Eddie On Everything

Use Gmail like a Power User to Fight Spam and Stay organized

February 27, 2008 on 12:18 pm | In internet, productivity |

Gmail tips and tricks

Gmail has been around for a few years, making its unique multi-threaded discussion format old hat to many internet users. Still, many users remain in the dark as to a number of Gmail power user tips and tricks, keeping them from unlocking Gmail’s full power.

Here, I run down a few useful tips and tricks that should help you use Gmail to its full potential.

1. Add periods to your Gmail address

You’re free to add as many periods to your Gmail address as you’d like. For instance, say that your Gmail address is:

eddieoneverything@gmail.com

You will also receive email sent to eddie.on.everything@gmail.com, ed.dieoneverything@gmail.com, eddie.on.every.thing@gmail.com, even e.d.d.i.e.o.n.e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g@gmail.com. Why does this matter? Using this trick in conjunction with a handy Gmail filter, you can track the source of your incoming emails, and filter them according.

2. Add plus signs to your Gmail address for fighting spam

Your Gmail account will also receive email sent to yourname+anything@gmail.com. So, if your Gmail address is eddieoneverything@gmail.com, you will also receive email sent to addresses like eddieoneverything+signup@gmail.com and eddieoneverything+spammer@gmail.com. This handy hack is great for dodging spam, and for tracking the source of all of that unsolicited email.

For instance, let’s say that you need to sign up at startribune.com to gain access to their news articles, but you don’t want to forever be spammed by the Star Tribune and their advertisers. Just sign up using the email address eddieoneverything+startribune@gmail.com, and if the spam gets out of hand, set up a rule to filter all email to that address directly to the spam folder.

3. Use the plus-sign hack to automatically sort, store notes

The plus-sign hack described above can make for a great PIM, or personal information manager. I set up a label for “notes,” and created a rule that automatically filters all email sent to myaddress+notes@gmail.com to the notes area. The result is that whenever I want to save a piece of information for later retrieval (eg a frequent flyer number) I can just email it to myaddress+notes@gmail.com. Searching by label is a snap, so the info I want is always at my fingertips.

4. Two Gmail addresses – gmail.com and googlemail.com

Digital Inspiration discovers that all Gmail users can receive mail at 2 separate domains – both gmail.com and googlemail.com. This means that you can give Grandma your googlemail.com address and set up a rule to process those emails with a higher priority.

These are just a few tips that make using Gmail a more enjoyable experience. Personally, I rarely use the Gmail web interface – instead, I use SMTP access to expand the power of Gmail even further. Look for more on that in Part II.