Crafting a better work experience

Are emails taking over your work life? You're not alone. We've all felt that our inbox never ended, stressed by notifications popping up every few seconds, and stuck to our desks. But don't worry, it doesn't have to be this way.

According to research by Gloria Marks, emails are a major cause of stress at work. It's no surprise when the average person checks their email 74 times a day while at work. That's more than 9 times per hour! No wonder we're not getting anything done.

But don't worry, we're here to help. While some of you might be tempted to delegate your emails to an assistant with tools like Gmail delegation, with some strategies and the right tool, you can turn that inbox from a source of stress into your productivity powerhouse.

In this article, we're going to show you how to take control of your emails, reduce the overload, and get back to doing what you do best. Let's get started!

What is Email Overload?

Email overload, or email fatigue, is the feeling of being overwhelmed when you receive too many emails in a short period of time, making it hard to keep up with them all. It can lead to missed emails, missed deadlines, and an overall sense of being swamped.

And unfortunately, it is a familiar problem for many people.

Emails can be very stressful and make it hard to be productive if they're not managed properly.

There are a few common causes of email overload. But the most common is simply receiving too many emails from colleagues, clients, and unwanted outreach. Another cause is subscribing to too many newsletters or marketing emails, which can clutter up your inbox quickly.

The solution to overcome email overload is to implement email management best practices, like the inbox zero method.

It is important to notice when you are getting too many emails and do something about it, as it can hurt your work.

How Many Email Is Too Many?

There is no official answer the number of emails that is considered "too many". Someone manageable inbox may be overwhelming chaos for you.

But how do you know when you've reached the tipping point of too many emails?

A good rule of thumb is that you have too many emails when they start to negatively impact you. You may feel like you can't keep up with your emails, be stressed out, miss important opportunities or deadlines, or have trouble concentrating on other tasks.

But it's not just the sheer number of emails you receive, it’s also about how you manage them. Even if you don't receive a lot of emails, if you're not managing them effectively, it can still lead to email overload.

With all of that in mind, a good way to determine how many emails are too much for you is by tracking how much time you spend on email each day. If you're spending too much time on emails and it's stopping you from doing your job, you probably have too many emails for your current workload.

What Is the Problem with Email Overload?

An inbox full of email can be more than just a nuisance. It can affect your work and your mental health. And unfortunately, we usually don't realize that our email is taking up too much of our day until it's too late.

Here are some of the ways it can affect your productivity, cause you stress, and cause problems at work.

1. Decrease your productivity

When your inbox is constantly overflowing, it can be hard to stay focused and get things done. Constant notifications and interruptions can make it hard to keep your focus, resulting in a decrease in your overall productivity.

2. Increase in your stress levels

Constantly feeling like you’re behind and that you need to check and respond to emails can be overwhelming. It’s no surprise that many studies concluded that it increases your stress and chances of burnout which can be harmful to both your physical and mental health.

3. Missed opportunities

Having so many emails to go through makes it very likely that you’ll miss or overlook some important emails in your inbox. It can lead to missed deadlines and opportunities.

4. Decreased professionalism

If you're unable to respond to emails on time or if your responses are disorganized or unclear, you could give the impression that you are unreliable or disorganized. It can result in a detrimental effect on your professional reputation.

These are some of the reasons why it is important to take control of your inbox. By implementing the strategies that we’ll explore below, you can avoid the negative effect of email fatigue on your work.

9 Strategies to Fix & Manage Email Overload

Now that we have explored what is email fatigue, you might be wondering:

How do I stop email overloading?

Well, email overload can be tackled by implementing strategies to better manage your emails.

We also recommand you have a look at the best email management software, as using one will drastically help you in your quest of conquering email overload.

Here are some tips to help you overcome email overload.

1. Set Aside Dedicated Time for Checking and Responding to Emails

Instead of constantly checking your inbox, set aside specific times of the day to focus on emails. This can help you stay focused and avoid the constant interruptions that come with constantly checking your inbox.

When you check your email only at specific times, you can focus on your work and avoid getting distracted by constant notifications.

Another positive aspect of only checking your emails at dedicated times is to be able to prioritize which emails need your attention the most more easily. Indeed, by constantly checking your inbox throughout the day, it can be more difficult to see the emails that are the most urgent.

A good way to start is by dedicating specific times of the day to checking your email, such as in the morning, after lunch, and at the end of your work. This can help you stay on top of your inbox while still allowing you to focus on other tasks throughout the day. We recommend that you also set a limit on the amount of time you spend on emails during each session and that you make sure to stick to it.

2. Turn Off Notifications

Set your email to check for new messages at specific intervals. This will give you a chance to focus on your work and not get distracted by constant notifications.

By turning off notifications or simply disabling certain notifications, you can avoid the constant interruptions and distractions that come with constant email alerts. It can help you focus on your work and make sure you are not getting distracted by incoming messages. Additionally, by reducing the number of notifications you receive, you can make sure that you follow the first strategy which is to check and respond to emails only during dedicated times.

Another way to use this strategy is by setting your email client to check for new messages at specific intervals, like every hour. It will give you a chance to focus on your work, but still, get the new messages on time. You can achieve this in Missive by following this simple guide.

3. Use Filters and Labels to Organize Incoming Messages

Another strategy to help manage email overload is to use filters and labels to organize your incoming messages. By using filters, you can automatically sort your emails into different folders based on criteria such as sender, subject, or specific keywords. This can help you quickly find the emails you need later and keep your inbox organized.

Filters and labels can be used in a variety of ways to better organize your inbox, here are a few examples:

1. Create filters based on sender: You can set up filters that automatically sort emails from specific senders into designated folders. It can be useful to organize emails from specific people, such as your partners or clients.
2. Create filters based on subject: You can set up filters that automatically sort emails with specific subjects or keywords into designated folders. It can be useful to quickly find emails that are relevant to specific projects or topics.
3. Create filters based on priority: You can set up filters that automatically sort emails into priority folders like Urgent, High Priority, Medium Priority, or Low Priority. It can be useful to quickly find important and time-sensitive messages.
4. Use labels to categorize and find emails easily: You can use labels, like tags, to categorize your emails and quickly find them in the future. You can use labels like “Project A”, “Invoice”, etc.

With Missive rules and labels organizing your emails is easy. Best of all, they can also be used to manage shared mailboxes and emails.

Using filters your messages will be easier to find and you’ll spend less time searching through your inbox. You’ll also be able to prioritize and manage your emails, allowing you to respond to the most important and time-sensitive messages first.

4. Unsubscribe from Emails You No Longer Need or Want

If you find yourself with an inbox cluttered with newsletters and marketing emails then this tip is most likely for you. Unsubscribing to all the email subscriptions that you no longer read will reduce the number of unnecessary emails you receive.

A lot of us accumulate a large number of email subscriptions over time, like newsletters, marketing emails, and promotional emails. But these messages can quickly clutter up your inbox, making it challenging to find the important emails you need.

By unsubscribing from these emails, you can significantly reduce the number of messages you’ll need to go through in your inbox, making it easier to find the emails you need to read and respond to.

To stop receiving these emails you can either do it manually by unsubscribing to each email list you don't want to be part of anymore (or never wanted to in the first place) or use a third-party tool that can help you unsubscribe from multiple emails at once. Some examples are Unroll.me and Cleanfox.

This tip will help you to prioritize and manage your emails more efficiently, allowing you to respond to the most important and time-sensitive messages first.

5. Use The Right Tools

Using the right tools is an important aspect of managing email overload. While popular email clients like Gmail and Outlook can be good for managing your work emails, they might not be the best solution for achieving an empty inbox or at least keeping it at a manageable level.

Missive is a great option that offers several functionalities that can help you manage your personal and shared inbox.

