Computers are great for a lot of reasons. One of these is their expert ability to save
you from clutter. Instead of an
overflowing file cabinet, you now have a folder that is likely titled “my
documents”. Isn’t it unfortunate then,
that within the neat and tidy electronic world, things can still get so
cluttered? Keeping an organized inbox,
what with all the spam out there and the rather chilling number of people that
could conceivably have your email address, can prove almost as time-consuming
as keeping an organized desk. Luckily,
thanks to the folks over at Google, you really have no need to worry about that
any more.
No point in deleting
With Google
Mail, or “Gmail” if you want to sound savvy, you are offered an amount of
cyber-space storage that is constantly increasing. Literally.
Once you sign up, you can watch the counter increase. Don’t ask me how hey do it, but what this
means is that you never have to worry about whether an email might be important
to have at some vague point in the future, because you don’t have to delete
anything. Instead, you clear it from
your inbox by adding it to your “archive”. It makes you a virtual pack rat with no draw backs. You might wonder how you keep your archive organized, but remember: this
is Google. Finding stuff is their bread
and butter. You simply search for any
number of key words from whichever email you want to find, and in less time
than it takes to double click, there it is, the subject line staring you in the
face.
Say goodbye to words you hate
The other
great feature Gmail gives you is the use of labels. A label is a filter you assign which
automatically places emails with the designated word or phrase in their subject
line in a folder safely separated from your inbox. Adding labels for words like “dear
subscriber,” “free money,” and “enlargement” have worked wonders
for the state of countless inboxes.
But what is spam?
One word of
caution. Everyone’s Gmail account comes
with an already functioning spam filter.
For the most part this is fantastic.
But Google’s method of identifying spam is not flawless. Occasionally, a potentially useful email from
an organization that you legitimately belong to will get identified as spam and
end up never seeing the light of your inbox.
But then again if you feel like you’re missing out you can always just
do a search for it.