There comes a time when enough is, quite simply, enough.
I had been putting off the task of organizing my sprawling Gmail inbox for months, if not years.
I needed toRon Swansonmy inboxroll up my sleeves, jump in, and manage the mess manually.
We take spring cleaning very seriously at Lifehacker.
Lets clean things up, shall we?
But you shouldnt really need a special solution for this.
You probably already know.
And if you dont, its not that hard to find out.
Maybe you buy a lot of stuff on Amazon.
Perhaps Facebook pings you every time anyone you know does anything.
That concert you saw at that venue once?
If you cant find one, feel free to report the messages as spam.
More on that in a bit.
Instead, I use a few labels to capture important topics I care about.
For example, I have a Daily Email label for frequent emails I receive that Ishouldcare about.
One last label_shippingis my catch-all for anything from Amazon, UPS, FedEx, or USPS.
If its coming to my house at any point, itll show up in shipping.
Organizing your labels
One of Gmails most useful features is its ability to show and hide labels as needed.
From there, tap on Labels.
These lesser labels wont appear in a more prominent position unless you have a message to look at.
So, entering*@*sandwich*in the from field isnt going to find everything.
it’s possible for you to, however, use vertical barsshift-backslashto add additional entries to your filter.
you might also try going generic: Typing infrom: Starbucksshould find everything the coffee creator sends you.
Youll only need to get more specific if youre trying to filter some messages, but not others.
Its extreme, but its a possibility.
Its easy to tell Gmail to label a certain email from a certain sender.