With the right tool, you can:

1. Automatically sort, categorize and block unwanted emails: With Missive's rules, you can easily sort, categorize, and block unwanted emails, making it easier to find the messages you actually need.
2. Schedule Emails to be sent at a later time: Missive allows you to schedule emails so they can be sent at a later time. It’s especially useful for responding to emails outside of work hours.
3. Set reminders to follow up on emails: With Missive you can easily set reminders to follow up on emails so that you don't forget about important tasks.
4. Create a to-do list inside conversations: Missive lets you create tasks directly inside email conversations so you can stay on top of the job that needs to be done. Having a to-do list can help you prioritize and track your progress on tasks related to your emails.
5. Archive emails: With Missive you can easily archive emails that are no longer needed. This will help you with the organization of your inbox.
6. Manage and collaborate on shared emails: Missive brings together email, chat, and tasks in one place. It allows you to collaborate with your team via chat directly in an email conversation, assign tasks, and track progress, all from within your email inbox.

Missive can be a great tool to help you achieve inbox zero by providing a set of functionalities to manage, prioritize and organize your emails. It can help you overcome email fatigue.

6. Take Breaks and Set Limits

Constantly checking and responding to emails can be demanding and time-consuming.

It's important to take breaks and give yourself time to recharge during your day. Consider setting limits on the amount of time you spend on email each day to prevent burnout.

Another good piece of advice is avoiding check your emails before or after work. It will help you separate your work and personal life, and reduce the feelings of stress or burnout related to your work emails.

By taking breaks and setting limits on the time you spend on email, you can reduce feelings of overwhelm and stressed, and increase your productivity. It's important to find the right balance for you and stick to it to be more productive and efficient when managing your emails.

7. Communicate Expectations with Colleagues and Clients

Communicating clear expectations with your colleagues and clients is also a great strategy to reduce email overload.

Make sure that your colleagues and clients know what to expect in terms of your availability and response times. It will help manage their expectations and reduce the number of emails you receive.

You can start by setting up guidelines for response times, sharing your availability, and creating protocols for the different types of communication your receive.

With clear expectations, you can avoid confusion and misunderstandings that can lead to unnecessary email traffic. For example, if you let your colleagues know that you only check email at certain times of the day, they'll be less likely to expect an immediate response from you outside of those times.

Additionally, by setting up protocols for specific types of communication, such as using Missive chats or Slack for internal communications, you can help ensure that your colleagues don’t fill your inbox with unnecessary emails.

Another key aspect of managing expectations is setting up an out-of-office message when you're away, with clear instructions on who to reach in case of emergencies.

By communicating your expectations and establishing clear guidelines, you can create a more efficient and manageable email system for yourself and your team.

8. Use AI to Help You Reply and Craft Emails More Quickly

Utilizing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to help you reply to emails, compose new emails, and even translate communications can be useful to avoid being overwhelmed by your inbox.

With the OpenAI integration in Missive, you can leverage the power of AI to automate some tasks and work smarter, not harder.

For example, the new Missive integration can suggest quick responses to emails based on context. This can save you time and streamline your email management.

Additionally, it can also assist in composing new emails or help you write emails more clearly and efficiently. The OpenAI integration can even translate communications for better international collaboration or support

By using AI to assist you with email management, you can work more efficiently and have more time to focus on the other tasks that counts the most.

9. Use Templates

Using email templates can help you respond to common types of emails more efficiently

One of the best ways to use email templates is by using a tool like Missive which has a built-in response templates feature. Missive allows you to create and manage your library of responses, which you can easily access and apply when responding to emails. This can save you a lot of time and make your email communication more efficient.

You can create templates for different types of messages, such as follow-up emails, sales pitches, automated out-of-office responses, and even reply to frequent support questions. Once you've created your templates, you can easily access them from within Missive and apply them to new messages with just a few clicks. Best of all you can also share them with your team.

Overall, response templates in Missive can help you to streamline your email communication, and save you time in the process, by allowing you to easily use pre-written messages. This can help you to respond more efficiently, and maintain a consistent and professional tone throughout your emails.

By implementing these strategies, you can more effectively manage your email inbox and reduce the feelings of overwhelm and stress that can come with email overload.

Conclusion

Email overload is something many of us struggle with. But there are lots of ways to conquer it.

Strategies we’ve explored in this article will help you manage your emails and make your communication more efficient and less stressful.

It's also important to recognize the signs of email overload and identify the causes, keep track of the time you spend on emails to make sure it's not taking away from your most important tasks. With the right tools, like Missive, and strategies in place, you can take control of your inbox and get back to being productive and successful.

Microsoft Outlook shared inbox rules are one of the oldest features of the software. They allow users to set certain rules and actions for new emails that land in the inbox. These rules can be used to delete certain emails, move them to a specified folder or reply to emails.

But creating rules for a shared mailbox in Outlook (part of Microsoft 365) isn’t the most straightforward process.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at how these rules can be set up, the most common problems with shared mailbox rules in Outlook and how can Missive could be a better alternative.

How to Create Rules for a Shared Mailbox in Outlook?

Rules in a shared Outlook mailbox are a great way to allow your team to manage incoming emails in a team inbox.

You can create rules to send emails to the right folder to remove certain people from emails so they are only viewed by the right member of the team.

To create rules for a shared mailbox in Outlook, you will need to have full access to the mailbox and be able to log in to it.

If you don’t already have a shared mailbox, follow these instructions first to create one.

Creating Shared Mailbox Rules on Outlook on the Web

To create rules in Outlook on the web you’ll need to open a shared mailbox in a new browser’s window. To do so:

1. Sign in to your Outlook 365 account on the web.
2. Click on your name in the top right corner of the window.
3. Click on Open another mailbox...
4. Choose the shared mailbox in which you want to add rules by entering its email address.

With that shared mailbox opened you can set up a rule by doing as follow:

1. In the setting menu ⚙️ located on the top right, select the  Inbox and sweep rules in the Mail > Automatic processing section.
2. In the Inbox Rules window click on the + to create a new rule.
3. Name your new rule.
4. From there you can create your rule and set up the conditions, exceptions, and actions you want it to accomplish.
5. When you’re done, click on Ok to save.

Creating Shared Mailbox Rules on PC and Mac

Outlook 365 on PC

1. On your PC, open the Outlook app.
2. In the menu bar click on File and then select Manage Rules & Alerts. You can also access this menu by clicking on Rules and Manage Rules & Alerts in the Outlook ribbon
3. In the new window, select the shared mailbox from the menu named Apply changes to this folder.
4. Create a rule by clicking on New Rule.

Outlook 365 on Mac

This menu is only available for managed accounts.

1. On your Mac, open the Outlook app.
2. From the menu bar, select Tools > Rules.
3. In the new window, you’ll be able to select the shared account to which you would like to add a rule.
4. You can then select the type of information you want, such as From, Recipients, or Subject, by clicking on the arrows in the first box. Make sure to select all the conditions for your rule.
5. You can add terms by clicking on Add search terms. Add each term you want to the search list.

Can Microsoft Outlook or Office 365 Rules Be Shared?

Microsoft Outlook and Office 365 (recently renamed Microsoft 365) individual rules can be shared with other users in your organization. To do this, you can use the "Rule Sharing" feature in Outlook, which allows you to share your rules with other users in your organization.

On the other hand, rules created for shared mailboxes are already shared among all team members as they are assigned to the specific mailbox. The rules can be created, modified, and deleted by any member of the mailbox as long as they have Full Access permission.

Rules to Manage Your Outlook Team’s Shared Mailbox More Easily

Note: These rules are applicable to those running the old Outlook. The new Outlook removed certain functionality, including rules that customized sounds and printed emails.

