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Inbox Zero Method 101: How to Master It
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by
Ludovic Armand
December 7, 2022
· Updated on
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.
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:
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.
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.
While achieving inbox zero can prove challenging, it can also be extremely rewarding.
There are many benefits to achieving inbox zero, including:
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.
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.
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.
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.
According to the technique developed by Merlin Mann, each time you receive an email you should:
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.
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.
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:
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:
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.
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?
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.
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>
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!
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!
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Inbox Zero method is an email management technique that focuses on quickly handling emails as they arrive:
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.
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.
February 3, 2025
Tasks in Missive: Your Inbox is Now Your Command Center
Our inbox is where work happens. It's where decisions get made. Where commitments are born. And let's be honest - it's what most of us use as a to do list.
Our inbox is where work happens. It's where decisions get made. Where commitments are born. And let's be honest - it's what most of us use as a to do list.
We've spent 10 years at Missive transforming email from a lonely slog into a team sport. But after hundreds of conversations with customers, we realized something obvious:
Instead of fighting how people naturally work, why not make their inbox exceptional at what they're already using it for?
Let's be real - we know the whole "inbox zero" thing is a myth, and that treating your inbox as a pure to-do list has its problems. But here's the thing: people are going to use their inbox to track work, whether we like it or not. So instead of preaching about the "right way" to work, we decided to give you tools that improve the way you already work.
We're putting tasks where they belong - right inside your inbox. But we're doing it thoughtfully.
Now you can prioritize what matters, collaborate effectively, and keep your team in sync - all without leaving your inbox. No more scattered tools. No more lost context. No more wondering who's working on what.
Your inbox is finally becoming what it should have been all along: A clear, organized command center where email and tasks blend seamlessly, exactly where you already are.
This isn't about building another "everything app" or asking you to change how you work. It's about making your inbox better at what you're already using it for. We know that might sound contradictory, adding features while claiming simplicity, but we've been ruthless about only adding what matters.
Everything else? We left it out.
The goal isn't to make your inbox do everything. The goal is to make it do the things you're already using it for, exceptionally well.
Now, let's walk through what's changing and how it makes your work life smoother.
We've completely re-imagined how tasks work in Missive.
You'll now find dedicated views that brings together all your tasks in one place, everything's organized in a single view. And the best part? Tasks now come with assignment, rich-text descriptions, and due dates that automatically sync to your calendar.
To keep everyone aligned, we've introduced a new 'In progress' intermediate status; watch your work progress naturally from "To do" to "In progress" to "Closed" — giving your whole team clear visibility into what's moving forward.
The "Assigned to me" and "Assigned to others" mailboxes have morphed into the Task views. The new Tasks view shows everything assigned to you across all your teams and organizations, while Team Tasks gives you a focused view of what's happening in specific teams.
Want to customize your view? Use filters to zero in on exactly what you need - like seeing only tasks for specific team members or projects. You can even pin your favorite filtered views to your sidebar for quick access. And when you need to check the conversation that sparked a task, just click the conversation pill to jump right to it.
We are also introducing teams spaces, a new way to organize your teams. Every team has now a dedicated space in the sidebar, and every member will see the right elements depending on their role in the team.
In each team space, you will find the team inbox, the team chat and the newly introduced team tasks view. You can always disable the team chat or the team inbox for a specific team in the team settings.
The team inbox, under the team space, can still be expanded to reveal the Closed, Sent and All mailboxes.
When working from a team inbox, as soon as you click reply, the conversation will be turned into an 'In progress' task, assigned to you. And when you're done with the draft, you can just hit 'Send & Close' and the task will be automatically closed.
Some companies will use these team spaces as traditional teams (support, design, etc), and others will use it as dedicated client spaces — with one team space per client. How you decide to use it is entirely up to your business.
If you have a checklist that your team goes through all the time, you can automate the whole thing with the new Create Task rule action. No more manual task creation.
Here's what I mean: Let's say every new client needs five things done — review their needs, check what you have in stock, work up pricing, draft a proposal, and get the thumbs up from your manager.
Instead of creating these tasks by hand every single time, just set up a rule.
Now when an email comes in with "New Client" in the subject (or when someone drops a #newclient tag in the conversation), boom - all five tasks get created automatically, assigned to the right people, with the right due dates. Simple, automatic, and nothing gets missed.
