buy something online and I get the confirmation email, I just right click on it and send to "my purchases" folder, later on I get the tracking number, right click and send to "purchases folder" again. Ten years later if I need to purchase the same thing again, I just go to my "purchase folder" instead of looking of thousand of emails. My boss said something that I did not agree, I went back 10 years ago and I got the email regarding that matter. I use Gmail and there's no extension to get it better, the best way is to use an email client software.

How many times a day do I check my 'real' postman type letterbox? All very logical and sensible - when I worked - now retired - I always closed my email 'portal' so I had to login again to check email - always a deterrent and made me think twice before logging in. cheers

Just found you...wow...great info..quick easy to the point...but here you talk about deferring an email to come back at a later date! How?

Love you channel.....awesome....!!!!

Great Vids

Wow 😲 Steve.. Thank you. You know our pain. Too bad I didn't watch you before I deleted ALL of them, ok? 😆. I started over and just saw your video😁 and I began to add a #6 when you said NO MORE FLODERS. iJa! Well, I just Crossed out #6. Thank YOU very much for your contribution to my education. Wishing Happiness, Health and Wealth. 😀👍

7:12 Ooo I discovered this one naturally. Is totally right though, deal with it in some way at least.

Late to the party, but am grateful for this.

Great video Steve - I'm also really liking your clean clear chapter headings and text boxes, mind if I ask what you use to create them??

Steve - thanks for the great email video - you made a comment about delegating emails and if you a system to track it. I currently use a BCC folder and go back to that at the beginning of each day. Do you have any suggestions on something that may work better? I am always following up on emails within my own organization of things that were delegated but were not completed.

I reply within a day’s time, whether it’s my boss or my customer. I never reply immediately if it takes at least 3 minutes to process and reply, else it’s replied immediately.

Steve - Excellent suggestions but there are a couple more items I would like to see addressed. Over the years I have subscribed to mail lists and they start to become overwhelming. There are a few that I have subscribed to not realizing I was subscribing. I will unsubscribe lists that I have no interest in following or don’t need any more, but what can you do about the sites that even when you unsubscribe, you still end up getting their emails. I don’t use Gmail I have my own business email (imap) and I am a Mac person, so currently I am using Apple Mail. I have found their spam/junk decision tree doesn’t work very well, so it’s turned off and I have to address these items individually. I would be interested in your thoughts and what others are doing about it too.

Nice video. I do have some concerns about tools like Slack and Teams though. They are more intrusive than email. Almost like someone walking in and immediately demanding attention. ANy tips on handling these tools? (I admit they are the future...)

Third after meetings and "work" : ))))

Aha. You probably archived my email 😉

Where r the filters on a iphone6. I dont have the word filter in my phone

How can I do a webinar

I dont have these choices that u r talking about, cant find the word filter at all. Looked in my settings, cant find the word filter, put in search box and nothing shows up, i have a iphone 6 and doesnt have all that u r talking about!! Help please

Hi Steve, my inbox has a little orange number beside it...14058. Should I just stop using e.mail?

Complete OFF-TOPIC Q: Do you happen to have a set of instructions for how to 'slice out' (for reference purposes ONLY) a starting and ending point in a video. This is separate and apart from inbedding a video. What I want to do is make remarks about a certain section of a video. Most of the videos on how to do this is at least 3 years or more older than 2019. Second, almost all of the methods I've tried to follow none -- work. They all lead to a 'something is wrong' purple and yellow page. Can you help or do a video regarding this. Thank you for your consideration.

Where do archived messages stay?

Dear dottotech, OT........Please HELP?? I have a Lenovo Ideapad 320 that operates on Windows, however, I don't utilize anything in Windows that I know of, except for Windows Defender Program that came with the computer. I use Gmail, and my search engine is Google. I usually take photos from my iPhone, then send them to my email. The email/computer system does a virus check as I try to download the photo that I sent to my email from my phone, or from Facebook, or from online somewhere. Then, the image in then saved in the download's section.****** 4 days ago it was confirmed that I do 'not' have Mcafee, as I always decline the pop-up. My last prompt had me clicking that my computer would continue to be scanned by windows defender which is free. This has happened several times over the course of years that I have been using this computer, maybe 4 years? So....I allowed Windows Defender to do its usual thing, whatever that is. 3 days ago, as I tried to send a photo to email and download, as usual, I keep seeing a "FAILED-VIRUS SCAN FAILED", AND THE PHOTO DOES NOT SHOW WHEN I OPEN UP MY DOWNLOADS FOLDER! ****** PLEASE HELP ****** WHAT CAN I DO TO FIX THIS?? ******

Spark. That’s how I conquer my email. The Spark email app is by far the easiest way to deal with email. Swipe to the right to save an email to Evernote. Swipe to the left to archive or delete. You can customize the swipe actions however you like. You can also “snooze” emails and schedule emails to send at a later time/date. You can also swipe to send emails directly to other apps/services like Todoist, Things 3, Bear, Trello l, MeisterTask, Apple Reminders, Asana, and others. Sending emails directly into an app/service is much nicer than forwarding emails. I highly suggest Spark. It’s available for Mac, iOS, and Android. Not sure about Windows, though. I sound like a Spark pitch man... but I’m not. It’s just a great app, especially if you’re an Evernote user. As for work emails... Slack. Hands down. No brainer.

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻from UAE 🇦🇪

Where’s the link to your email challenge?

tried to fuind the free course on the emails, but didnt... maybe i got lost? haha

Shirt ideas: - Have a Great Grey. - - Carpe Griseo. - You can have those. I’ve got more if ya want ‘em.

Message from 2023, outlook still sucks at search.

But Steve, folders help us organize.

When people will understand the email program is NOT a file manager, all we be good, Till then, good luck

Facebook is the biggest time waster

text

I am proud of myself having under 45 emails in my main gmail maibox, but my archive has 35,000 plus is this a problem? When should i delete the archived crap?