5 Gmail Hacks to Become a "0" Inbox Ninja

1.) Use Categories to Have Multiple Inboxes

Some of my colleagues and students have not hundreds, but thousands of emails. With so much spam and promotional items coming in, separating them can be a task. 
Select the gear box and select "settings" 

Simple go to the settings drop down page in your gear cog and select multiple inboxes. I like "social" and "promotional" and just focus on getting my primary inbox (which are direct emails) down to "0" by the end of the day. 

2.) Use the Drop Down Search
Most new users to Gmail type a colleague's name in the search box in gmail. This is OK, but is very general as a search filter because if you search for 'John Smith', you'll get every email that was sent to him and by him.
The drop down arrow gives you feature of being able to filter emails from/to senders/recipients. 

 However, many people don't know that you can search for emails from specific people and also through key words, and within specific time frames.


3.) Customize Through "Labs" 
In the gear cog under "settings" select the labs page and add widgets around your inbox. Consider adding Google calendar as a reminder of things to do throughout the day, a chat function and also themes to change with the year.
The "labs" function gives a number of settings that most users overlook. 

4.) Rockstar Add-Ons
Add ons are ways that you can add some functionality to your platform. Here are some of my favorites: 

  • Rapportive: This shows a quick snapshot to the senders Linkedin profile. 
  • Boomerang: Want to schedule an email to be sent later or on a schedule? 
  • Gmail Sender Icon-This shows a small snapshot of the sender's custom icon on your inbox. 

5.) Start Using Labels

Labels are different colors with titles that can be amended with divisions, or department. Simple click on the email and go to the label function and drop down to existing labels and colors or "add new". I like this because it gives a color to emails that are easy to scan for without doing a drop down search.

Label a sender to a specific group or "create new". 


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