What’s the best email triage tip you have?
Currently humbled by my inbox
Currently humbled by my inbox
Comments
Setup a filter in gmail "Mark as read and archive"
Go and read through whats in that list every once in a while. or delete them all.
One issues is newsletters but after a while that can get unfiltered too
1. What went well
2. What didn't go well
3. What else should I know
I was caught up real fast. Then basically archived my inbox.
(I'm sure you have it much worse than I do, I just generally feel like it's a war worth winning.)
*u → shift+i → cmd+w
(only partially kidding)
My problem is I don't know when to delete/archive read emails. Always want to keep them "just in case" 🤦🏻♂️
s/delete/archive tho
For other cases, deleting emails might have less harmful effects.
I scan current date emails a couple of times daily. From a system? Skip unless it indicates a larger issue.
From my boss/project mgr/key vendor/colleague? Read it.
Anything else is noise or spam.
2. Snooze the ones that seem important
3. Bankruptcy https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:osqjxz5bk3jeavk4tvh3awv5/post/3lerhn24txs2e
Filter tips: https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/tools-and-tips/#filters
Meeting invite filters: https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/11387073?hl=en#filter_calendar&zippy=%2Clearn-how
If I faced anything like this, I'd eval:
• is this the best path to the real impact? Any multiplier effect?
• if it's high impact: maybe we need more people contributing here
https://www.hanselman.com/blog/one-email-rule-have-a-separate-inbox-and-an-inbox-cc-to-reduce-email-stress-guaranteed
Select all, and tag them.
Archive them as read (temporarily)
Blast through the others with keyboard shortcuts.
Unarchive the important batch and handle these.
Triage normally takes 10-60 mins to only have a handful of emails left.
One of the best rules is that if the email contains "unsubscribe" it goes right to the trash. Gets rid of almost all advertisements/marketing stuff.
- Select all the rest > Archive
Then, as days go by and new emails kick in: unsubscribe from the incoming newsletter I don't 💯 want
Now, I don't receive as many emails as you so take it with a grain of salt 😅
Anything non-urgent/important (“fyi” stuff), label “uninbox” and archive. Review “uninbox” periodically and update your filters with new patterns.
I just use "Newsletters" "Z Meh" "Z Meh/Receipts" (Z sorts it to the bottom). Examples:
Of course, this is no help if your challenge is actual requests from actual people (which is the main thing that jams up my inbox these days), but lolsob that's not an inbox problem!
Also, good to see you!
1. start with emails from my manager and above
2. Emails from my direct reports
3. Emails from a few important stakeholders I work closely with (a product manager, another manager, …)
4. Mark everything else as read, they’ll ask again if they need me
1. DMs
2. Mentions of me specifically
3. Group mentions I’m a part of
4. Threads
5. A few important channels
6. Mark everything else as read
Made a small guide here:
https://seanqsun.com/essays/fresh-new-inbox-setup/
Did you know it is also possible to have Gmail labels under other labels? That enables folder navigation structure for the Gmail sidebar. Combined with automated filters & categorization, it enables a lot more use cases.
For example:
Services
Services/Google
Services/Bluesky
Tasks/TODO
Tasks/DONE
Sometimes I mark email as TODO and archive it for the future instead of keeping it visible.
I’ve cleaned up a lot of notifications previously but I’m sure there are more sources of internal spam.