The Internet has not made our attention encompass any favors. Jump online for whatever reason and you might find yourself down the rabbit hole of Twitter, Wikipedia, Reddit, or whatever else catches your eye.
Incoming emails can also distract from the tasks at hand, but with an extension, you can delete not only the notifications but also the messages themselves!
Boomerang browser extension, known for scheduling emails using Gmail Schedule your messages within Gmail with Boomerang Schedule your messages within Gmail with Boomerang Baydin (the company behind Boomerang) has just announced that users can reschedule messages within Gmail once they have been programmed. Read More The extension is available for Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Safari web browsers.
Once installed, upload your Gmail account and authenticate your account. There are two separate authentication processes:one for main programming features and one for pause features.
To use Boomerang to pause incoming emails, click the Pause button that you should now see in the left sidebar, above the compose button. You will need to grant Boomerang access to your account, after which you will be able to access settings.
Once done, you can hit it Pause so that incoming emails do not appear in your inbox. You can also send an optional automated response to all senders informing them that you can't see any incoming messages. Boomerang offers a suggestion for what you can include in that autoresponder, but you can edit it to use what works best for you.
You can also choose to automatically resume your inbox after a set period of time or on a set date and time.
Pro users can also take advantage of a few other features, including delivery exceptions if there are certain people you want to hear from no matter what, and it lets you create a schedule for incoming messages. A pro account will cost you $14.99 per month.
While Boomerang's pause feature in the browser will stop incoming mail there, you'll need to put your phone away and close any desktop mail clients you use if you want a completely email-free environment.
What tips and tricks do you have for staying productive while online? Let us know in the comments.