1. Send Automatic Replies to Emails

Setting up a rule to automatically reply to certain incoming emails can help you and your team. It can be especially useful to set up for a support inbox as it will let know your customer that you’ve received their messages and that you’ll get back to them as soon as possible.

To do so:

1. In the Microsoft 365 portal, click on Groups and then Shared mailboxes.
2. Select the shared mailbox you want to set up an auto-reply to.
3. On the right of the menu, click on Automatic replies.
4. Write the reply you want to be sent automatically.

2. Filter emails coming to a shared email alias in folders

Some shared email aliases are really general and broad. It can be useful to filter incoming emails into categorized folders to improve your team's efficiency.

To do so:

1. Create a new rule by following the steps above.
2. As the condition select Move messages with specific words in the subject to a folder as the template and click on Next.
3. Next, select the condition you want to be met for this rule to apply. For example: with specific words in the subject. Once selected click on Next.
4. Next, we want to select the action the rule will perform. This time let's select: with specific words in the subject. Click Next.
5. Lastly, you can select an exception when you don’t want to apply. If you don’t want an exception, click on Finish without any options selected.

3. Automatically Filter out These Annoying Outreach Emails

Like almost anyone at this point, your inbox is probably bombarded with unwanted or annoying outreach emails

There are a few different approaches you can take to automatically filter them out. The most commonly used is to use a spam filter, which can automatically identify and move spam emails to a separate folder or mark them as spam. Most email providers, like Outlook, include one built-in.

But some of them still manage to slip into the cracks. Another approach you can take is to create custom rules in Microsoft 365 to automatically move or delete emails that match certain criteria.

To do so:

1. Create a new rule by following the steps above.
2. As the condition select Move messages with specific words in the subject to a folder as the template and click on Next.
3. Next, select the condition you want to be met for this rule to apply. For example: with specific words in the subject. Once selected click on Next.
4. Next, we want to select the action the rule will perform. This time let's select: with specific words in the subject or body. Click Next.
5. Enter the words you want to trigger the rule, such as "outreach" or "sales pitch".
6. Lastly, you can select an exception when you don’t want to apply. If you don’t want an exception, click on Finish without any options selected.

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Common Problems with Shared Mailbox Rules in Outlook

There are several common problems that users may encounter when working with rules in a shared mailbox in Microsoft Outlook.

The most common problems tend to be related to permissions and configuration, and can usually be resolved by an administrator with the appropriate knowledge and experience.

1. Inability to create or modify rules: In some cases, users may not have sufficient permissions to create or modify rules in a shared mailbox. This can be due to the mailbox being set up with the wrong permissions, or the user not having the appropriate permissions.
2. Rules not applying to all messages: If the user has created a rule that is supposed to apply to all messages in the mailbox, it may not be triggered for messages sent to a specific email address or folder. This can be due to a misconfiguration of the rule, or the mailbox not being set up properly.
3. Rules not working properly: In some cases, rules may not work as intended, or may not be triggered at all. This can be due to a number of factors, such as incorrect settings or conflicting rules.
4. Inability to customize rules for individual users: Shared mailbox rules are typically applied to all users, which may not be suitable for everyone.
5. Potential for rule conflicts: Shared mailbox rules may overlap or conflict with each other, leading to unexpected behavior or incorrect application of rules.
6. Not enough space: Outlook's inbox rules are limited to 256 KB in both the web and desktop apps. You will need space in your mailbox for each rule you create. The space limit only applies to enabled *inbox *rules.

Even if you’re following the shared mailbox best practices and setting up rules correctly in Microsoft 365, it can be hard to manage all your team inboxes in Outlook.

How Do Missive Rules Compare to Shared Mailbox Rules in Outlook?

Outlook rules are a good way to manage shared mailboxes, but they are not the most straightforward to set up and are, not to say the least, basic. When trying to manage a shared inbox, team collaboration and workflow efficiency is the key to success.

Missive rules are a powerful way to automate your team's workflows. They work the same way Outlook 365 rules and Gmail filters do. When the rule conditions are met, the automated actions defined on the rule are triggered.

However, as opposed to Microsoft 365 rules, they can be executed when any message, let it be an email, SMS, tweet, DM, Facebook message, WhatsApp, or Missive Live Chat comes in or out of your inbox. They can also be defined by some user actions like applying/removing a label, changing the status of a conversation (assigned/closed/reopened), or posting a new comment in a conversation.

In addition, Missive offers a powerful way to use rules for better teamwork and productivity. For example, you can:

1. Round-Robin assignment to only employees online: With rules, you can automatically assign conversations to selected coworkers on a cyclical basis. Incoming conversations are rotated to online team members in the order they are received.

1. Make sure all emails get a reply on time: With time-based rules, you can respect your Service-level agreements (SLA). Rules can notify stakeholders when a message hasn’t been answered in the appropriate time and send auto-response messages to customers when the SLA has been breached.

1. Automatically assign sent emails to authors: With rules, you can auto-assign emails to the author. It can be useful if many employees send cold emails to customers using a common shared email account. By doing this, if the recipient replies, only the author will receive it in their inbox.

1. Add special notes to communication: With a simple rule, you can automatically add a note to each email. People in the team can use this information to better meet the needs of that customer.

There’s also the possibility of creating custom rules to automate your workflow. We’ve compiled a list of 15 templates to help you get started.

Still have questions? Learn how Canny’s team is taking advantage of Missive’s rules to be more efficient with their inbox or book a demo!

We all get submerged with tons of emails every day. And for many of us managing them and keeping an inbox free of clutter can be daunting. Unfortunately, the more we postpone the task the worst it gets.

Luckily for us, a lot of techniques and tools have been developed to help us overcome this challenge, but one, in particular, has become the go-to for a lot of people.

The inbox zero method!

In this article, you will learn about the benefits of achieving and maintaining inbox zero, the steps and strategies you can follow to master it, and the tools you can use to stay there.

What is Inbox Zero?

Inbox zero is a popular email management method aiming to help you keep your inbox organized and free of clutter by responding to or deleting emails as quickly as possible. The goal is to help you manage your email more efficiently, and reduce the stress and anxiety associated with having a cluttered inbox by keeping your inbox empty or almost empty at all times.

The inbox zero method was first introduced by Merlin Mann on his website 43 Folders. However, the technique gained traction when Mann gave a talk in 2007 at Google Tech Talk. He explained how inbox zero could be used to help people manage their email.

The talk and subsequently the inbox zero method become so popular that a movement around this email management method to stay organized and manage email emerged since then.

On his blog, Mann published five principles to explain the concept:

1. Not all emails are equally important: Don't treat every email like it's urgent. Instead, focus on the few messages that matter the most.
2. Your time is valuable and limited: Don't try to respond to every email. Accept that you have more work than time and use time management strategies accordingly.
3. Shorter email responses are often better than longer ones: Avoid sending lengthy emails that waste time and don't add value.
4. Don't feel guilty about having a lot of emails in your inbox: It's common to have a full inbox, so focus on cleaning it up instead of feeling bad about it.
5. Be honest with yourself about your priorities and how much time you have: Don't pretend that you'll respond to every email when you know you won't. Instead, be realistic and focus on what matters most.

While a completely empty inbox may seem impossible, many people would argue that the core idea behind the inbox zero method isn't necessarily about having an inbox containing zero emails at the end of every day anymore. The goal is more about being able to deal with the constant stream of emails without having to stress or put too much focus into it.

With the right steps and strategies that we’ll explore below, you'll be able to achieve stress-free email management.

Is Inbox Zero a Good Idea for You?

Inbox Zero isn’t just good for your inbox.

According to a study by Atlassian, over-reliance on email to collaborate with team members is consuming a lot of our time in a workday.

