Becoming A Gmail Ninja

Recently, Gmail put out a set of tips on using Gmail optimally. We are considering it as one of the handouts for the digging deeper with Google sessions we are offering to college employees this summer. As part of that review process I found a few tricks that I started to use this afternoon.  As a result I am leaving today with a clean inbox and a compact Google Apps interface.

I hope I can defeat my opponent and earn the green belt at the next gathering.  I am worried, I hear my opponent is Ralph Macchio.

Email Inquiry – Chat Discussion – Chat History Added To Conversation

Last week, I received an inquiry from a colleague thinking through how much energy should be given to a particular piece of a larger project.  I did not get to respond to the email at that moment as I knew it would take two or three email messages to get to a decision so I left it for when I had hoped to see him face to face.  The face to face never happened so it was still sitting in my inbox this afternoon when I went for my regular afternoon email session.  I noticed my colleague was available via chat thanks to the link at the bottom of the original message. I figured that things would be more efficient as we could exchange information and clarify understand all at once and be done with it.  This was true but there was the unforeseen advantage to have the message and our chat conversation available all in the same window which also provided efficiencies (at least for me, I am not sure if google chat pulls up the message in question on to my colleague’s screen or not.  I will need to ask him).  It was very helpful not to have to toggle between my mail and IM windows to check facts of the original messsage. This is what I was looking at when I was chatting.

The integrated email and IM produced another efficiency – a log of the conversation that we had was associated with the original email message saving the step of confirming what was determined in the chat session in a follow-up email.

I also double checked there is a way to have conversations ‘off the record’ for the few conversations that would need such a feature.  I did not see a way to Reply All by Chat – nor do I know if I think such an option would be useful at this point.

Web Clips – They Ain’t Google Reader Or Advertisements

When we I got my first look at our instance of Google Apps at Allegheny I was confused at how we could have the advertisements turned off but still be getting ads across the heading of mail boxes.  It took a second to figure out that the weren’t ads but headlines from preloaded RSS feeds.  Google calls them web clips and I freely admit I don’t have much use for what was loaded by default.  I do like the option to add my own feeds and have headlines from the past week scroll through.

Directly about my inbox messages (see area within the red box – sorry those who might be using a screen reader or color blind) I receive the most current headlines for a few select sites.   I have been careful to put only certain types of news in there mainly campus news and sites related to google apps.

My Web Clips

I really like how I configured this as I very rarely go to the sites intentionally to read the news.  By having it as “intentional noise” around something I pay attention to more regularly, I am more informed about what is going on on campus.  I really hoped that we would be able to pre-populate some feeds but this does not seem possible.  (If anyone has figured out how to control this at the enterprise level it would be great to know. )  This will be something to include in our overviews of Google Apps sessions this summer.

Initial Post about My Allegheny (Allegheny’s use of Google Apps for Education)

Now that the decision has been made to pursue Google Apps here at Allegheny I have jumped right in to emerse myself in the environment and paradigm of using an integrated suite of calendar, email, tasks, documents, and start page. From a user perspective, I am finding more and more advantages of such an environment.  A few of the postitive features I have found are from labs particularly the “send and archive button” and the “multiple inboxes” both of these are key time savers for me.

1. The send and archive option allows me to send the message and clear out my inbox all in one step as opposed to the two steps it would take prior(not to mention I never did step two in my personal gmail account thus causing my inboxe to be unruly).
2. The multiple inbox allows me to pull less urgent messages out of my main inbox into sub mailboxes thank’s to the use of filters.  This allows me to focus my energy on the inbox which contains the messages that need my attention first.  It did not take a lot of time to set up initially (5 -10 minutes) and only 30 seconds or less to add new filters for messages that I want to skip my inbox and be displayed in one of my 4 sub mail boxes (Bulk News, Listservs, Help Desk Stuff, Sales).  I can go to my sub mailboxes when I have the time or interest and read those messages.  For a week now I have been able to keep up and respond to messages in my inbox before I leave for the day.

Other features are just a part of how an integrated suite works

1. For instance take a look at this email invitation to a meeting I received this morning.
   Two things not seen in this image but worth noting is that the meeting was made on the department’s common calendar that can be a layer on my personal calendar. Also, should there be documents necessary for the meeting they can be uploaded and shared along with the meeting time.
2. I am still struggling a little with the conversation mode a bit, perhaps more because it seems like magic to me how Google strings the threads together but the fact that when I archive (not delete) prior threads are brought back when new messages arrive.
3. I have also given up on the need to organize messages beyond what it takes to direct messages to the 5 mail boxes because the search is so good.  All I need to remember is something, anything about the message I want to find and plug that into the search box.  In the last week I have been able to find every message I want quicker than when I was organizing into folders in my desktop client.  Archive and Search is the way to go!

The biggest struggle that I have found to this point is the paradigm shift of how email calendar and document sharing was done to how it needs to be done within this suite.  I believe this will be a common experience from the community, especially those that have pushed the edges of the what our current client can do.