Gmail has a user base that is almost 20% of the world's population, and those
1.5 billion people have a lot of
untapped email productivity potential.
That's why I set up a bunch of dummy
accounts to show you my favorite tips and tricks for Gmail.
Ok, how many people have their "real" e-mail
account and their spam e-mail account?
Like when you want to sign up for a
newsletter, but you don't want to see it
constantly. You can create separate e-mail
addresses using one main address just by adding a plus sign after your address.
So my address is DainEvansCNBC@gmail.com.
If I want to sign up for the CNBC newsletter, because why wouldn't I,
I just us DainEvansCNBC+newsletters@Gmail.com.
The newsletter will still come to my inbox,
but I can filter it out really easily so I don't get overwhelmed.
Gmail's filtering systems super detailed.
Basically, you can filter your emails on
almost anything within an email which is
helpful for categorizing and prioritizing
emails. Let's say I get a lot of emails from my family and they always sign off with 'love you'.
These are super important emails, but can be addressed at a later date.
You can set up a filter to put any emails
with 'love you' in them to skip your inbox and go right to your 'Family' folder.
\You can follow up when you have the chance
and those emails aren't mixed in with your professional stuff.
This works super well with spam that Gmail
doesn't automatically filter out.
You can even create filters within an email.
Just click the menu button and select filter
messages like these.
I send a lot of emails after work hours,
which means I either have to put those
emails into a document or save them in my
draft folder and remember to send them the
next day during work hours, like we live in the Stone Age or something.
Now all you have to do is type out your message, click that little arrow next to the send button and pick a time to send it.
Similarly on mobile, just click the three dots next to the send button, tap 'send later' and pick your time.
But Google says that mobile features coming in the next few weeks.
OK, this one has saved me so many times.
See this?
'Dear Dain, I'd like to discuss giving you a million dollars. Sincerely, Jade.'
I respond, 'Dear Jane, that's incredible.
I'm so happy to have the opportunity to receive a million dollars. Sincerely, Dain.'
I hit the send button, but I have a bad feeling about it.
I can hit 'Undo,' and the email will open back up for one last look.
I misspelled Jade's name and that might have hurt my chances at a million dollars.
Of course, this has tons of practical uses based in reality. To
turn on this feature, just go into your settings and set the duration of the undue
period. Mine is at 30 seconds, which gives me plenty of time to remove mistakes.
This feature came to our inboxes in Google's 2018 update.
It lets you hold off on replying to less urgent emails.
Say you get an email from a client saying
they don't have an answer for you right now, but to check back next week. Lest
ye forget to follow up, you can snooze the email until next week and it will pop back up in the top of your inbox.
Now, do you ever find yourself replying in the same way to multiple emails?
You can turn on canned responses to fly
through those repetitive emails. Go into your settings, click on advanced and enable canned responses.
Then once you've drafted your email, just
click the menu button in the compose window, click canned responses and save your template.
You can use those canned responses along with email filters to send automated responses.
Say you're hiring an assistant and receiving a bunch of application emails.
You can set a filter for 'assistant' and select your canned response, 'Thank you.'
Any email that has the word 'assistant' will be sent that thank you email.
This is less of a trick and more of a tip.
I've gotten so many confirmation emails and reservation emails from people with similar
addresses who just forget to put in the periods. Some email providers considered the period in the official address.
Google does not.
Use 'em, don't use 'em. It doesn't matter.
Now do you frequently email the same group of people. like for a team project?
You can compile those email addresses into a group in your contacts so you don't have to add all of those people each time.
For this one you're going to have to leave Gmail and go to your Contacts page.
There you can select who you want in the group and create a label for that group.
Just go to Gmail, compose a message and start typing the group name.
It will show up and everyone in that group will be emailed.
Here's another feature that rolled out in the 2018 redesign.
Smart Compose will predict what you're about to type so you don't have to type it.
See, I say things like, 'let me know if you have any questions,' and Gmail predicts this. So I just start typing and press tab for it to autocomplete.
And with an even more recent update, Google
said Smart Compose is even more personalized, predicting your next move with even more precision.
See, there's more to Gmail than meets the eye.
Play around with these and the many, many more features that are available on Gmail.