Gmail: Keeping You Sane Through Labels

Thanks to the power of the iPhone I have access to my email virtually 24 hours a day, but with my organizations, school and work, I have a messy inbox.

Gmail has a variety of ways to keep your inbox organized with labels. Labels allow you to color coat and categorize emails from different people or a set of group of people. So for example, I have a set color label for all of my staff members who work on one particular account. Gmail also allows you to create folders where you can save particular conversations. For instance I have a TO-DO folder where I filter all of my to-do emails.

To create a label:

1. Click the Labels drop-down menu; click the gear icon Mail settings and Labels.

2. Select Create new.

3. Type the name of your new label and click OK

To apply a label to a message, you can select the check box next to the message(s) in question, and then select the label name from the Labels drop-down menu. You can also drag a message to a label's name to move that message to a label.

Also, when you receive an email from a person who you would like to add to an existing label:

1. Click More
2. Select Filter messages like these
3. The From box should already have the individuals email address, from there you select Next Step.
4. Under Choose action select Apply the label and choose accordingly

For more tips follow Gmail on Twitter: @gmail.