# Advanced Gmail tips

Managing email flow became part of workers (students, managers, even freshers) daily job. But, the email is not free - it is a hard task to read and respond to an email. see [https://hbr.org/2013/04/email-is-not-free#](https://hbr.org/2013/04/email-is-not-free).

In the above article, Tom Cochran identified that it cost **95 cents (of labor costs) per email**. So, if you have worked on 100 emails per week, then it is $95.

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Tip: Shallow email reading affects our attention residue and decrease task efficiency.
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## Email how-to

### 1 Sending email 📤

Always schedule send an email at least one hour. Of course, it depends on what work you do. I am a bridge designer, so one hour works for me.

![](https://3526924997-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MIgCXXRd_zYwMrU-RaQ%2F-MV-9ZF6JwJCos0Fqyhd%2F-MV-AqhvcRajGgC4vrhJ%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=edfcbe46-c101-4c74-a0f1-f28811f5c67b)

![](https://3526924997-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MIgCXXRd_zYwMrU-RaQ%2F-MV-9ZF6JwJCos0Fqyhd%2F-MV-Am5AA4fwUz5UI15n%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=ca46224c-2248-4a4e-893d-5888dcc99150)

#### Table - Email schedule template

| Scenario                       | Hours            |
| ------------------------------ | ---------------- |
| For sure emails and urgent     | 1 hrs.           |
| For sure emails and not urgent | 12 hrs.          |
| Not sure emails and not urgent | 24 hrs.          |
| Not sure emails and urgent     | Is it necessary? |

### 2 Creating a filter 

Let us say you want all your bank statements to go into the archive, then **`filter`** will do.

#### Method 1: Do it from the search bar

![](https://3526924997-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MIgCXXRd_zYwMrU-RaQ%2F-MV-9ZF6JwJCos0Fqyhd%2F-MV-Ay0GRqOCIo4qWFXO%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=6928fdfd-3ad6-47ec-b0af-5d0ed97e7788)

![](https://3526924997-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MIgCXXRd_zYwMrU-RaQ%2F-MV-9ZF6JwJCos0Fqyhd%2F-MV-B2TS9yDJp7N1vbj7%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=405d472a-9371-46a2-8f7e-4533d4ffbbcd)

#### Method 2: Do it right on the email

![](https://3526924997-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MIgCXXRd_zYwMrU-RaQ%2F-MV-9ZF6JwJCos0Fqyhd%2F-MV-BCVs6nG_p2aT417J%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=d440267d-66d0-4d14-b4c9-87e6aa74a6e2)

### 3 Labels 🔖

<div align="left"><img src="https://3526924997-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MIgCXXRd_zYwMrU-RaQ%2F-MV-9ZF6JwJCos0Fqyhd%2F-MV-Baojl2aurMD0kgPS%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=293ff9a3-4d57-4bcc-b697-0fcb7a59a921" alt=""></div>

#### Table - example labels for emails

| Name               | Description                                                |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **`work`**         | Job related                                                |
| **`friends`**      | Discussion with friends                                    |
| **`transactions`** | <p>bill receipts</p><p>bank transactions, trading etc.</p> |

### 4 Snooze ⏰

To get predictive responses use scheduling with snooze. It will activate the email after certain time. Email anxiety is real!

![](https://3526924997-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MIgCXXRd_zYwMrU-RaQ%2F-MV-9ZF6JwJCos0Fqyhd%2F-MV-DrDznpFHREJWUQh-%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=e2e84203-258b-4b91-b1f7-1317315e124f)

Snooze the email by the following time. If you feel anxious by various emails snoozing will help.

#### Table - snooze schedule

| Type           | Time            |
| -------------- | --------------- |
| Personal       | 12 hrs.         |
| Project email  | 12 hrs.         |
| Support emails | 2 business days |

## House keeping 🧹

#### Cycle time

Every three months, decide the mails that are essential and archive them. Discard the remaining. Four times a year.

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Would like something to be added, write to: `improve@janardhan.page`
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