If you are a regular Gmail user, you have seen the introduction of the Gmail tabs that allow you to better organize your emails based on the topic at hand. While this type of organization might be useful for some, Gmail users have always had the ability to organize emails in terms of labels and filters more based on what is of primary importance, secondary, and of little to no important. In this video, we want to show you how to combine the use of tabs with labels to make the best option possible with Gmail.
Using Gmail Tabs
The tabs option is a new standard feature for Gmail that automatically will show up for you with categorizations for you to use. There is no need to setup a filter or add emails to this list as Google has automatically decided with an algorithm which emails are social, promotional, and updates. Here are some of the positives and negatives of these tabs.
The Positives
The nice part about this feature is that it removes them from your inbox so that you can focus on what is important. If you have time to explore the rest of the emails, it is a simple click away. Even better, you can simply add more tabs or remove those that you do not want quickly. (See the video on how to do this)
The Negatives
The problem is that you did not decide what goes in those tabs. You may miss some critical emails because they were filed away incorrectly, never to be seen again. At the same time, you have no control over what goes into the social tab and are limited on only the categories provided to be tabs.
Using Gmail Labels
Gmail has always had the ability to use labels and filters to do exactly what tabs are doing now. The process to set it up and the control you have over the labels is different, but the benefits of them are truly spectacular. Here are the positives and negatives of labels.
The Positives
You have ultimate control over spam, less than priority emails, and something you need to read right now. At the same time, you could completely mimic what Gmail has done, but with greater accuracy and a wider category selection that you customize. You can also set filters to auto-archive and auto-mark read so that you never need to see them until it is important.
The Negatives
While it is powerful and flexible, the labels are off to the left side with minimal visibility making it difficult to refer to them. At the same time, manually setting up labels can be a lot of work that may be cumbersome and limiting if you do not know what you are doing.
The Solution
Use filters and labeling in combination with the tabs so that you get the benefits of the visibility with the tabs but can filter out all of the unnecessary emails from social media or spam from specific emailers. At the same time, consider using labels for already read emails for later referencing when needed as a referral.
Outside of labels and Gmail tabs, what do you do to have better email organization within Gmail and achieve the famous inbox:zero.
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