Have you ever found yourself looking at your inbox and wondering what to do with the thousand unread emails?

A squirrel finds out their inbox has 3502 new unread emails and runs away

Don't worry, we've all been there. But running away is not the answer! In just 3 steps, you'll be able to tame your inbox 😎

1. Set Up Mail Filters

Flaticon Icon Some emails are worth reading, some aren't. To be sure you only have relevant emails in your inbox, you can use filters.

Every time you see an unimportant email in your inbox, set up a filter that sends anything from that sender to a junk or spam folder. They'll never bother you again!

You can set filters with Gmail or other email services. Learn how to set up filters with Gmail following their tutorial.

2. Unsubscribe, Unsubscribe, Unsubscribe!

Unsubscribe from every newsletter you get, unless you really need it.

But do you really, really need it?

After the decision to keep only one newsletter ("Just this one, who knows, it may be useful someday...") it won't be long before your inbox will turn into the Dursleys' house, flooded with Hogwarts letters!

harry potter GIF

If you scroll to the bottom of a newsletter, you'll find the "unsubscribe" link. Select it and you'll be rid of that newsletter in a click or two!

3. Don’t Touch Twice

As a rule of thumb, never open an email twice, and never leave an email in your inbox for longer than a single day. 

For every email you encounter, choose whether to:

  1. Archive it immediately if it doesn't require any action.

  2. Reply immediately and archive it, or filter it and archive it, if you can do so in less than two minutes .

  3. Snooze itif you need some time to think about it or you can't reply right away.

An animated graphic of an email account being sorted on a phone app

Quiz

You just received a new email from a coworker asking you to help them with a task. Now what?

Take Action

It's time. Don't be scared!

Go through your inbox and smash that unread count down to zero.

With each unread email:

Done? Enjoy your inbox zero, close everything and relax!

A man relaxing outside. His laptop rests in his lap while he stretches out.

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