These features make email management easier.
Gmail is the hub for managing my business and the browser tab I spend the most time in. But Gmail is only as powerful as you make it. Here are 5 features I use that make Gmail more effective.
Snooze
A cluttered inbox is an unusable inbox. Snooze makes it easy to prioritize emails. If I don’t have the information required to respond to an email or know that I won’t be able to address it until a certain date, I snooze the email until then. This takes it out of the inbox until the snooze date/time.
Scheduled Send
There are a handful of emails I need to send every week or once a month. It’s easier to batch these and send them at later dates. Gmail’s scheduling feature makes this possible.
A couple of ways I use this feature are:
- Create invoices in a batch and then schedule them to email on the dates they are supposed to be sent.
- I have to send a script to my wife once a week for part of her podcast. I usually forget until she’s already recording and asks me for it. With scheduling I can set the email up to send on Monday morning of the week it needs to be sent.
To use scheduling, click the up arrow next to Send in any email to see your options.
Canned Responses
While these are called Canned Responses, think of them as canned emails. They can be used as templates for emails you send frequently. Here’s a tutorial.
Smart Compose
Smart Compose is a controversial feature. I didn’t like it at first but adjusted to it within a few days. Basically, as you type is suggests the end of your sentence. If you like the suggestion you just hit the space bar to autocomplete it. Here’s an example:
Again, it takes a while to get used to this. But it definitely speeds up your email response time.
Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication will help keep your account safe. You can use an app-based authenticator, but a physical security key is faster and more secure. See how to set this up here.
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