This is just the beginning. We're committed to making Missive the best place for teams to work together, and we have more exciting updates planned.
Your feedback has been invaluable in shaping these improvements, and we can't wait to hear what you think about the new tasks experience.
The best part? All these new features are available in every Missive plan. No upgrades needed.
Want to learn more about tasks in Missive? Check out our help guide for detailed information on how to make the most of these new features.
If you feel uncertain about the new tasks experience, and have any questions, we're here to help. We have 4 webinars scheduled in the next 2 weeks, and we'll be covering everything you need to know about tasks in Missive. Book a seat now using this link and we'll see you there!
Oh, one more thing, we gave Missive a fresh coat of paint too! We hope you like it.✨
November 28, 2024
The 9 Best Email Client Apps for Gmail for Every Use Case
The best email clients for individuals and teams by use case. Including benefits, features, and pricing.
1.8 billion users.
121 billion emails — per day.
Gmail dwarfs most popular email clients.
Still, reading emails in a browser tab feels… clunky?
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been a Gmail user for years and I love it.
But I’ve found dedicated desktop email apps offer far more email productivity & customization.
Despite its dominance, Google hasn’t released an official desktop version of its email service. So users like you and I keep asking:
What are the best email apps for Gmail?
When I wrote the first version of this article, years ago, my mission was simple:
👉 Find the best email client to supercharge my personal productivity and facilitate team collaboration.
I needed something to simplify my email workflows AND give my team better tools — for clear communication and project management.The search led me to try dozens of apps, judging them on criteria like ease of use, customizability, collaboration, and productivity.
I've kept that original mission in mind while thoroughly re-evaluating and testing the latest offerings.This updated comparison includes a wide range of email clients. Some excel at personal email triage, others at conversational experience. Many boast team collaboration features.Let’s dig in and find your optimal email client for Gmail.
My evaluation focused on key criteria that savvy users care about, based on personal usage and discussions in online communities like Reddit.
These factors included:
I prioritized email apps with clear signs of ongoing development. All the Gmail email clients on the list support OAuth, as it’s the recommended way to connect your Gmail account to an email client according to Google. It will be the only supported way starting in Fall 2024.
For macOS, the top contenders are Apple's stock Mail app and the Gmail optimizer, Mimestream.
I know, most of you are probably screaming at your screen that Apple Mail made the cut, but hear me out — it has an incredible number of useful features for Gmail users.
Apple Mail offers robust custom filters, smart mailbox views, and notification control. It also provides AI-powered search assist, automated unsubscribe detection, send later scheduling, and built-in privacy tools. The user-friendly interface, system-level integration, and regular updates keep it feeling fresh. Best of all, it comes pre-installed with all Mac, so no need to download or update new software.
Free.
Mail lacks true integration with the Gmail platform. Mimestream shines as a purpose-built native app using the official Gmail API under the hood. This direct API connection allows Mimestream to mirror Gmail's interfaces, features, and real label structures in a way Apple's IMAP implementation can't.
Mimestream optimizes viewing and triaging the Gmail inbox with features like nested labels, calendar invites, and support for Gmail's latest search functionality and more. Mimestream provides an optimized experience that makes viewing and triaging your Gmail inbox faster and more efficient — with the added benefits of a native macOS app, not a browser window. The only core Gmail functionality it lacks is scheduled email sending.
$4.99 per user per month.
For Windows, Microsoft Outlook has long been the standard for email due to its ease of use, powerful search capabilities, and tight Office integration. And it’s still on top for the same reasons (especially with a Microsoft 365 account). There's also a full-fledged integrated calendar, eliminating the need to switch between windows to manage your day.
And if you're not an Apple user, Outlook is probably one of the best Android email clients out there.
Unfortunately, the latest Outlook release has been controversial. Microsoft has removed functionality like import/export tools and system tray access that power users loved in previous versions by shifting to essentially becoming a desktop clone of the web app. Shared mailbox management and capabilities like viewing favorite folders have also suffered. Some Reddit users find the web version performs better, but the general consensus is that the new desktop Outlook feels like a downgrade.
Free with ads, or starting at $1.99 per month for the ad-free version.
Email clients designed with teams and productivity in mind offer major advantages over individual email management tools — especially for businesses.
Based on my latest research, core business needs around email are:
No other email client meets those needs better than Missive.
