Communication Overtones Comments
All of the tips mentioned are of course true. But when it comes down to picking 'a technology', I have very good experiences with gmail: especially because all the mails that belong to one conversation also appear as 'one message' (which often is interesting when there's a lot of back-and-forth mailing regarding one and the same topic) and because you can tag e-mails and archive them in that way (instead of using folders, with the problem that one e-mail can only be put in one folder but might need several denominations). If you want to use gmail, you need an invitation from a registered user (still don't really understand the advantage of that system, but it's not my problem 
), but if anybody wants one: I still have a couple of dozen to hand out.
I was going to write most of what Serge did, but he beat me to it. Two other advantages he left out:
You can funnel ALL of your accounts to a central Gmail address, and set it up to reply appropriately as proxy. That way all the correspondence looks like it should.
Second -- if you have a lot of non-Gmail correspondence you can't convert, look at using Google Desktop to index it. Knowing that you can search ALL of your e-mail to find something makes pulling the trigger on archiving a message easier to do.
Tagging instead of folders is a godsend.
And Serge -- the reason Gmail uses invites instead of online signup is to prevent automated bots from getting accounts to use as a spam platform.
I've got plenty of invites if anyone out there still needs it.
Thanks, Ike, for filling me in! You even mentioned a thing or two I didn't know/do yet. See Kami: gmail's even better than I had suspected!
What Ike and Serge said... gmail eliminates forever the "should I save this mail or not?" Just archive: you'll never see it again unless it shows up in a search a week, month, or year from now.
I'm such a fan I don't even use my domain email anymore. Screw the slightly negative effect on my "brand"... it's a lifesaver.
Also have plenty to invites to dish out, just ask.
Thanks for the insight about gmail. I will say that I can arrange my Outlook mail by conversation, but more and more I am finding it hard to have a local e-mail client. So, I have actually been getting my domain-style e-mail at both my Outlook box AND at Yahoo, which has long been my "permanent" e-mail. I like that you can set gmail up, as Ike points out, by Proxy.
Here are my remaining issues. My Yahoo accout is almost as old as I am, EVERYONE has it. So, I have some pain switching.
I LIVE in Outlook. I have over 2,000 contacts and I love the way that they integrate with my e-mail. Also, my calendar. I hate the idea of having yet another client, albeit a browser, to open. I know there is Google calendar, but does it synch with a PDA? Also, I hate the idea that you have to be connected to see something, because sometimes on my laptop, I am not connected and I need to access these things. Say, during a client meeting. I wish that Outlook would stay in Synch with an online and offline version. Sigh!
At any rate, I am closer to turning my Yahoo into a junk account and switching to gmail for some stuff.
Thanks for your insights.
Kami and Allan --
Domain e-mails (@myprpro.com) are essential to being taken seriously. Yahoo and Gmail addresses do not lend themselves to the strongest first impression as a professional.
Give out the domain address -- and forward it to your Gmail account. Use Gmail as a back-end for ALL of your correspondence.
Kami -- you have a client named "ACMEwidgets". Use your domain privileges to create acmewidgets@myprpro.com -- give them that address to reach you.
You set it to forward everything to your Gmail, and with the proxy power, you are absolutely golden.
Here's one more piece of advice. (And Lord knows, I should be charging you people for this
Use Mozilla Thunderbird to compose your more complex html e-mails, and use the Gmail POP feature to send it.
Kami -- if you want Online/Offline capability, go to portableapps.com and download Thunderbird Portable. It's a specially tweaked version that runs off a USB drive. Plug it in to any computer with internet access, and you have everything right there. All of your downloaded messages, your contacts, your history. And you can look at everything offline. Since it stores all the preferences and data in folders on the USB drive, it leaves no footprint on the host computer.
Combine it with Gmail, and leave the original messages in the Gmail archive. Now you can do quick stuff in the browser, and still use all of those cool tags and Gmail's search when you need to, with an offline component.
(takes a bow.)
Wow Ike, I guess I need to send you chocolates or flowers (ha-ha).
But seriously, I already use the proxy capability. My info#myprpro.com on my Websites forwards to my Yahoo account, which could easily be changed to gmail, once I get my mind wrapped around it (change and all, you know).
As for Mozilla Thunderbird, I have no experience with it, so I will happily take a look at it.
Of course, this still doesn't solve the integration with my contacts list nd calendar, or synching with the PDA, though I imagine that might be able to be accomplished with the portable version. I really do a lot in Outlook with that, including using Categories.
It's too bad that we have to cobble together solutions. If only Outlook developers considered these things and helped us out a little, we wouldn't have to have these gum and shoe string solutions. I wonder what Vista will bring.
You got German comment spam!
I have no brilliant insights to give, other than the old standby, when in doubt, throw it out. You probably don't need it and you'll never find it again anyway.
And to thank you because this post inspired me to gut my inbox (which was worse than yours) of unread and useless emails.
Hi Kami.
Although I'm not obsessive over my inbox, I do find it hard to keep up with some of my mail when it gets even the least bit full.
I'll find myself going back in my archives 2-3 months trying to find old e-mails. I wish I had a program that labeled my emails in accordance to if they were important or not
These tips however, are relative to all of us, student and professional alike.
Thanks for the enlightnement Kami.
Commenting by HaloScan
