After writing yesterday’s post, I am on a productivity kick!

So today, I wanted to continue the conversation about how to tackle your to-do list and share 3 tips for how to get to inbox zero.

When I share my screens at meetings, my coworkers are often amazed at how few emails I have in my inbox—and I promise it’s not because I have less work than they do! Getting to inbox zero is a regular occurrence for me—and I think it easily could be for you, too.

I feel a lot more in control of my life and what I have to get done when I have my inbox under control, and am always looking for new tips + tricks—so let me know if you have any great email hacks!

(A note that I manage my work, blog, and personal emails all the same way. I use Gmail for all three, so some of these recommendations are Gmail-specific.)

01. LEAVE ONLY EMAILS THAT NEED YOUR ATTENTION IN YOUR INBOX.

Yes, that’s right—leave only the emails that need your attention in your inbox.

If an email is FYI only, I skim it over, label it—I label everything because I am a #nerd, and then archive it.

If an email requires my response or someone asks me for a deliverable, I read it, label it, and leave it in my inbox until I have answered it or completed the task. Once I’ve typed my response and attached any necessary files, I send it using the send + archive button, which I’ve enabled on my Gmail to make it really easy to archive emails. You can read about how to enable that button in this tutorial.

But, Katie! I am worried about archiving an email that is time sensitive and may require my follow up or an email that was to someone notorious to not responding. How will I remember to follow up?

Enter: Boomerang for Gmail, aka my lifesaver.

Boomerang is a Chrome or Safari extension which will add a toolbar right below your send + archive button. When you send an email you might need to follow up on, all you have to do is check a box and select when you want that email to be “boomeranged” back to you if the person has not responded or opened that email by a time in the future you specify. You can set an exact date and time or select a more general time frame, such as tomorrow morning, two days from now, or a week from now.

Boomerang also allows you to schedule a recurring message, like a monthly timesheet reminder, and schedule emails to be sent at a later date.

On the free plan, Boomerang gives you 10 free emails a month, but I’ve found they really give you about 20. I upgraded to the Pro plan because I was using the service so much at work—it’s saved me so many times!

02. SIGN UP FOR UNROLL.ME.

I try really, really hard to not even end up on promotional email lists, but somehow, a few always sneak through—or I give out my email for the discount. But for my sanity, and my wallet, I am so glad I found Unroll.me.

Unroll.me allows you to see all of the subscription emails you’re enrolled it and easily unsubscribe, roll them up into a daily digest of all your promo emails, or leave them coming to your inbox as-is. It’s free and it’s been a lifesaver—especially for my blog email account.

03. LEVERAGE CANNED RESPONSES.

I recently got into the Gmail canned responses game, and it has saved me so much time. To enable canned responses in your account, follow this tutorial.

Essentially, a canned response allows you to easily insert a pre-saved email or section of one into the body of an email saving you from searching for it or re-writing it each time you need it.

For instance, on my blog, I receive many pitches that aren’t good fits for me, but since many brands are represented by PR agencies who have many clients, I try to always respond. As such, I have a canned response declining an opportunity that might not be the right fit, but asking them to please keep me in mind for future campaigns. I have another canned response to use when I am invited to an event that I can’t attend because of a prior commitment. At work, I do a lot of recruiting, which means sending the same emails to many different candidates—and canned responses literally saves me hours.

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That wraps up my top three tips for wrangling my inbox!
Let me know our best tip in the comments below. x