How to achieve inbox zero

What is inbox zero?

Inbox zero is a way of managing your email so you can be calmer and more productive. There are lots of slight variations on the method, but all aim to reduce anxiety and distractions, and increase productivity and feeling in control.

Should I change how I manage my email?

With over 25 years experience hosting the better email service, we’ve found that there are many, many different ways people like to manage their email. And that’s OK! If you like what you currently do, there’s no need to change. Fastmail offers the power and flexibility to comfortably handle many different workflows.

If you’re struggling and feeling out of control though, give this a try. We’ve found it a highly effective way to manage your mail.

The Fastmail method for better email

The setup

Create a “To do” folder. This is for messages you still need to action in some way.
Turn on notifications just for your VIP contacts. If there are people you need to action messages from straight away, hit the star on their contact to make them a VIP. No one else should interrupt you while you’re concentrating on something else.

The workflow

Periodically, check your inbox. We recommend just doing this at set times in the day, so you have plenty of distraction-free focus time. Remember, you’ve turned on notifications from your VIPs, so if you weren’t pinged, it can wait a few hours.

Each time you go through your inbox, it should be empty at the end. For each conversation, ask yourself: do I need to do something with this?

Yes, but I can’t do it now? Snooze it to the time you need it. (This is great for concert tickets for example — just snooze it to an hour before the concert starts and it will be waiting for you at the top of your inbox when you need it.)
Yes and it will take less than a minute? Do it now. When it’s done, archive the conversation.
Yes and it will take longer? Move it to your To do folder.
No? Archive it. Don’t bother trying to categorise it with folders for finding later — Fastmail has great search, and the research shows this is a much quicker way of getting back to the message you need.
No and you don’t want to receive messages from this sender again? Unsubscribe if it’s a newsletter (there’ll be an unsubscribe link at the top), or Block sender otherwise.

Now your inbox is empty, and your “To do” folder just has the emails you need to deal with. Go through this whenever you have time. You can pin urgent emails to the top of the folder. Once you’ve done what you need to do, archive the message to get it out of your to do list.

Tips and tricks

Learning to use keyboard shortcuts will pay off handsomely in the time you save managing your email. Just about everything can be done without taking your hands off the keyboard. To get you started here are a few of the key shortcuts:
- y — Archive
- b — Snooze
- m — Move (then type the first few letters of the folder you want to move to and hit enter).
- r — Reply You can find a full list in our help, or just hit ? on your keyboard to see a handy overlay with keyboard shortcuts for the buttons currently on screen.
Use the people and calendar sidebars. The people sidebar will immediately show you the details of who sent you this message, the last few conversations you had with them and any meetings scheduled with them. Quickly add notes to remind yourself of anything else. The calendar sidebar lets you see your calendar and quickly schedule events without leaving the conversation.
Our search can do more than just look for words. You can narrow down to just messages with particular people, in certain dates, and so much more. Our intuitive autocomplete quickly helps you get started, or use our search builder for comprehensive options. For the power user, see our full documentation of supported operators.