Rethink What Email Can Do for You
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By giving you options far beyond one built-in workflow, Fastmail provides room for individuality and growth.
Email is central to our daily lives. Some of us use it simply: read new emails at the top, respond to important mail, and delete or archive the rest. That’s a solid process.
Some email users consider the most effective ways to create and complete tasks directly from email messages. Others want to set up processing systems that eliminate unwanted mail and prioritize what’s important automatically.
If you’re ready to rethink your workflow, we have some great tips for you. Learn how to find more focus, spare your inbox from non-essential emails, decide who can email you, quiet your notifications and more!
Flag mail to reply to at once
Replies require your attention, which means they slow you down while reading your mail. To keep moving, you can mark mail that needs a reply during your first read, and return to that stack when you’re ready to respond.
You can create a folder called “Replies” and move all mail that requires a response into this folder. Shift mail to the folder using “drag and drop” or keyboard shortcuts (“m” + start typing “Repli…”).
Or you can use the snooze feature to hold back mail until you’re ready to respond. You can keep snoozed mail together in a folder or you can schedule it based on your daily plans (i.e. You read mail in the morning and set aside time to reply at noon).
Only deliver important mail to your inbox
Fastmail rules and filters help you eliminate non-essential mail from your inbox. Set up rules that automatically send newsletters, receipts, or ads directly to specific folders. You can do this by sender, by subject, or any way that helps you sort mail.
Mail filtering also keeps similar mail items together. For example, if you want to pull up all your receipts from a certain store, you can simply open the folder or search for the label.
Reject mail from unknown senders
You don’t have to allow just anyone to email you. Approve senders before they get to your inbox using rules and filters. Rules and filters will automatically send mail from people not in your contacts list into a folder. You can call the folder “Approve senders,” or use the retro version, “Caller ID!”
Check this folder daily and you decide who you want to add to your contacts, so they go straight to your inbox, or who to block.
Calm your notifications
Constant notifications steal your attention and cause unnecessary stress. Make alerts work for you, and you’ll feel better informed and happy.
Control your notifications and get fewer alerts that are more relevant to you. For instance, you can only get notifications from the contacts you have designated as VIPs, like your friends or co-workers.
Do what’s best for you—no one else
Fastmail puts you in control of your workflow by giving you the tools to do things your way—be it simple and powerful, or new and inventive. We also let you focus on your workflow by taking care of your privacy, which we protect with features like asking before showing remote images or proxying tracking pixels to keep senders from tracking what you do with your email.
Any method you choose is your own email workflow. After 20+ years of mastering how email works, we can assure you whatever you do is useful and valid. We’re here to support you.
How do you use email? Tag us at @Fastmail on Twitter to share your method!