Walkthroughs – Gmail

Walkthroughs created with GMail August 2008

These walkthroughs are companions to the product You Are Not Your Inbox: Overcoming Email Overload, an audio program by Stever Robbins. Click here for information about You Are Not Your Inbox.

Jump straight to the topic you’re interested in:

• Color-coding messages using filters
• Filter messages into a separate mailbox
• Turning off new mail notification

Color-coding messages using filters / rules

1. Next to the search bar, select create a filter

   

2. Choose your search criteria and click next step
   
   a. You can click test search to see if the criteria pull up the emails you want

   

3. Check “apply the label”
4. Select a label or click “new label” and name your label

   

   

5. Check “also apply to conversations below”
6. Click “create filter”

   

7. On the left of your screen, you have a labels menu – click the triangle next to labels to expand it if you can’t see your labels
8. Next to each label is a small box in which a triangle appears if you position your mouse over the box – click on the box next to the label you just created/selected
9. Select the color you would like your label to be

   

Filter messages from mom or an e-zine into a separate folder

1. Next to the search bar, select create a filter

   

2. Choose your search criteria and click next step
   
   a.
   You can click test search to see if the criteria pull up the emails you want

   

3. Check Skip the Inbox (archive it)
4. Check “apply the label”
5. Select a label or click “new label” and name your label

   

6. Check “also apply to conversations below” if you want
7. Click “create filter”
8. To view the emails in this “folder,” click on the appropriate label in the label menu at the left of the screen

   

Turn off notifications

No notifications in gmail.  BUT, if you use Google Talk, there are notifications:

1. Click Settings

   

2. Select Notifications
3. Under New Email, uncheck “Show Notification”

   

4. Click OK