The same study showed that we receive on average 304 business emails a week, look at our inbox on average 36 times per hour, and that it takes approximately 16 minutes to refocus after handling emails.

That's a lot of time wasted!

Being more productive and efficient with emails also helps you be more productive in your other tasks.

Benefits of Achieving Inbox Zero

While achieving inbox zero can prove challenging, it can also be extremely rewarding.

There are many benefits to achieving inbox zero, including:

• Improved focus and less stress
  
  For starters, achieving inbox zero can help you stay organized and on top of your emails. By responding to or deleting emails quickly, you can keep your inbox clean and organized. This can help you stay on top of important emails and make it easier to find emails when you need them.
• Increased productivity
  
  Achieving inbox zero can also help you be more productive. By responding to emails quickly and efficiently, you can free up your time to focus on important tasks and projects. This can help you get more done in less time, which can lead to increased productivity.
• Better organization
  
  Finally, achieving inbox zero can help you reduce stress. By responding to emails quickly and efficiently, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed by your inbox and reduce the stress caused by email overload.

How to Master the Inbox Zero Method?

With so many benefits let's explore how to master the inbox zero method. Here are the steps and productivity tips you can use to achieve and maintain inbox zero.

Steps to Achieving Inbox Zero

1. Unsubscribe from any email lists or newsletters that you no longer need or want

The first step to achieving inbox zero is to unsubscribe from any newsletters or email lists that you no longer want to receive. This can help reduce the number of emails you receive, making it easier to keep your inbox organized. You can use unsubscribe tools, do it manually via the link in each email, or use an email client, like Missive, with an unsubscribe button to easily send remove your address from the list.

2. Create folders or labels to organize your remaining emails

The next step is to create folders or labels to organize different types of emails. This can help you quickly find emails when you need them and keep your inbox organized.

3. Creating rules or filters to automatically sort incoming emails

The third step is to create email filters or rules to automatically sort incoming emails. This can help you quickly sort emails into their respective folders or labels so you don’t have to manually sort them every time.

4. Process each email in your inbox

According to the technique developed by Merlin Mann, each time you receive an email you should:

• Delete or achieve: If the email is no longer relevant or necessary, delete or achieve it if you might need it later.
• Delegate: If the email requires someone else or can’t be handled by you, delegate it to the appropriate person.
• Respond: If the email can be answered quickly and easily, respond immediately.
• Defer: If the email requires a longer or more involved response, or it needs a follow-up later, schedule time on your calendar to deal with it later.
• Do: If the email can be handled quickly and easily, do it immediately.

By following these steps and regularly checking and processing your email, you can maintain an empty inbox and stay on top of your email communications.

Strategies for Staying at Inbox Zero

Achieved inbox zero is great, but staying with an empty inbox is another challenge.

To make sure you’re staying on top of your emails and that your inbox doesn’t fill up again here are some strategies you can use to stay at inbox zero.

1. Use the two-minute rule. This rule states that if an email can be dealt with in two minutes or less, do it. This can help you respond to emails quickly, so they don’t pile up in your inbox.
2. Use the “touch it once” rule. This rule states that if you open an email, you should respond to it, delete it or archive it, defer it, or delegate it. This can help you quickly deal with emails and keep your inbox organized.
3. Use the “no cc” rule. This rule states that if you’re not the primary recipient of an email, you should not respond to it. This can help you avoid unnecessary emails in your inbox and keep your inbox organized.
4. Limit the amount of time you check your inbox every day. Checking your emails once every hour or more for a few minutes is enough.

Email Management Tips for Achieving Inbox Zero

In addition to the steps and strategies listed above, there are also some email management best practices you can use to help you achieve and stay at inbox zero. Here are some tips that can help:

1. Use an email client that allows you to quickly sort and organize emails. This can help you quickly sort emails into their respective folders or labels and make it easier to find emails when you need them.
2. Use the “snooze” feature to temporarily hide emails. This can help you hide emails that you don’t need to respond to immediately but might need to reference later.
3. Use labels to quickly organize emails. This can help you quickly find emails when you need them and make it easier to stay organized.
4. Use canned responses to quickly reply to emails. This can help you respond to emails quickly and efficiently, so they don’t pile up in your inbox.

Tools to Help You Achieve Inbox Zero

There are a number of email management software that can help you achieve and stay at inbox zero. Email clients like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, and Gmail can help you quickly sort and organize and manage emails.

For example, here’s how you can achieve inbox zero with Gmail:

By taking advantage of a few basic Gmail functionalities you can declutter your mailbox:

• Take advantage of folders to categorize your emails
• Set up rules to filter incoming emails
• Sort messages with snooze, labels, and archive

But what about when you need to also manage shared mailboxes?

A tool like Missive can help you quickly respond to emails, stay organized, and achieve inbox zero while collaborating with your coworkers.

Second, there are productivity apps like Todoist, Evernote, and Trello. These apps can help you manage tasks and projects, so you can focus on responding to emails and achieving inbox zero.

How to Use the Inbox Zero Method with Missive?

We believe Inbox Zero is intended to make you more productive, not a slave to your inbox.

These tips are unique to Missive because we throw a collaborative aspect into the picture. Interesting right?

1. Check emails in batches

You can limit to getting 2 or 3 batches of emails per day. This will immediately free up dozens of minutes of your day. We wrote a popular blog post entirely dedicated to this topic.

Batching emails in Missive is quite easy. You can create rules to define when emails should land in your inbox.

When enabled, all emails arriving between 12:00 AM and 7:59 AM won't show up in your inbox until 8:00 am.

2. Use labels to organize your emails

By creating an organizational system, you can prioritize messages to easily know what should be worked on first. The system can be as meticulous or simple as you want.

We suggest a product management prioritization framework named the MoSCoW method. It helps you categorize emails into four unambiguous labels:

<div class="process-container label-container">  <div class="label-example red-label"> Must respond</div>  <div class="label-example yellow-label">Should respond</div>  <div class="label-example blue-label">Could respond</div>  <div class="label-example gray-label">Won't respond</div>

• Must respond: Emails that need to be dealt with, the non-negotiables. Otherwise, your email organization can suffer.
• Should respond: These are less time-sensitive than the "must haves", but can be as critical. Not answering them promptly won’t affect your business, but you do need to work on them eventually.
• Could respond: These emails could be answered if you have some spare time, nothing critical.
• Won't respond: Emails that have no impact on your work, just discard them.

In Missive you can create labels and sub-labels in the blink of an eye. But even more interesting, you can create sharedlabels. These can be shared across different teams, coworkers, or through the entire organization!

3. Delegate when possible

Using the prioritization method above, try to delegate your "could respond" emails to an assistant or someone in the team that can speak on your behalf.

In Missive you can seamlessly pass the baton to a colleague or assistant with the click of a button. You can even chat inside emails to let others know how a message should be dealt with. If you want we have an in-depth article about delegating to an executive assistant.

You can also easily delegate your calendar for someone else to manage!

4. Limit or eliminate your newsletter subscriptions

Take back control of your inbox and try unsubscribing from most newsletters.

In Missive you can create groups of contacts and then rules to automatically trash emails coming from them. You can create a group named "Spammers" and then a rule to delete emails from them. This is how you can build that rule:

5. Screen emails from strangers

Have a place where emails from strangers arrive, without email notifications. You can screen them and allow important ones to reach your inbox. This is a little different from a spam filter since these emails are not discarded immediately.

Not a lot of email clients have the power to offer this, but Missive does. You can achieve this by creating a rule like this one:

All emails coming from people outside your contact book will be removed from everyone’s Inbox and labeled “To Screen”.

To mark an email as safe, simply add the sender as a contact.

6. Snooze emails

When receiving an email that you need to differ, you should snooze it to a later time instead of keeping it in your inbox.

