Gmail recently added two new Labs that will definitely help with the organization and efficiency of your inbox. These new Labs are a must for your inbox! The first one is called Nested Labels, and it allows you to file your Labels in an organized hierarchy. To enable this Lab, click on Settings in Gmail, click on Labs, find Nested Labels and click on enable. Once enabled, you will need to name your new "child" label with a slash (Mailing-Lists/Disney, Mailing-Lists/Enigma, etc.). This is a great feature for multiple newsletters and family emails, and will save time when searching for a specific email. However, Gmail does note that this Lab does not play nicely with the Hide Read Labels Lab, the collapse/expand icons won't always appear when they should.


The second new Lab is called Message Sneak Peek and is going to be a real timesaver! Instead of actually opening each new email, you can now see a preview of the message. To enable this Lab, click on Settings in Gmail, click on Labs, find Message Sneak Peek and click on enable. Once enabled, simply right click on an email and a preview pane will pop up allowing you to quickly review and determine what to do with that message. Simply hit the Escape key to exit the preview pane. The message will remain in Unread status until it is actually opened.
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think of the new Labs.

Once your inbox is organized with Labels and Filters, there are a few features in Gmail that can be added to further increase your email efficiency. These are all called Labs, and can be found by clicking on Settings, and then Labs. Find each Lab in the list and simply click on the "Enable" radio button.

Custom Label Colors

This Lab will provide an array of colors to code your Labels. For example, you may want to code your Urgent folder red, and your Twitter folder light blue. To assign a color, click on the left arrow in front of the Label name and choose a color. By associating a color with a Label, you can quickly identify the Label you need.

Hide Read Labels

This Lab hides all of the Labels in your inbox until a new message arrives. Once a new message arrives and the filter places it in the designated Label, the Label will appear bold and show the number of messages in that Label. You can always click on “# more” to view all of your Labels if you need to access them. These will keep all of your Labels out of your peripheral vision, which is a distraction.

Superstars

This Lab allows you to code each message with different icons, such as a colored star, checkmark, or information icon. These coded messages will stand out in your inbox or in a Label. To code a message, just click on the empty star in front of the Sender’s name. Continue clicking until you reach the icon you want for that message. You can also search starred messages by clicking on “Starred” at the top of your inbox or in a specific Label. All messages with an icon will be highlighted.

These Labs will help you to quickly identify what type of messages arrive, what needs to be read immediately or later, and star important messages for quick indexing, saving time and increasing your email efficiency.

Organizing your inbox is the single most important task to increase your email efficiency. It can also be the most daunting. It’s a new year, what a better time to stop wasting your time in your inbox!
The key to an organized and effective inbox is to set it up to work for you. Spend some time evaluating your inbox. Who are the emails from? What is important? What is priority? What is information only? What needs to be responded to? What can be unsubscribed to?
After answering these questions, make a category list (called Labels in Gmail) that each email can be filed under. For example: Priority, Twitter, Marketing, Newsletters, Family, etc. It’s important to try and keep your Label list to a minimum, for maximum efficiency.

Once you have determined your Label names, you’re ready to set them up.

• Click on Settings
• Labels
• Scroll down to the second section titled Labels
• In the “Create a New Label” box, type your first Label name and click Create.

Continue this process until all of your Labels are created. Next, add filters to help organize incoming email messages.

• Click on Settings
• Filters
• Create a New Filter
• Enter your criteria for the Filter, such as who the email is from or the subject.
• Click on Next Step, and here you'll enter the action of the Filter.
• Check the "Apply the Label" box and select the designated Folder from the drop down menu.
• I highly recommend checking the box "Skip the Inbox". This will automatically place incoming email into the designated Folder.
• Check the box next to Create the Filter “Also apply filter to conversations below”, and click on Create the Filter.

Repeat this for your remaining Labels. Your new Labels will appear on the left-hand side of your Inbox and when a new email is received, it will be placed into the Label and the Label name will be bolded. Gmail also notifies you of how many unread emails are in each Label, in parentheses next to the name. Your Inbox is now cleaned and organized. You will probably add to your Labels, and it may take some trial error before you get it set up exactly the way you want it.

Next week, Organizing Gmail with Labels & Filters Part 2 will cover more tips to increase your email efficiency.

If you have multiple email accounts (and most of us do) you will love this Gmail feature.  It’s one of my favorites.  Gmail allows you to import up to 5 webmail or POP3 email accounts.You won't have to log in and check emails on multiple locations.  You’ll have one location as a dashboard for all of your email accounts.

To begin pulling your emails into Gmail, click on settings from your inbox:

• Accounts and Import
• Import Mail and Contacts
• Then the feature guides you through the complete setup.

You will also need to set up the Send Mail As feature to send email from these additional accounts.  To utilize this feature, click on settings from your inbox:

• Accounts and Import
• Send Mail from Another Address
• Select the “Reply from the same address the message was sent to” option to automatically send from the address the email was sent to.
• When composing a new email, you will now have a drop down menu in the From field with all the email addresses that you’ve set up and can select which one to send from.

This is a great email management tool and has proven to be a real time-saver for me.  No more sending and receiving from my desktop client or searching multiple accounts trying to find an email.  Let us know how it works for you or if you need help!

Who isn’t suffering from email overload these days?  We have multiple accounts with all types of information; client requests, newsletters, social media invites, teleseminar notices, friend and family forwards, etc.  Since email is now the primary form of communication, the amount we receive is not going to decrease, so we can only find a better way to manage it. 

There are many options available in email clients, both in desktop and web-based.  I’ve worked with many of them over the years and Gmail has won me over.  Once I switched to Gmail and really started utilizing its features, managing my email became more efficient. The set-up is simple, it’s user-friendly, and your inbox can be organized in no time.

Utilizing a web-based email client has several benefits:

• if your computer crashes all of your emails won’t be lost
• you regain valuable computer memory (lots of it)
• and it’s faster (time management)

Working virtually and being a very organized person, I needed a solution for email efficiency and Gmail provides it.  In my opinion, Gmail is simply the best web-based email client available.  I recommend it to all of my colleagues, as well as my clients.

Gmail offers almost 7,400 GB of storage for free and so many features to organize and manage your inbox. I’ll be discussing some of these features in the next few weeks to help you manage your email overload.  In the meantime, please share your comments about Gmail.