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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 15 of 15. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Dinah on August 16, 2008, at 12:54:39
My gmail inbox is an enormous mess. In my other email programs, you can sort things into folders, but this one uses labels, and I can never seem to use those labels to make any meaningful organization or sense.
Does anyone have any tips?
Posted by nfc on August 16, 2008, at 17:53:06
In reply to Any ideas about organizing gmail?, posted by Dinah on August 16, 2008, at 12:54:39
hi Dinah,
didn't know what you meant till i tried it for myself. yeah i dunno other than to get a yahoo email acct and have your gmail forwarded to your yahoo acct. that's what I do. i only got a gmail acct cuz my friend invited me. i guess u could email the gmail folks and tell them to improve their folder/label organization system.
nfc
Posted by chicklet on August 16, 2008, at 18:20:54
In reply to Any ideas about organizing gmail?, posted by Dinah on August 16, 2008, at 12:54:39
No tips, just shared frustration. ANd they're all hoity toidy about they're label system.
I also hate how they group conversations. it can be confusing and I've missed emails that way.
Got onto a message board about gmail and they said there's no way around it (the grouping).I guess that's why it's still a beta.
There are some things I really like but a few that really get my goat. Give a message board a try.
:(
> My gmail inbox is an enormous mess. In my other email programs, you can sort things into folders, but this one uses labels, and I can never seem to use those labels to make any meaningful organization or sense.
>
> Does anyone have any tips?
Posted by Dinah on August 16, 2008, at 22:43:29
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail?, posted by chicklet on August 16, 2008, at 18:20:54
Thanks chicklet.
I guess it's because they insist in their instructions that labels not only take the place of folders but are better than folders, I figured that it must be me who wasn't using them right. If others have the same problem I won't feel so bad about it. I hope they fix it. It's not like they couldn't have both. It's just that we'd have more than one place to hold the messages.
I both like and don't like the way they group messages. I've missed a few critical emails myself because of it.
Posted by Dinah on August 16, 2008, at 22:46:47
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » Dinah, posted by nfc on August 16, 2008, at 17:53:06
Thanks, nfc. I have such a huge volume, and I like some of the things about gmail. So I suppose I just need to follow the same procedure I have to follow at work. All emails have to be disposed of one way or another. Either by placing them in the proper place (maybe by forwarding them to Yahoo) or by deleting them. I think I could definitely work on deleting them. I've spent about an hour on it tonight, and am just getting below two thousand. Another few hours, and I should have it licked. Then I just need to do it regularly.
Posted by nfc on August 17, 2008, at 6:21:24
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » nfc, posted by Dinah on August 16, 2008, at 22:46:47
wow 2000 emails!!! good luck and w/ gmails' labeling system, more good luck.
nfc
Posted by Dinah on August 17, 2008, at 8:48:02
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » Dinah, posted by nfc on August 17, 2008, at 6:21:24
I've just never bothered deleting anything, since the capacity is so huge. That's obviously a mistake. :)
By the time I finish deleting, I'll be down to a very manageable number.
Google mines your gmail messages for information, right? Maybe that's why they give such huge capacity.
Posted by Phillipa on August 17, 2008, at 12:32:22
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » nfc, posted by Dinah on August 17, 2008, at 8:48:02
Don't think I have gmail but my deleted mail needs to be emptied in the thousands also. Better do it. Phillipa
Posted by nfc on August 18, 2008, at 6:36:52
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » nfc, posted by Dinah on August 17, 2008, at 8:48:02
hey Dinah ,
what did u mean by "Google mines your gmail messages for information?" does that mean they're prying into my emails? hmmmm....hope not.
nfc
Posted by Dinah on August 18, 2008, at 7:15:38
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » Dinah, posted by nfc on August 18, 2008, at 6:36:52
I don't understand it all myself. I think they do a word recognition or something, so that they can better match you to your advertisements. Don't they do the same with their google searches? It's not quite reading our mail, but I find it a bit unsettling.
Posted by Partlycloudy on August 18, 2008, at 10:16:20
In reply to Any ideas about organizing gmail?, posted by Dinah on August 16, 2008, at 12:54:39
I either archive an incoming email after I've read it and it doesn't need to be responded to; delete it if it's something I don't want to ever look at again, or mark it with a star if it's something I need to take action on, or has information that I might want to refer to in the future. This last bit has helped quite a bit when I've needed to look an old message up - you can filter all the starred messages and it's *fairly* easy to find what I'm looking for.
I use the sorting/filter when I need to look something specific up. It lets you use keywords which is an advantage.
PartlyCloudy
Posted by Dinah on August 18, 2008, at 10:30:58
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » Dinah, posted by Partlycloudy on August 18, 2008, at 10:16:20
What does archiving do? I think I accidentally archived things instead of deleting them, but I don't see them anywhere so maybe I'm wrong.
I think the star would take care of my most urgent problem. I tend to glance at emails even when I don't really have time to deal with them unless the sky is falling. Then I lose them in the inbox. If I disciplined myself to put a star on them, and then disciplined myself to look for stars regularly, I wouldn't lose them.
Overall, though, I think that the way it is organized doesn't mesh very well with my brain. My brain tends to shy away from that much data. Folders and subfolders tend to break it down into chunks I can digest at a glance.
I confuse people at work though. Apparently some people find my folders and subfolders and sub sub folders as confusing as I find a mass of information. :)
Posted by Partlycloudy on August 18, 2008, at 10:40:11
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » Partlycloudy, posted by Dinah on August 18, 2008, at 10:30:58
> What does archiving do? I think I accidentally archived things instead of deleting them, but I don't see them anywhere so maybe I'm wrong.
>Archiving moves the messages from your inbox into Gmail's memory - all lumped together. At least it takes the messages OUT of your inbox, which is what I seem to need. Just seeing a plethora of messages, even if I've already read them, sitting in my inbox, is enough to fill me with anxiety. I feel the need to keep that inbox uncluttered.
> I think the star would take care of my most urgent problem. I tend to glance at emails even when I don't really have time to deal with them unless the sky is falling. Then I lose them in the inbox. If I disciplined myself to put a star on them, and then disciplined myself to look for stars regularly, I wouldn't lose them.
>
> Overall, though, I think that the way it is organized doesn't mesh very well with my brain. My brain tends to shy away from that much data. Folders and subfolders tend to break it down into chunks I can digest at a glance.
>And I tend to lose things in folders! Or at least forget which folder I might have put something in.
> I confuse people at work though. Apparently some people find my folders and subfolders and sub sub folders as confusing as I find a mass of information. :)
>Hey, if it's a system that your mind finds soothing (and to me that's what organization is all about, forget efficiency), then your folders are the right tools for you. I found that once I was able to visually clear out my inbox, I felt less anxious about the huge volume, because I didn't have to look at it any more, yet I know that everything is still accessible by keyword search.
PC
Posted by Dinah on August 18, 2008, at 11:11:41
In reply to Re: Any ideas about organizing gmail? » Dinah, posted by Partlycloudy on August 18, 2008, at 10:40:11
I think Archive might help!
It'll at least let me get out of the way things I might want to keep for a while or forever, but that I don't need to address. That was my big issue. I don't like keeping anything in my inbox that doesn't need to be addressed.
Thanks!
Posted by Kath on August 28, 2008, at 14:14:53
In reply to Any ideas about organizing gmail?, posted by Dinah on August 16, 2008, at 12:54:39
I like Gmail but also share the BIG frustration about there not being folders!!!
:-(( Kath
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