In Missive, you can snooze messages by clicking the Snooze button. You can also configure often-used schedules, like “After work” or “Early morning”.

Pro Tip Missive is big on privacy, we actively block read trackers so senders can’t know if and when you open their emails. So read emails at your discretion and reply when you see fit, no pressure.

Why Inbox Zero Method Might Be Bad?

Since Marlin Mann first talked about the concept of inbox zero in 2007 digital life has evolved tremendously. Now there is way more than an email inbox to manage.

There’s social media, chat apps, and even voicemail. And with smartphones and an internet connection almost everywhere, you’re always available to receive and view tons of messages.

In an article published on Wired in 2020, Mann re-explored his inbox management technique to adapt it to modern reality. While the inbox zero method is good at its core, there’s a risk to take it too literally and trying to achieve inbox zero through all means.

Marlin Mann's new take on the inbox zero method is to allow yourself time off and focus on what matters the most to you first. This way you can avoid stressing out with a technique meant to reduce stress caused by emails.

Conclusion

Achieving inbox zero can seem like an impossible task, but it doesn’t have to be. With a few simple steps and strategies, you can easily achieve and maintain inbox zero.

By unsubscribing from newsletters, creating folders or labels, creating filters or rules, responding to emails quickly, deleting emails, and archiving emails, you can keep your inbox clean and organized. In addition, you can use email management tips and tools, and services to help you achieve and stay at inbox zero.

To enhance your email productivity, you could also consider trying one of the best AI email assistants.

FAQ

What is the Inbox Zero Method?

The Inbox Zero method is an email management technique that focuses on quickly handling emails as they arrive:

• Respond immediately
• Delegate or forward right away
• Schedule or snooze for later
• Delete if irrelevant

This ensures you never miss important emails and that they don't pile up and cause you stress. The key is training yourself to take action on every email the moment you read it.

Is Inbox Zero a Real Thing?

Yes, Inbox Zero is a real email management technique with practical benefits. The goal is to handle each email immediately.

While truly having zero emails may seem impossible, even reducing your pile by half will declutter your head and boost productivity. You'll be less stressed and less likely to miss important messages.

The "zero" refers to taking care of incoming emails when you open them so you don't have a backlog of emails to deal with.

You’re probably already familiar with the concept of an email thread or email chain. They certainly have been part of your email inbox at some point, or maybe you still use them for your business communication.

Email threading allows you to trace the history of your emails easily, but it comes with certain disadvantages.

In this blog, we’ll look at email threads' advantages and disadvantages, unspoken email etiquette around email chains, and how you can use Missive to take advantage of the future of email conversations.

What Is an Email Thread?

An email thread is the chain of messages and replies between you and other people, grouped together in a conversation. When you click "Reply" to a message, your new message is added to the end of the thread so that everyone can follow the conversation.

This way, you can see the whole conversation that has taken place between you and other people. Unless someone is removed from the copy, all recipients will receive all the group messages with their replies.

Email thread replies are typically arranged in chronological order starting from the first reply to the most recent one. This arrangement is helpful for recipients who are following the conversation because it’s organized the discussion in a simple structure.

Email threading can be helpful when you need to refer to a previous conversation.

With email threading enabled in your email client, all replies will automatically use the "RE:" preposition in the subject line and will be grouped in one discussion.

Advantages of Email Threading

An email thread can be extremely beneficial in several ways for your business communications. Here are some reasons why email threading can be helpful:

Reduce Inbox Clutter

First, email chains can help reduce the amount of time you spend managing your inbox. By keeping all messages in one place, you can quickly scan through a thread and get the information you need without having to search through your entire inbox.

Keep All Recipients Informed

A conversation view can help improve communication with your team. By using a group email, you can avoid miscommunication and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Organize All Related Emails

Email threads allow you to keep track of an entire conversation in one place by organizing related emails into one group. This can be very helpful when trying to resolve an issue or follow up on a task.

Disadvantages of Email Threading

While an email thread can be a helpful way to keep track of related messages, it can also have some drawbacks. Here are some of the disadvantages of email threading:

Email Can Get Long

It can be difficult to follow a thread if it gets too long or if there are too many messages in it. When email threading is enabled, each reply to an email is grouped with the original email and any previous replies.

Additionally, if you delete an email in a thread, it can delete all emails in the thread, which can be frustrating if you only wanted to delete one email.

Data Leak

When an email thread is shared with both people from your organization and people externally, there are high risk of sharing internal communication with the people in the thread outside of your organization.

This happens when people communicate internally about a specific thread and forget to remove the external recipients from the message.

Email Threading Is Not Universally Supported

Some email providers do not support email threading, which can make it difficult to keep track of conversations if you switch between providers. If you’re using an email provider that does not support email threading.

Some Recipients May Receive Irrelevant Emails

Some recipients of email threads may receive irrelevant emails. This is because when someone replies to an email thread, everyone who was originally included in the thread will receive the reply.

This can be a problem if the original email was not relevant to everyone in the conversation or if the reply is not for all the recipients of the emails and is only for internal communication.

Unspoken email etiquette for email chains

Now that we covered the advantages and disadvantages of email chains, here are some unspoken rules to maintain proper "reply all" etiquette.

Say no to tangent discussions

Email threads are great for a historical log of decision making, it is not good for discussion and even worse for discussion that doesn't involve or require the entire group. By doing the latter, you are stealing attention and time from everyone who has to open that email.

Do not share sensitive information 

This is obvious but often forgotten, so we wanted to remind you explicitly. Sensitive or private information should always be sent as a separate individual email. 

Missive: Communications Made Easy

Missive is a collaboration tool for teams built around emails. It’s a great way to communicate with your team and collaborate on emails and other types of communication mediums.

With Missive, you can take advantage of the best email threading practices to make while avoiding all its disadvantages. It’s easy to collaborate and discuss with your team members privately in an email thread with people from outside your organization.

Communications with your colleagues are sent as chat messages directly in the conversation with the emails. It ensures that you don’t send confidential information accidentally to the wrong people.

This way there is no data leak possible, internal communication happens via chat messages, and external communication happens via emails.

Missive also lets you easily share emails with other team members without having to send them a copy of the email. You can either link to an email in a new conversation, mention them in a chat inside the email conversation, or assign a team or someone personally.

Best of all, you can merge all types of messages in one conversation, let it be emails, chats, SMS, social media messages, call logs, voicemail, etc.

How to Enable Email Threads in Your Email Client

The most popular email clients support email threads and enable them by default. However, here’s how to activate it in the most popular email clients:

Gmail Threads

By default, Email threading is enabled in Google’s email client. Here’s how to manage email thread setting in Gmail.

Gmail the Web

1. Open Gmail in your browser.
2. Click on the gear icon in the upper-right and then click on See all settings.

1. In General, select Conversation view on in the Conversation View section.

1. Click Save.

Gmail on Mobile

1. Open the Gmail app on your device.
2. Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon in the top left of the screen.
3. In the menu that appears, scroll down to the settings option and click on it.

1. In the settings menu, click Inbox customizations in the Inbox section.

1. Toggle the Conversation view on and off to enable or disable it.

1. Click Done to exit the settings menu.

Outlook Threads

Email thread is turned on by default in Microsoft’s email client. Here’s how to manage email thread settings in Outlook.

Outlook on the Web

1. Open Outlook in your browser.
2. Click on the gear icon in the upper right.
3. Select Group into conversations in the Arrange message list section.

Outlook on Mobile

1. Open the Outlook app on your device.
2. Click on the profile icon in the top left corner, and then on the gear icon in the bottom left corner to open the settings.

1. Toggle on Organize By Thread in the Mail section.

Apple Mail Threads

Email thread is turned on by default on Apple’s email client. Here’s how to manage email thread setting in Apple Mail.

