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43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Vox Populi: How are you using Mail Tags?

I open the floor to all of you on a question of particular personal interest to me: How are you using Mail Tags?

While my uses of it to date have been helpful, I keep getting the feeling I’m not getting all that I can out of it – especially since the ability to associate Projects, Priorities, etc. to a message could make for some really enticing Smart Folders.

I wonder if my question is ultimately more taxonomic in nature – ultimately more about Spotlight in general or Tags in very very general: When tagging items on your Mac, what kind of ‘-onomy’ are you using? How strictly do you enforce your vocabulary? What are the best practices for someone who’s new to this?

Confidential to Mr. Thomas Vander Wal: if you turn up here and school me a bit on this, I’ll totally buy you a Coke. If you write a guest post on it, I’ll buy you a beefsteak and two cocktails. Seriously. Steak.

JennG's picture

Mail Tags rocks. I am not...

Mail Tags rocks.

I am not a gtd practitioner, though I do subscribe to a zero inbox strategy. I set up separate calendars for my 4 biggest clients and everyone else is on my firm calendar. When I process mail, I assign the calendar, use the pulldown for the thing to be done: (calendar, review, respond, wait, forward, etc.) and I set a to do named the way I name everything: initials project thingtobedone date .

If I have specific things to review or questions to answer, I drop the text of the email into the notes section. While this is all a little cumbersome, it saved me when I could have lost a month worth of my calendars and notes when my mbp harddrive failed during a big backup. I had no harddrive but all of my docs and important emails were backed up to gmail and all of my calendars, to dos, and important notes were safely on my ipod.

 
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The Podcast Feed

Inbox Zero

The original 43 Folders series looking at the skills, tools, and attitude needed to empty your email inbox — and then keep it that way. Don’t miss the free video of Merlin’s Inbox Zero presentation.

Making Time

3-part series on attention management for artists and makers. Read Bad Correspondence, The Job You Think You Have, and One Clear Line.