1. Becoming a Gmail Ninja Presentation by Gmail Master NinJamesGunaca
2. Why Gmail? It’s fast. Really fast. You can access it from any internet connected device. New releases are ongoing instead of every couple of years (and they’re free). You can make it yours. It’s the web, and that’s what we do.
3. Three Pillars for Gmail Ninjawesomeness 1 Learn the features 2 Learn the shortcuts 3 Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
4. Learn the features Labels, not folders Stars Filters Chat Tasks Web Clips Priority Inbox Labs
5. Labels, not folderz Labels do the work of folders, plus you can add more than one to a single message. Apply colors to labels to make it even easier to know what the e-mail is about with a quick glance Ninja tip: enable nested labels if you want sub categories within a label
6. Starz(not the movie channel) Mark a message with a Star to denote action required or anything else you deem appropriate Ninja tip: you can enable “Superstars” in labs to give you up to 11 different star icons
7. Filterz, yo Let Gmail do the sorting for you. Create filters to automatically categorize incoming and/or outgoing mail to make it easier to navigate through your mail Ninja tip: set up filters for e-mail from domains (ex: @24hourfit.com) so that all e-mail to/from that domain is automatically labeled something relevant
8. Chat(it ain’t just for smileys) Don’t clutter your inbox with simple messages like “where should we go to lunch” – just send a quick chat message Ninja tip: you can add more than 1 person to a chat to create a chat group
9. Tasks(because you gotta get sh!t done) Gmail comes with a built in task manager. Create task lists for different groups of tasks. Assign due dates that show up in your calendar. You can even access tasks on your mobile device Ninja tip: you can create a task based off an e-mail and then that task will link to that e-mail message, even if you’ve archived it
10. Web Clips Gmail display feeds (news headlines and blog posts), and other information in the Web Clips section atop your inbox. You can customize yours by clicking the "Web Clips" tab in Settings.
12. Labs(Grab your coat) Labs has a ton of cool features that can be added to Gmail Sneak peak Multiple Inboxes Gadgets (Docs, Calendar) Previews (Maps, Yelp, YouTube, Picasa) Send & Archive Unread message favicon Undo send! Background send!
13. Learn the shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts are going to save you clicks and time. Enable them right away and you can always hit ? for a look at the available shortcuts Start simple Actions Compose Search Archive Reply / Reply-to-all Tab, enter to send Navigate Previous/next message Newer/older conversation Back to inbox Get more complex Go to… Move to… Apply label… Ninja tip: you can program your own shortcuts if you feel so inclined!
14. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat(repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat) The key to getting better at anything is to force yourself to repeat the simple steps until they become habitual: Start off with a few keyboard shorcuts Tab, enter to send messages e for archiving Get in the habit of setting up a filter. If you do a certain search frequently, turn it into a filter and apply a label to those search results Stay up to date on the latest in Gmail by visiting the Gmail blog http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/
15. What NinJames uses Multiple inboxes My inbox is for action-related messages only. As soon as I’m done with a task related to an e-mail, the thread is archived. I keep the ten latest unread messages up top Filterz I use over 50 filters to sort almost all of my incoming mail. Most are just related to the client or company a message relates to I setup one filter for the domain (ex: @24hourfit.com) and one filter for the contents (any mention of “24HF” in message contents) Shortcutz The shortcuts I use the most: [ or ] for archive and next/previous to get through mail quickly and clean my inbox # for deleting a message e for returning to the inbox Gadgets Google Docs gadget for easy access to recently edited docs Google Calendar gadget so I can quickly pull up info on upcoming meetings (ex: dial-in info)
Why labels are better: you can apply more than one to a single message. With folders, you’d have to create a sub folder and can only put a message in one folder. Say you have a sub folder for “invoices” – you’d have to create that sub folder for every company or client you have a folder for. With labels, just apply the client label and the invoice label and you’re done.