Apple Mail on macOS

1. Open the Mail app on your Mac.
2. Click on View in the top menu.
3. Select Organize by Conversation from the list of options.

Apple Mail on iOS

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down to the Mail setting and click on it.
3. Scroll to the Threading section and toggle on Organize by Thread.

Missive

In Missive, email threading is always on. As a collaborative app, we think that threading is part of the core experience. However, we do offer an alternative for people who prefer each email to have its conversation.

You can move an email out of its original conversation and into a new one with just one click. This is a great way to keep important emails separate from the rest of the conversation, which can be noisy and overwhelming.

Best Practices for Effective Email Threads

If you decide that you prefer to stick with email threads for your professional discussions, no worries.

Here are a few etiquettes in mind to keep email threads effective.

Use a Clear Subject Line

First, always include a clear and concise subject line that accurately reflects the content of the email. This will help recipients quickly understand what the email is about and whether or not they need to read it.

Even if this rule doesn’t only apply to email strings, it is really important in a thread to be sure the subject line accurately reflects the content of the conversation.

Stay on Topic

When using a thread to reply to messages, always make sure to stay on topic. If the conversation veers off course, start a new email thread. This will help to keep the discussion focused and avoid getting lost in the messages when trying to follow the conversation.

Don’t Overuse Email Threads

Email threads are a great way to communicate in emails and organize replies in a nice and sorted conversation. However, if an email thread becomes too long or convoluted, consider moving the discussion to another medium, such as a phone call or in-person meeting.

Emails are not a chat. Other tools like Missive will be best suited for chatting and exchanging with your colleagues.

Be Clear About What You Are Replying

An email thread can quickly become confusing if people are not clear about what they are replying to. When replying to an email, always include a reference to the original message so that the recipient knows which part of the conversation you are replying to.

If the original message is no longer visible in the thread, quote it in your reply so that everyone can see what you are referring to. This will help to keep the conversation flowing smoothly and prevent misunderstandings.

Only Use Cc and Bcc When Necessary

Threads can quickly become confusing and difficult to follow when too many people are in CC (carbon copy) or BCC (blind carbon copy).

Only use cc and bcc when absolutely necessary to avoid overwhelming recipients and cluttering up the thread. When in doubt, it’s usually best to leave people off the cc or bcc list.

Conclusion

Email threading can be a useful tool, but it’s not for everyone. Some people prefer to keep their messages separate, and others find that email threading makes it harder to find the messages they’re looking for. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide whether email threading is a helpful feature or a hindrance.

FAQ

What Is an Email Thread?

An email thread is a sequence of messages with the same subject organized into a conversation. When you reply to a message, the new message is added to the end of the thread.

How to Reply to an Email in a Thread?

You usually can "reply" or "reply all" in most email clients. The first option replies just to the form, and reply all replies to From + TO + CC.

How to Remove Someone From an Email Thread?

To remove someone from an email thread simply remove their email address from the CC or BCC section of the email.

Is email threading the future?

There’s no doubt that email threading is a convenient way to keep track of conversations, especially when multiple people are involved. But threads are actually a hindrance to productivity, as it can be difficult to follow a conversation. It also poses a security risk as it can be easy to accidentally share internal communication outside the organization.

With new tools, like Missive, that enable teams to collaborate outside the regular emails there is no doubt that a collaborative inbox will soon replace the traditional email thread.

No matter what system you have for managing your Gmail inbox, we've all received an email from a customer, executive, or direct report that we just can't respond to immediately.

We don't always have all the answers and need to check with colleagues to get their input.

Until we do that, it just sits and lingers in our inbox.

Wouldn't it be great if you could add notes, annotations, memos, and tasks to your emails to give yourself context for when you eventually get back around to responding?

What about being able to have a private conversation with another team member in Google Workspace or add Gmail notes on an email a customer sends you without having to forward or blind-copy things?

Something like Google Doc comments, but for your Gmail account.

Yeah. We'd like that too.

Gmail doesn't offer this sort of functionality, though.

There are some workarounds native to Gmail that can help with scenarios when you need to add notes to Gmail or collaborate with others without creating a mess of FW: chains.

We'll cover 5 (and a half) options native to Gmail and one third-party option that makes it easy to add notes, comments for your team, attachments, tasks, and more without forwarding or jumping through hoops.

What Are Gmail Notes?

Gmail notes are a feature that allows you to save notes and attach them to specific emails. This can be useful if you need to remember something important about an email thread, or if you want to keep track of something related to the email.

5 (and a half) Native Gmail Notes Options

1. Using Google Tasks

You can add an email to Google Tasks to leave notes for yourself in the task description area.

Right-click on the email you want to add notes to and select "Add to tasks." You can also click on the email and use the keyboard shortcut ⇧ + T (Shift + T).

You'll see a task appear in the sidebar to the right of your email message. Click on it and add notes to yourself in the details area.

Click the mail icon below the task to open up the email you've associated with the note.

The Downside: You can't share your Google Tasks with others. If you want to collaborate on an email with a team member within Gmail natively, you'll need to forward the email to them or use Google Chat.

2. Using Google Keep

Google Keep can be used to add notes to email in Gmail.

Open the email in which you want to add a note.

Open the sidebar if it's not already by clicking on the arrow on the left side of the screen.

From the sidebar, select the Google Keep icon. Google Keep panel will appear.

In it, you can add as many notes as you need.

The Downside: No text formatting and poor note organization.

3. Using Google Chat

You can use Google Chat to collaborate with team members—sort of.

To do this, click Google Chat in the left sidebar of Gmail to trigger a chat pop-up.

Add the team member or members you want to collaborate with. Then copy, paste, and send the contents of the email you want to discuss with your team.

It's helpful to add a link to the specific Gmail message thread so you can easily open it back up later.

The Downside: Other team members can't click the link you've added to reference the original email because it lives in your email inbox—not theirs.

If you don't provide enough details, it may not make much sense to the people you share it with.

This causes a lot of wasted time going back and forth. It usually saves more time to forward the email to team members instead.

4. Using Drafts to Add Comments

You can also use a draft to add notes for yourself. Reply to the email without sending it, and your message gets stored in your Drafts.

5. Replying Inline Using Quotes

Step 1. Sign in to your Gmail account, find the email you want to work with, and copy the text from the body of the email you want to reply inline to.

Step 2. Click reply.

Step 3. Click the Quote button to add a quote block in your email reply.

Step 4. Paste the text you copied from the original message next to the gray quote block line where your cursor is.

Step 5. Press Enter and reply with your response below the quote block.

5.5 Using Gmail labels

Now you can't use labels to add a note, but you can use Gmail labels to indicate that a note is needed before a reply can be sent. 

Think of it as very, very lightweight process tracking within your inbox.

How to Easily Comment & Collaborate on Email with Missive

Missive is an email and chat tool that syncs with email platforms like Google and Outlook to make collaboration easy.

You can use it as a native desktop app on macOS and Microsoft Windows or as a web app in browsers like Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.

Here are some valuable ways we use Missive at our company to add private annotations and collaborate with other team members.

‍

Add Private Comments for Yourself to Emails

You can add private comments for yourself to refer back to them later.

Tag Your Team in Comments on an Email

You can tag other team members in a comment by typing @ + their name. Tagging others will automatically share the email with them (without having to forward anything), so they can see your comment and reply to it.

They can reply with an inline comment or within a thread if they have multiple conversations within the email and want to keep topics organized.

Assign Tasks with Comments

You can turn a comment into a task if you have something you want to delegate to a team member or yourself without having to tab over to a project management tool and bog it down with more tasks.

If you're anything like us, you like keyboard shortcuts. Missive makes it easy to create tasks; just start typing your task description, then switch to task mode by pressing ⌘  + ⇧ + X on Mac or Control + Shift + X on other platforms.

