How To Setup Gmail, Outlook, And iPhone Mail For Maximum Productivity

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Based on my experiments and this fantastic article, you should do the following configurations before proceeding with Inbox Zero:

Gmail

• Turn off multiple inboxes. This is because of the power of archiving. Via settings, you set inbox to default and uncheck all categories.
• Turn off stars.personal level indicators, system labels, categories, circles, labels, importance markers and filters, via settings.
• Turn off all notifications. You do not want to be interrupted when doing other things. Instead, you will set rules on when you will check.
• Turn on Autoadvance. This enables you to start at the bottom and methodically go through each email, instead of having to be kicked out to the main list. Here is how you do it.
• Turn on conversation threads, so you do not accidentally respond to old messages. Here is how you do it.
• Finally (and the most important), turn on keyboard shortcuts. By following Google’s instructions you will use the following keystrokes from now on:
• archive: e
• compose: c