Two weeks ago, I cleaned out all of my email inboxes and rearranged how I am sorting things. (I’ve dug up some old posts for reference: Be a GMail Superstar, Parts 1 and 2.) I’m still using stars, multiple inboxes and filters, but my inboxes have changed. Now, they go:
Yellow stars: Respond within 48 hours
Green stars: Respond within the week
Purple stars: Take care of sometime this month
Blue stars: Reference emails
Orange stars: Healthy Living Summit (because we’re fully into 2013 planning mode!)
I take some time every afternoon to respond to the yellow starred emails. Every few days, I skim through the green stars (“Respond within the week”) to see what needs to be moved to the yellow folder (“Respond within 48 hours”), and I completely clean that one out at the end of each week. Similarly, the monthly inbox gets reviewed each week, and completely cleared at the end of the month.
Filters, stars and multiple inboxes are your friends. Don’t be afraid to use them!
How are you getting your online life organized?
Other great email organization posts:
Simple tips for dealing with email, Elise Blaha
Conquer your overflowing inbox, Then Heather Said
How I declutter my inbox with Gmail filters, Simple Organized Living
How to use email templates or canned responses, The Crafty Mummy
Helpful tips to customize Gmail and increase productivity and organization at work, New Media Campaigns
I LOVE that! I had no idea you could do different color stars!
It is a HUGE help!
i love gmail + multiple inboxes + stars. i use a similar system to yours for organizing. now i just need to get better about sitting down and dealing with them.
That’s the next big step!