Alternatively, type [ ] or - [ ] at the beginning of your comment. Assign the task to a team member using the @ + their name anywhere in your comment.

Suppose you want to send tasks to a more formal project management tool. In that case, Missive has several add-on integrations with Asana, Trello, ClickUp, Todoist, and a Zapier connector for any others you rely on.

Comment in Style

Missive comments support styling options beyond plain text too. You can add styles for bold, italic, strikethrough, quote blocks, inline code, and code blocks!

Share Attachments in a Comment

Make it easy for people to send attachments to customers without spending 10 minutes searching for them in Google Drive by sending them as a comment. We frequently use this to send zip files, PDFs, links, and screenshots without using apps like Slack, where we lose the context of the email itself.

Use Rules to Automate Comments

If you want to save time and maximize your productivity, you can use Missive's powerful rule feature to automate comments based on various conditions.

Delegating Customer Support to When You're Busy

Let's say you receive a new email from a customer that you can't get to immediately and your organization likes to keep customers happy by responding to them within 24 hours.

You can set up a rule in Missive to automatically move the email to a Team Inbox after a certain amount of time and add a comment that goes out to all members, letting them know you need someone to step in to help.

Respect Service-Level Agreements

You can set rules to apply to an entire team as well.

For example, you can help your team maintain SLAs established with customers by creating a rule that sends a notification to everyone on the team whenever receiving an email during business hours that goes 30+ minutes without a reply.

Automatically Add Reminders about Critical Customer Details

It's not uncommon for individual customers to have important details that your team needs to be aware of whenever they're interfacing with them.

For example, imagine you're a major OTR carrier or 3PL provider and have a particular shipper/receiver who restricts certain types of drivers from their facility.

You can use rules to automatically add reminders as comments to email exchanges involving that customer's domain address (e.g., *@acme.com).

Adding Comments to Gmail from a Mobile Device

You can also add comments, tasks, and attachments using the mobile app for iOS or Android.

This is something I often do when I'm taking a break mid-day to get some fresh air and get drug around the block by my Husky.

Don't Let Gmail Get in the Way of Work

Gmail is great for personal email but comes up short for collaboration. While you can use tasks for meta-level Gmail notes on your private emails, things get medieval again when you need to get someone else's input.

Hopping on Zoom for a quick chat is mentally exhausting and makes it harder to be productive remotely.

Teams should start embracing asynchronous communication and the tools that enable it—like Missive.

FAQ

What Is the Difference Between Gmail Notes and Google Keep?

Gmail Notes and Google Keep are both note-taking apps by Google. While Google Keep was developed to be a personal, simple way to jot down thoughts, Gmail Notes was designed to help users take notes through email seamlessly.

Can I Export Notes from Gmail?

There is no official way to export all your Gmail notes without copy/pasting them individually. Though it’s not a Google-supported feature, it is possible to export notes from Gmail via add-ons.

Most people use a simple and static email signature telling basic information about themself and their company (job title, phone numbers, address, etc.).

Others have more complex usage; for instance, they will gather feedback on how well they answered their customer questions.

What if you could be more creative? For instance, what if you could change your signature copy based on the day of the week? Like adding the sentence "Have a great weekend!" in emails sent on Friday!

Let me show you how, with Missive, the best business email client.

Copy-paste the following code snippet in the signature editor where you want the sentence to appear:

{% assign today = "now" | date: "%A" %}
{% if today == "Friday" %}Have a great weekend!{% endif %}

The first line parses the current date and assigns the day value to the today variable. The second line checks if the today variable is equal to Friday and, if so, outputs the Have a great weekend sentence.

By adding an else statement, you could display an alternative sentence. The below code will display Have a great weekend! on Fridays and Cheers, every other day.

{% assign today = "now" | date: "%A" %}
{% if today == "Friday" %}Have a great weekend!{% else %}Cheers,{% endif %}
Philippe Lehoux

How is this possible? Missive takes advantage of the powerful templating engine liquid.js that allows you to do crazy stuff! Learn more.

p.s. Thanks to Laura Soar, one of our customers, who suggested this cool idea.

Missive was built with privacy in mind. It's a fundamental part of our business, as it should be for every company dealing with people's communications. Honesty and transparency are also at the core of our values.

The above sounds nice and all, but actions speak louder than words. That's why we have created this blog post to answer some of the most frequently asked questions regarding Missive's reliability, privacy and security practices.

To kick things off, a few key points:

• Missive does not sell any kind of data to any third parties.
• All data stored in our database and cloud storage is encrypted at rest.
• Missive is fully GDPR compliant.
• We've successfully passed security audits by security firm Bishop Fox, as required for apps handling Google user data.

You can consult our full privacy and security policies.

Good, now let's answer some questions!

Can you access my emails?

Technically speaking, it would be false to claim we cannot read your emails. Missive imports your emails via IMAP like any email app does, and stores them in a database. This includes text content and attachments.

Storing this data in our own database is the technical foundation of a collaborative product like Missive. Thus, we naturally have access to the database that contains your emails in order to manage and maintain it in good shape for Missive to operate properly.

This is the same situation as with your main email provider (Gmail, Office 365, etc).

That said, only a few of our engineers have access to the database in question. Even for these people, getting to your actual email content is not trivial. We built internal tools that allow our engineers to do their daily job (eg. see what is going on in the system, number of emails processed, etc.) but none of these tools display email contents.

Needless to say, we are not in the business of scanning, sharing, or selling any of our users’ data. We never access a user’s data unless this user has specifically granted us permission and asked us to investigate a bug with their account, for instance.

Can people know if I've opened their emails?

No. Missive automatically blocks read trackers and 1x1 images to prevent senders from spying on what you do with their email. We currently block read trackers from these services.

Where are Missive's servers located?

Missive's servers are hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). All our servers currently originate from the US East 1 (N. Virginia) region. AWS is used by companies and organizations such as Nasdaq, Netflix, the CDC, etc.

If you need a list of IP address ranges to whitelist on your server, you can use the following file provided by AWS:

https://ip-ranges.amazonaws.com/ip-ranges.json

If I were to migrate Missive, I won't see you close shop in a year or two, right?

Definitely not. We are completely bootstrapped, meaning we don't depend on investors' whims or decisions. We control 100% of our company and we've been in the market for over 5 years. We've been cash positive and profitable for some years now. We enjoy a healthy and growing monthly revenue rate.

There are over 1000 organizations using Missive, including big names like Pipedrive and Buffer.

As a pioneer and key player in the collaborative email space, it's safe to say we're in for the long run.

Do you sell or share my data?

No. Never have, never will.

We don't even collect cookies or identifiable data points on our public website! Unlike most companies out there, who use this for website analytics and metrics. Not us.

Can I get a copy of my data?

Absolutely. As a GDPR-compliant company, you have the right to access, correct, export, and delete all personal data associated with your account.

To request any of the aforementioned actions, please contact us at privacy@missiveapp.com

How do I delete all data from Missive?

Please know this action cannot be undone.

1. Login to Missive
2. Go to your Organizations settings
3. Remove all members from your organization
4. Click the Billing tab, downgrade to the Free plan
5. Delete all your email accounts, if any
6. Delete all your integrations, if any
7. Delete your organization
8. Go to the Login & Security setting tab, enter the password if requested, scroll down, delete your Missive account

You will immediately be logged out of Missive with no means of logging back in.

Within 30 days, all traces of your Missive data and activity will be permanently deleted from our database, cloud storage, backups, and logs.

If you have any other questions regarding privacy, feel free to send us an email!

Sometimes you need to take particular actions for different groups of customers. Handling these exceptions can be difficult as your company grows. Without an automized system working on your behalf, it's easy to make mistakes.

