---
title: "Gmail and productivity"
author: "Stan Voo"
url: https://www.99rabbits.com/blog/gmail-and-productivity
published: 2009-08-15
summary: "Being a productivity junkie, I tuned every corner of Gmail. Seven settings that helped, and one that was pure vanity."
---

# Gmail and productivity

Since I'm a [productivity junkie](http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/28-signs-youre-becoming-a-productivity-junkie.html "productivity junkie"), I simply have to optimize every part of my work. Here are some Gmail settings that, as far as I'm concerned, help a lot:

1. I removed the **unneeded system labels** "Drafts", "Spam" and "Trash", since I don't use them. Settings > Labels > "hide".
2. Instead, I use **my own labels** to categorize messages, for example "Advertising", "Wholesalers", "Résumés", and labels named after my individual projects. A red label, "Do it!", stands apart. Coloring the labels sets them apart from the message subjects and makes them stand out clearly "from the crowd". The very fact that I've given a message a label means it's more important than the rest. Add color coding to that: the brighter the label's color, the more important the message.
3. Settings > Labs. I turned on: *Navbar drag and drop, Undo Send, Title Tweaks, Search Autocomplete, Inserting images, Google Docs gadget*. The names speak for themselves.
4. Title Tweaks, though, isn't clear without a description: it changes the title of the mail page so that it starts with "Inbox" and you can **see the number of new messages**, even when you're in another tab.
5. By the way, I suspect many people don't use **search in their mail**, though it's an incredibly handy feature. The search box is above the list of messages, in case anyone hasn't seen it ;)
6. Since I keep all my documents in [Google Docs](http://docs.google.com "Okey-docey"), it's handy to put **the Docs gadget right under the labels**. Very convenient: it saved me from going from my mail to the Docs page first and only then opening the file I need.
7. **Inserting images** works in Firefox more simply than you could imagine: just drag a picture over from any other open tab. From an enemy website, for example, when you're writing to a project partner about the competitors' schemes ;)

*I also use the Labs feature "Custom label colors", because the standard ones are just too ugly. But that's not productivity any more, that's senility :)*