Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.
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43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.
My email diet
Merlin Mann | Sep 9 2004
I love using Gmail, but until it works with my über IMAP acount, I wouldn't seriously consider switching over. Still, Gmail's made me see the value of having very few actual folders for storing new and archived mail. It makes it much easier to track and organize your mail on the fly, plus Google's search and labeling tools let you confidently shunt items out of your inbox constantly without fear of having stuff disappear. So I decided to try a little experiment. I took all the messages I had in almost 50 nested IMAP directories (what can I say: I grew up on Eudora) and threw them into a single new "archive"? folder. So far, it’s working great. Here’s my flow:
It’s simple, super-fast, and keeps my inbox what it should be—a bare receptacle for holding unprocessed stuff. It also really simplifies the multiple mailbox selections needed to show threads correctly. Instead of having to grab all those nested folders, I just need to select three or four now. The two things that are not very Gmail-like about this, of course, are the search quality (come on, Spotlight!) and the missing neato labeling (I never thought I’d actually miss Entourage). So we’ll see how well this ages and scales over time, but so far it seems like a go. How do you process your mail? Any killer tips? 23 Comments
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When I send something to...Submitted by David Phillips (not verified) on September 10, 2004 - 9:49am.
When I send something to archive I typically edit it for conciseness and add keywords and phrases to make it easier to find later. A correspondent may not use the same terms I would choose, or they may abbreviate or otherwise leave out helpful information, so I add it myself. When I originate a message that has lasting value (to me) I send a BCC to my archive. (Instead of relying on my Sent folder and letting it grow huge.) » POSTED IN:
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