The OCD way to a Clean Inbox

My OCD Inbox

This is what my inbox looks like 99% of the time. During the course of a day I can get anywhere between 20-50 emails, which I’m sure many would consider lucky. However, seeing them pile up in the inbox can be overwhelming. Even if they are shown as read I prefer to have them archived and hidden knowing that the conversation is done or I am waiting for a reply. The benefit to my OCD is that it makes for a very organized and structured life, complete with labels, folders, spreadsheets and I figured I’d share some of the steps I take to make this work.

I’ll be demonstrating these steps using my google apps email account which is used for this website but I use the same methods for my regular gmail account, only with more filters and labels (friends, family, co-workers etc)…

Below are the steps I use to sort and organize all my mail with labels and filters which makes it incredibly easy to find any email afterwards. Gmail’s search bar is very powerful as well, but adding labels, filters or keywords to it can be extremely helpful. I’ve exported a few of my filters which you can find at the bottom of the post, that you, yourself can then import into any gmail/google apps account and use (as well as edit) to better suit your needs.

All labels in Gmail are sorted alphabetically but I’d like some to stay up at the top for quick reference. To do that, I add numbers in front of them. The @Contact, @Gmail and @Info represent any emails that come from my other accounts, that I forward to my google apps account. This lets me have all emails in one place to respond and organize from while adding the label for them let’s me know how the sender got in touch with me. The labels numbered 1 through 5 are where I store all the emails that I don’t have time to respond to instantly. THIS is the first step to having an clean inbox. You can name them whatever you like – numbering order doesn’t matter either but this keep the labels above all the others and works for me. Just a reminder, I use these to remind myself that I have to go back to these at some point soon. Once I’m finished with the email, I can remove one of these five labels and archive it.
1. Action Required – either replies or tasks that should be performed quickly (a bit more important that #2)
2. Follow Up – emails/inquiries I have to reply to
3. Upcoming – could easily be named ‘reminders’ (upcoming events: concerts to shoot, get together with a friend, travel information etc). Of course me, having OCD would also include this information within iCal as well
4. Awaiting – emails important enough where I’m waiting for a reply. If the email sits in this label/folder too long I know to write to them again if needed.
5. Opportunities – job opportunities or offers
The others listed below are pretty self-explanatory and about half of them are automatically sorted by the use of my filters. Once I’ve read and/or responded to an email, I simply archive it so it is hidden from my inbox.

The most powerful part of Gmail, in my opinion is their labels. Email services like Hotmail contain folders but that only lets you put an email in one category. Labels on the other hand, are like tags and don’t copy the email but rather, tag an email with as many labels as you like. I have hidden some of my labels in this post (personal, family, friends etc) but often it’s hard to place an email in just one category. By combining filters and labels together, your emails will automatically be ‘tagged’ by a label which allows for quick archiving and storing.

Google’s filters work through creating boolean operations, which for those that don’t know, are AND or IF statements. You also don’t have to limit yourself to filtering through emails. You can filter through subject, keywords, emails, attachments and much more. I’ve included 2 examples below to show what I mean.

Example 1: Automatically searching for images within an email

This filter will look for any image with the words listed which usually represent images.

If the 'image' label isn't already made, one will be created after finalizing the filter.

When working with booleans you work with an OR or AND statement.  OR can also be exchanged by using ” | ” this symbol.  AND means your email would require all requirements listed while OR looks for any of them.

Example 2: Separating messages from Social Networking Sites

Adding a * before the @ let

This will filter all emails coming from sites like Vimeo, Myspace, Flickr all into one label

*Let me note that I use Apple Mail to check and correspond from 95% of the time. I have a PC at the office which keeps me on google’s web page for my mail and I set up all my filters and labels within gmail rather than smart mailboxes in apple mail so all my mail can stay synced up wherever I go, or if I have to jump onto someone else’s computer. I will assume most people that use gmail + apple mail together know the benefits of IMAP but have included a link here just in case. *

Setting up your email this way is handy because while Apple Mail will transfer your labels into folders, if you don’t have filters set up and an email could be tagged as 3 separate labels, you’d have to copy that email into each folder.

I have exported a few of my filters for you to download, edit and/or use however you like. They include filtering images, music files, video files, purchases made from online sites and social networking sites. To import a filter into your gmail account, simply go to your Settings > Filters. Scroll down to the bottom and click on Import Filters. Locate the file you’ve downloaded from my site under browse and open the file.

*Update – some people have been having troubles importing filters into their gmail account.  Please make sure you enable this option in your google labs settings.*