Missive has been a game-changer for my team's productivity and communication. It’s a unified inbox that combines all our accounts into one app, while also offering shared inboxes — the multiplayer mode for email. The collaboration features like shared draft editing with @mentions, internal chat, and one-click assignments.
Shared labels, advanced rules, mobile apps, calendar sync, and a growing library of integrations make Missive a powerful software to consume your business’ Gmail accounts. Management tools like email templates, send later scheduling, snoozing, and follow-up reminders help each of us personally optimize our individual email processes. Missive also excels at email delegation with team members or virtual assistants.
However, according to some Reddit users — Missive is not perfect.
People have shared a learning curve, lack some granular customization, no email tracking, and advanced collaboration features locked behind paid tiers. But in my experience, no other client matches Missive's intuitive yet powerful blend of personal email management and team communication.
Missive’s pricing is competitive compared to other Gmail email clients—especially for small businesses that want to collaborate around emails.
Free plan available and starting at $18 per month per user for advanced features.
For those seeking a free, open-source, and community-driven email client, Thunderbird has made a name for itself. This cross-platform app has evolved a lot over the years with great features like tabbed email viewing, robust custom search tools, and built-in phishing/spam filtering.
Starting is easy with simplified account setup wizards and friendly reminders. Then, customization begins with custom themes, smart foldering, advanced filtering, and extending functionality through add-ons.
Thunderbird's uniqueness lies in its built-in privacy tools like remote image blocking and organization of emails into dedicated "Message Archive" locations outside your inbox. No complex rules needed. The tabbed interface with quick filters also makes email triage fast compared to a standard chronological view.
An open-sourced, Outlook alternative, for those looking for an Android email app.
Free.
If customization is your #1 priority in an email client, eM Client should be at the top of your list to test. This app takes a unique approach by bundling standard email/calendar/tasks management with note-taking.
eM Client lets you tweak things like instantaneous translation of messages, watchlist notifications for contact interactions, advanced attachment search filters, and a library of templates/text snippets.
You can also customize the toolbar layout. For enterprise users, eM Client includes admin deployment tools and integrations.
The flexibility can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, as eM Client can feel overwhelming with so much to configure, especially if you’re coming from a simpler app.
But if you love customizing apps, eM Client is worth considering.
Free for non-commercial use and starting at $59.95 for commercial use.
While the other clients on the list all use the traditional inbox management concepts to varying degrees, Spike goes a step further by completely reinventing email for individual productivity and team collaboration.
While not for everyone, it’s taking its inspiration from chat apps and social media to transform email into an infinitely scrolling feed of conversational "channels". These are organized around contacts and teams instead of the typical chrono-threaded approach.
This different experience lets you chat and share assets like notes, documents, and voice clips in your inbox. It includes features like automating message tone, video calls, and AI prioritization based on relationship context instead of subject lines and sender aliases.
Spike maintains core functions like account unification and calendar support. But its conversation-centric design can be hard to get used to.
Free plan available, starting at $5 per month per user for advanced features.
In the personal productivity front, Superhuman takes a traditional approach with an email interface optimized for speed and efficiency. It adds depth through an AI engine that powers automated split inboxes for VIPs and service emails, intelligent follow-up reminders, social insights about contacts, and error correction.
Superhuman isn't cheap at $30/month, but the premium delivers an unmatched experience that feels like a personal productivity force multiplier.
Starting at $30 per month.
For those who live on their mobile devices and want an extra AI-powered assist for email management on mobile devices. It automatically prioritizes messages, provides AI-written summaries, and generates email drafts based on voice prompts or sentiment reactions.
These AI integrations improve mobile email management, bridging the context and functionality gap compared to desktop experiences.
Its freemium model with premium tiers offers a compelling way to enhance mobile email through intelligent optimization and AI assistance.
Free plan available, starting at $49 per year for advanced features.
Desktop simplicity, intelligent mobile assistance, effective team communication, smart spam filtering, hyper-customized productivity…Whatever your use case, there’s a third-party Gmail client for you.
The key is finding the right fit based on your priorities.
For me, Missive's collaboration-focused experience has been a game-changer for team communication without compromising individual productivity.
But what about you? Maybe you'll prefer Thunderbird's community-driven open-source approach. Or the AI-enhanced efficiency of Superhuman for power users!
No matter the app, upgrading from Gmail's web interface can optimize email and get you closer to inbox zero.
It’s time to take control of your inbox.