With Missive, companies can create groups within their contact books. These are very useful tools for segmentation. But even more helpful is the ability to create workflows using these groups or individual contacts as conditions to trigger automatic actions.

It might sound a little cryptic. So let me break it down a little. Imagine you have a group of highly-select customers that require special attention and faster service. Instead of always having to be alert for when they contact you, with Missive, you can designate a group for them and then let it alert you when someone from this select cluster makes contact.

The previous is an example of our powerful contact-based rules. We're going to explore three scenarios (instructions included) on how you too can leverage this feature.

But first, let's learn how to create contact groups.

1. Click on your name
2. Go to Contacts

1. If you don't have one already, create a Contact Book.

1. Create a contact
2. Create and add a group

1. Repeat for other contacts

PROTIPYou can add contacts to a group directly from the email viewer. Click on the email address > Add to Contacts > Add Group

Scenario 1

Your top 20% of customers bring 80% of the revenue. You signed a strict Service Level Agreement and they expect the best treatment.

Group name: VIP customers

Actions: Notify Sales Team when they email + label as VIP + display 15 minute SLA post

Scenario 2

You're dipping your toes into the German market and you've hired Hans to help. He's bilingual, so he can answer emails in English and German. You need to have them translated automatically since you don't speak the language.

Group name: German customers

Actions: Assign messages to Hans + translate them to English using a webhook

Scenario 3

Your business (Company Inc) is consulting to the sales and legal teams at Acme Inc. Both teams email you to john@company.com. You need the lawyers' emails to be directed to your own legal team and forward a copy to another outsourced firm.

Group name: Acme Inc (Legal team) customers

Actions: Move messages to the Legal Team Inbox + forward them to the outsourced firm.

Bonus

Trash spam or undesired emails in the future by adding them to the contact groups Spammers.

Group name: Spammers

Actions: Trash emails

Batching emails is a concept that's been around for many years now. Everyone, from small bloggers to productivity gurus, has talked about the benefits of this practice. And there's a simple reason behind this. It just works. It does make you more productive.

How can I achieve this using Superhuman + Gmail:

I want to receive batches of email a few times a day vs email just flowing in constantly.

I just want new email 2-3 timed a day. Like an old school postman.

Any ideas?

— Andrew Wilkinson (@awilkinson) February 17, 2020

Let me ask you this: Do you turn on the washing machine for a pair of socks 🧦? I think you get my point. The same applies to emails; it's more efficient to write/reply to many of them in a single batch maybe 2 or 3 times a day, max.

One thing is sure, being notification free most of your day will help you focus on important stuff.

Here are 3 ways to receive emails in batches:

Set an alarm

This is the most straightforward way. There's no science or long explanation needed for this. Set two or three alarms at the times you wish to check your email.

A few of problems could arise from this no-frills solution.

• You might forget to close the app and continue to get distracted by incoming emails.
• You might not hear the alarm.
• You might miss important or urgent emails.
• It is not scalable.

Try Boomerang

Boomerang is an app that works on top of Gmail and Outlook. Among their features, they offer a way to receive emails in batches. It lets you receive emails at certain times, send autoresponders, and it can handle exceptions, so that you can still receive emails from particular senders, for example.

If you're happy with working and consuming your email from a web browser, and you don’t work with a team this might be a good option for you.

Get Missive

Missive is the team inbox and chat app that helps teams collaborate around many channels. It also offers a robust way to receive emails, SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and other types of messages in batches.

It’s crazy that no one has mentioned @missiveapp but I do this every day with this email client. This feature and so much more has dramatically improved my productivity. No affiliation, just a happy paying customer.

— Zee (@Zee) February 17, 2020

With Missive, you can create rules to define which emails arrive in your inbox at precisely what times.

Let's start with a simple reception time rule.

When enabled, all emails arriving between 12 am, and 7:59 am won't show up in your inbox until 8 am.

The same rule can be created for other types of messages (WhatsApp, Messenger etc) and for different times of the day. You can also create one to stop all emails during weekends or holidays.

The above rule is rather general and not practical for everyone. It’s naive to think that all messages have the same level of priority. So let's add a couple more conditions to filter out all emails except the ones coming from your business partner and husband.

The setup is very similar, but we added an exception for all email coming from partner@company.com and john@mail.com.

We can add another condition to the rule, where it lets through any email that contains the word "urgent" in the subject.

Now all important emails will make their way to you instantly, and the rest will wait.

Missive rules offer endless combinations to make email batching work as efficiently as possible. You can filter incoming emails based on:

• Reception time
• To and From
• People in CC
• Subject
• Content
• Attachment name
• Email accounts
• Labels
• Conversation state (unassigned, assigned, closed)
• Unreplied and open for X time

As a collaborative tool, Missive even lets you snooze emails for coworkers.

Another way to stop checking emails all the time is to turn off all push notifications in the desktop and mobile apps. Missive lets you choose what types of messages should trigger notifications and which shouldn't. This works great if you are delegating email to an assistant, they can triage messages and @mention you only for the really important stuff.

If you ever want to check emails before the scheduled time, you can easily access them in the Snoozed unified mailbox.

Bonus

You might want to let people know about your new email policy. So we recommend you add a small text in your signature for a few weeks.

Or even better: add another action to the rule we previously configured to send an automated response when people contact you during the email-free periods. This way, they will gradually stop expecting speedy replies, and you won't feel guilty.

Here's how you can do that:

It's time we take back control of our time!

To learn more about the productivity benefits of this practice, you might want to read this article.

According to this piece from Wired, a modern smartphone user receives around 73 notifications per day. It also states that people receive more than double the amount of pings they think they are getting.

But as much as we all try (or not) to limit the number of notifications that come through our phones and computers, we just can’t shut them all off. It’s an intrinsic part of modern work life.

What we can do is manage them better.

In this straight-to-the-point blog post, I’ll share three ways to take control of your notifications with Missive.

‍

Snooze with rules: Restore work/life balance.

Rules in Missive can help you automate many things, including getting some downtime.

Turning off notifications is an excellent way to reduce stress, rest better and be more present when in the company of loved ones or friends.

It may soon be a matter of legality like in France where employees can’t be emailed outside of business hours.

With Missive, you can create rules to snooze incoming emails to work on them later. You can get very creative and finely tune the rules to only let extremely important or personal messages go through.

Here’s a sample setup for snoozing all incoming emails arriving before and after business hours + weekends.

Unwatch: Call me when you’re done.

This is probably one of my favorites, it lets you see the level of granularity that Missive offers you to focus on your work.

Let’s suppose you’re in customer support and there’s a new email about an urgent feature request from an important customer.

Without the ability to unwatch you would have endured a steady stream of notifications for something that is not within your scope of work. This allowed you to keep responding to other customers without any noise in the background.

Read more about this feature.

Team Inbox: A manager’s dream.

This new feature is great for businesses receiving a lot of emails that have dedicated teams (e.g. sales, support, finance) tackling them.

Previously in Missive, incoming messages could be handled in two different ways:

• Unassigned flow. New messages appear in the Unassigned mailbox of everyone receiving the messages.
• Inbox flow. Everyone has their own unread and archived state. New messages will be added to everyone’s inbox.

With this third new flow, new messages appear in the Team Inbox. The team inbox is shared among its team members, meaning that whenever a message is assigned / archived / closed, it will be removed from the Team Inbox for everyone in that team.

So how does this reduce the amount of notifications?

When creating a team, you can define two types of users:

• Active members. They receive notifications for all new messages.
• Observers. They do not receive notifications. This is perfect for managers who want to monitor the team inbox instead of actively engaging with messages.

The examples above are rather broad and may not apply to your current workflow. But Missive is very flexible and a wide array of setups can be achieved with a little tweaking.