7 Gmail Tips from a Former Google Employee
These Gmail tips will help you save countless hours per week on email.
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Emails are everywhere.
According to the McKinsey Institute, we spend close to a third of our work time managing emails.
To help you tame your email, Rodolphe Dutel shared his 7 favorite Gmail tips that he learned while working at Google.
They will help you save many hours per week on email.
#1 Enable “Undo Send”
Ever spotted a major spelling mistake right after hitting “Send?” Fear no more! Undo Send help you stop your email from sending for a few seconds so you can modify it.
Find it in Gmail’s Settings > General menu.
#2 Use Canned Responses
A surprising percentage of the emails we write are somewhat similar or refer back to something we’ve already sent recently.
Compose then save your Canned Responses so that you can retrieve them and reuse them at a later time.
To enable canned responses, find the option in Gmail > Settings > Labs > Canned Responses.
#3 Use Gmail Offline
Disconnect and focus on creative tasks while referencing back to communications and documents that live in your inbox.
For all those train rides, WiFi shortages, or sailing trips, use Gmail Offline, a Gmail app built to support offline access, allowing email to be read, responded to, searched, and archived without network access.
#4 Pause Inbox to Minimize Distractions
The “Inbox (1)” can be very distracting! With time, more emails keep coming in and it‘s tough to stay focused on what you are doing.
Use Inbox Pause, allowing you to work in your own time by holding emails back so they won’t appear in your Inbox until you are ready for them. “Pause” your Inbox, work, then “Unpause” to fetch all new messages.
#5 Unsubscribe
We’re all on numerous mailing lists, and taking control of it can make a nice difference in your Inbox.
Unsubscribe instantly from whatever you don’t want: email groups, newsletters, and other email clutter your inbox. Keep only what you read, everything else must go
#6 Use Two-Factor Authentication
The best way to keep your Gmail safe is by activating two-factor authentication, which means that you’ll need both your password and a unique code (via an app or SMS) to access it.
BONUS: another security tip to keep for Gmail users who connect from other computers is to be aware that other sessions can be running elsewhere. You can check whether your Gmail has been open elsewhere, and possibly log out with one click
#7 Get Context with Gmail Notifications
When we use WhatsApp, we get delivery notifications. Facebook Messenger has delivery notifications. When you use Gmail with Boomerang (a freemium app), you can get those too.
It takes a lot of guesswork out of emails. Just like with Whatsapp or Facebook, getting context about whether people might have received, read and/or interacted with your email is invaluable!