Ralford.net

  [On the Web]

When I first starting using Gmail I was super psyched to give up my Hotmail account. After using Gmail steadily for two years, the best feature it's offered is that it's less clunky than Hotmail - this has been a blessing.

But speaking realistically, I'm happy with Gmail because it's the email software I used when I learned how to manage my email. The methods that make Gmail work for me are also available in Microsoft Outlook, but I prefer Gmail over Outlook for personal use because a web-based email service is more portable - it behaves the same no matter where I go, and requires minimal setup.

• My Filing System
  - All items in my inbox are categorized as soon as I get the chance. I try keep the categories as general as possible. This makes it easy to jump to all family emails or those pertaining to web accounts. Similarly, if I find that a category has just a few emails over a period of months, I try to merge it into a larger category.
  
  Occasionally, I'll file an email into multiple catgories, but I'm still getting into this habit. This multiple-category feature is on my Ralford.net wishlist, so once its integrated and in use, I'm sure I'll start using it more often in Gmail.
  
  
• The "Star This" Option (or Follow-up Flag)
  - I didn't use the star at first, but I've turned it into my follow-up flag. All items in my inbox that have stars must be followed-up with an email, phonecall, or similar task. Emails without stars are reminders, but do not require a follow-up.
  
  
• Searching
  - I mostly use the search feature to find discussions among old Cootie Brown (w) emails. Since there are seven of us, one email usually turns into about 15 within a day's time. This has been really helpful to find who said what about a song or venue.

In summary, I don't believe the bells and whistles of an email application are what make it useful. It comes down to how often you are using the features that are available to you. For a feature to be useful, it needs to be a habit.

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