7 Great Things You Can Do With Gmail Multiple Inboxes
Gmail lab feature “Multiple Inboxes” allows you to have more than one ‘inbox’ in your default Gmail view. You can have up to 5 additional panels and set them to display labels, your starred messages, drafts or any search you want next to your inbox. Here is how to start using Multiple Inboxes and 7 great things you can do with it.
Enabling Multiple Inboxes and setting panels
First, to enable Multiple Inboxes go to settings > labs > enable multiple inboxes
Enable multiple inboxes
To set a pane (another inbox view) go to settings > Multiple inboxes.
Write a in one of the panes the search query you want to display.
Write your search query
Great, now that we know how to use multiple inboxes, here are a few possible uses for them.
Things you can do with Multiple Inboxes
1. Merge other email accounts
You can manage all your email accounts in one place. set a rule (or “filter” as Gmail calls it) to forward incoming emails to your active Gmail mailbox. Now, set a filter to label these emails (for example: email2) and make them skip the inbox. Create a new pane to display that label using this query:
Label:email2
From now on you will see all the emails you get to your other accounts in once place. After you reply to an email, remove the label so it will stop sowing up. (Remember that if you reply to a massage, the name and address that will appear in the “from” filed are those of the account you replied from from! you can set a custom “from” address to solve that problem)
2. To-do list
Set a pane to display a labal called ”to-do”. Whenever you are assigned a task by email, label it as “to-do” and archive it. That way, you can keep your inbox clean without missing any of your tasks or having to transfer them to external to-do list.
Use this query:
Label:to-do
3. Advanced to-do list
If you get a lot of tasks by email, you might want to take us and advanced to-do list. It works the same as the previous example, except that you have three levels of urgency: level1 (most argent), level2, and level3 (the least argent).
Set up three panes using the following queries:
Label:level1
Label:level2
Label:level3
4. Separate emails from important senders
Set a filter to assign the label “important” to emails from your most important clients. Create a pane to display that label, and Voilà! – Your top clients get top respond time.
Query:
Label:important
5. Separate emails by source
Got a blog or website? are you an active participant in online forums? Set a filter to label massages people send you through the contact form in your website, comments to your posts, or replies to your questions in forums, and set a pane to display it.
That way, you can separate work related emails form your website, blog or forums related emails and have more control over the time you allocate to each of them. You can do the same to separate alerts form Facebook or LinkedIn.
Here are example queries you can use:
from:Facebook
from:linkedin
<Your Blog’s Name> comment
6. Use Gmail as an ubiquitous notepad
Let’s say you want to document an idea you had, but also what it accessible from anywhere. Write it in a new email and save it. After saving a draft in Gmail, you can assign a label to it. Refresh the page and assign the label “notepad” to the draft.
Set a pane with the following search query:
label:drafts AND label:notepad
And there you have it – your document is available whenever you can access your email. keep editing and saving that draft. As long as you do not send it to anyone, it’ll keep serving you as a portable notepad.
7. Turn Gmail into a mini playlist
People send you songs by email? Set a pane with the following query and enjoy your songs every time you open your inbox:
.mp3 has:attachment
These are my ideas of how to use Multiple Inboxes. Have other ides? Tell me in the comments and I’ll add thme to the list!
More about multiple inboxes
- Organize Multiple Inboxes in Gmail by Wired How-To Wiki.
- Google Group for Multiple Inboxes in Google groups.
- How to use Gmail’s ‘Multiple Inboxes’ for extra Gmail accounts by Webware – CNET.
- The annoucment fo the new feature by the original Gmail blog
Related posts:
- How I Use Gmail Multiple-Inboxes Lab Feature to Manage E-mail Overload
- Roundup – Gmail, Google Reader, and other Google Tips and Practices
- Guest Post – Get Ready for Shopping Season: Collect Deals in Your Gmail Inbox
- Top 5 Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts to Boost Your Productivity
- Search Twitter with Google – It’s Great!
Great ideas. Thanks!
Multiple Inboxes? More of the same! According to Google, Gmail sucks 50% more than Outlook (3.1M vs. 2.2M search results).
sure Todd, I’m glad you liked it!
7 Great Things You Can Do With Gmail Multiple Inboxes http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
got this from a fellow tweeter about multiple inboxes, thought to pass it on : http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
When I reply to the forwarded email, the reply is addressed to my Gmail address. Is there any way to get the reply addressed correctly to the original sender?
Awesome job!
Love the ideas
thanks Hamid
Thomas – when I reply to an email it works fine, I always get the sender’s address and not mine…
the only time I get my address is when I sent the email.
are you sure that’s not the case ?
7 Great Things You Can Do With Gmail Multiple Inboxes. http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
test
7 Great Things You Can Do With Gmail Multiple Inboxes | ProductiveWise: Gmail lab feature “ Multiple Inbox.. http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
@ckendall Check these posts on uses for Gmail’s multiple inboxes http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya and http://viigo.im/22h
7 Great Things You Can Do With Gmail Multiple Inboxes http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
Great tips! It sounds like a “homemade” version of GTDinbox.
Thanks Martin, I’m glad to hear that!
Thomas – when I reply to an email it works fine, I always get the sender's address and not mine…
the only time I get my address is when I sent the email.
are you sure that's not the case ?
Things you can do with Gmail multiple inboxes http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
RT @labnol: Things you can do with Gmail multiple inboxes http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
"bt yet, it feels weird…" rt @labnol Things you can do with Gmail multiple inboxes http://tinyurl.com/b8sqya
Great article. However i miss few things in gmail multiple boxes feature.
1. Drag and drop feature where we can re-arrange inboxes
2. Minimize/maximize: This will help to minimize inboxes.
Graet one I already had tried and I liked
Its good that you wrote your exp, others wil find useful, cheers
thanks Jag!
7 Great Things You Can Do With Gmail Multiple Inboxes @labnol http://ow.ly/g1z
pieter
pieter