Gmail is a great tool, but it falls short in terms of offering intuitive ways to classify your inbox. Fortunately, there are easy solutions that give you more control over your message search. We will review several of them below.
There are several tricks that help you to see all received emails from a particular person.
One works best if you have an email from that person recently. However, you can use it anytime you're in your inbox.
Go to your inbox and hover over the sender's name in a particular email. It's on the left side of the subject line. Then wait for the pop-up box to appear.
At the bottom, you will see a gray link that says Emails . Click on it to get a full list of all the messages the person sent you.
Don't see the desired sender immediately visible in your inbox? No problem. First type the person's name or email address into the Gmail search box. It's at the top of the screen and has a blue magnifying glass button to its right. Then click on any of the messages retrieved by the search. Hover over the name and follow the same process you just learned.
You can also get results without knowing the person's name. Go back to the Google search bar and notice the little downward-facing triangle on the right side.
Hovering your mouse pointer over it displays a box that says Show search options .
Then clicking on the triangle , You'll see a box that offers several ways to locate messages.
You can specify parameters to find emails that do or do not contain certain words. That option finds them in whole emails, not just the subjects. Filtering the results to only include messages with attachments is another option.
Play with the capabilities of the search box and get familiar with them. There are also ways to find messages that arrived within a number of days from a date. Rely on those characteristics to determine your sender's name, if it's someone you don't know well and whose name you may have forgotten. Then use the person's email link to generate a list of messages.
If you prefer not to use the search options, there is another method to try.
Like Google, Gmail recognizes advanced search operators. Type "a:bob" in the main search bar without including quotes. That action finds all the emails you've sent to people named Bob.
Maybe you need to find all the emails people have sent you about an upcoming family gathering. Returns to the Google search bar and displays additional search options. One of the boxes allows you to search by subject.
As you may remember from the tips above, it is also possible to use word-based search terms. Gathering, meeting, and event are just some of the things that a person can call the occasion. Make sure you don't miss relevant emails and enter as many descriptors as possible. Separate them with commas..
Next, direct your attention to the dropdown list at the top of the additional search options. The default setting searches through all your emails. However, you may feel that it is too broad.
If so, change it to whatever you want. Options include all default Gmail folders, as well as any labels you've created.
What if someone tells you they sent a message but you don't see it in your inbox? Change the dropdown menu to Spam or Junk. Then, if the email was misread as spam or deleted, it's not lost.
In the previous section, we briefly mentioned tags. If you're not familiar with labels, think of them as folders within Gmail. Rediscover Gmail Labels and Finally Manage Your Inbox. Rediscover Gmail Labels and Finally, Cover Your Inbox. What you might not be using:Good old Gmail labels. Read more . Well, tidying up your inbox with them is also possible. Gmail offers many labeling options.
One method is to click on any message in the inbox. After selecting it, look at the top of the Gmail interface to see the graphical buttons for the platforms. Choose the one with the tag as image. That's the Gmail label button. Clicking on it brings up a list of all previously made tags.
You can also tag multiple messages simultaneously by selecting their respective checkboxes (you can also do something similar to delete messages How to Delete Old Gmail Messages in Bulk Using Filters How to Delete Old Gmail Messages in Bulk Using Filters If your inbox is cluttered and cluttered , you may want to see how to delete old messages in bulk, by using filters that let you choose which emails should be deleted (Read More).
Do this right before you click the label button at the top of the Gmail interface. You can also tag a message after clicking on it instead of from the main inbox.
Now that we've applied labels, let's apply that knowledge to email classification, courtesy of labels.
It's super easy to do:just click the label tag in the email (shown above) or in your inbox sidebar (shown below).
As you have seen here, applying a label is a quick and easy process. However, there is one more thing to remember when keeping tabs on your inbox. If you are a busy person, you may prefer not to take that step.
A free app, with premium plans available, called Gmelius automatically places labels on sent messages.
After downloading the app, open your dashboard and find the Productivity tab. Next, look for the Submit and Add Tags option. Apply that option and reload your inbox. Then take a look at the sticker icon next to the app's submit button. It looks like a small ribbon and indicates that you have enabled auto-tagging.
To see how Gmelius works, send a message through Gmelius. Clicking the Send button for an email brings up a labeling box. Scroll through the list to choose one or use the convenient search box. Then click the Label and Submit option at the bottom.
If you end up trying Gmelius, it has several ways to customize your inbox. They are not related to classification messages, but they include other useful possibilities. Now that you know how to declutter your inbox, why not do even more with this feature-rich app?
Download: Gmelius | Chrome | Safari (free free with annual plans starting at $5/month)
Tidying up your Gmail inbox isn't as easy as some users expect.
However, making the tips you just discovered a part of your daily routine is not difficult. For more information, see How to Cut Your Giant Email Inbox How to Cut an Email Inbox from 20,000 to Zero in 30 Minutes How to Cut an Email Inbox from 20,000 to Zero in 30 Minutes Gmail login can turn into a beast. These tips will help you get to inbox zero in six simple steps. Read more.