7 Effective Ways to Avoid Drowning in Emails

By: | September 6, 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , |

7 apps that help you declutter your Email inboxA shot heard around the world is a phrase associated with history and baseball.

Hugh Roberts’ post about how to keep up with blogging, Are You Letting Your Blog Get Out Of Control? is a post that resonated around the Internet.

The post was reblogged nine times, and including this one, three spin-off posts have been written about it.

According to Debby Kaye, one of the nine who reblogged Hugh’s post, “Blogging shouldn’t be a stressful event.”  This stress was echoed across the Internet because bloggers simply have too much to do.

However, when it comes to dealing with too many Emails, tools exist which can help you declutter your Email inbox. Seven of them are described in this post.

According to Debby, “It seems [Hugh’s] post has garnered a lot of attention because so many of us share the same problem trying to prioritize our writing, yet keeping up with the blogosphere.”

Hugh also commented on the stress that Email clutter can cause bloggers. “Blogging is all about fun and having a good time. It should never become stressful.”

Consider comments from readers:

Sue Vincent – …the inboxes are already bursting at the seams. There seems to be a bit of a wave of feeling about tidying up at present.

Aquileana – … Blogging can certainly become exhausting at times…

Elaine Mansfield – We are jugglers…

Teagan Geneviene – Every issue you mentioned, I also have. But I have not been successful in dealing with it yet…  

Tools exist which can help you and these other bloggers. I blogged about them in a guest post I did for Firepole Marketing.

 

7 Email Apps To Increase Your Personal Productivity

You’re researching, creating, and marketing content. And somehow on top of all that, you must find time to deal with the hoards of email cluttering up your inbox.

The 1,440 minutes in a day just aren’t sufficient to deal with all this.

You’d certainly have more time if you and your email were not constantly battling it out.

It’s understandable you feel under siege by this constant swarm of email. And it’s highly likely that it’s impacting your productivity and business results as well.

According to Tested.com, the problem of email clutter has gotten progressively worse over the last twenty years as more and more people have used it.

Fortunately, there are some handy apps—most of which are free—that will streamline your email activities, helping you get more done in less time.

Below I’ve outlined 7 email management apps to help you reach your moment of email zen.

1. Dragon Dictation

This app has been called one of the best dictation apps on the market today.

Once you download it onto your smartphone, you can dictate your email text directly into it. Just speak into the phone, and it types your email for you. It can also type your texts and social media posts.

According to Nuance.com, using Dragon Dictation is 5 times faster than typing. Personally, I use it to dictate my email, texts, and even memos to myself.

Dictation really does speed up the communication process. I don’t have time not to use it.

Why walk when you can run?

Dragon Dictation

Dragon Dictation is free.

2. Swizzle

If you’re inundated with email you have no desire to read, and are too busy to click “unsubscribe” each time you get one that you no longer want, then you should consider the Swizzle app.

Once you download the app, type in your email address, and it automatically starts sorting your junk mail for you. Not to worry—no one actually reads your email.

The service automatically looks for bulk emailing traits to separate the real email from the junk and sorts it that way.

Swizzle takes no more than a few minutes to sort your mail, depending on the size of your inbox. It then offers you a list of your promotional emails and offers to unsubscribe them for you!

It’s just as good as a secretary who will do this for you and saves you the time.

Swizzle
Swizzle is for use with iOS and is free.

3. Unroll.me

Unroll.me organizes your email and declutters your inbox for you. Instead of many separate emails you will receive just one, containing a brief synopsis of each individual email.

Unroll.me also offers a similar capability as Swizzle but is not restricted to IOS users. It shows you how many promotional email lists you’re on and offers to unsubscribe for you.

If you don’t want to unsubscribe to a specific email but save it for later use, it allows that, too.

Unroll Me

Unroll.me is also free to use.

4. Mailbox

Mailbox is based on the idea that each email should be dealt with immediately, so it gives you choices in order to prioritize them.

Your first choice is the purpose of the email. If you are keeping it in your inbox, is it related to something you ultimately want to read or buy, for example?

Once that is decided, you choose when you want to deal with the email. This may seem a bit labor-intensive at first, but eventually Mailbox learns your habits and ultimately decides for you how to categorize your emails.

Mailbox
According to Mashable.com, Mailbox is a popular choice for email organization. It is free and supports Gmail and iCloud.

5. Boxer

If you are seeking easy integration between your email and other apps, then check out the Boxer app.

It quickly merges your email with your other accounts, like LinkedIn, and a to-do-list. It will even send scripted responses for you.

Boxer1

Boxer2
The screenshots show some of the ways you can categorize your email using Boxer.

Boxer supports Gmail, Outlook, Exchange, Yahoo, and IMAP. The full version costs $.99. There is also a free version.

6. Hop

Why type when you can Doodle?

That is the versatility of Hop. It turns email-writing into an activity comparable to using an Etch-A-Sketch. Doodling your emails instead of typing them could speed up your communication.

Hop has other features as well, like being able to see an entire conversation you’ve had with each of your contacts. This would, of course, save you the time it would take to look up those conversation threads.

Doodle


Hop
is supported by AOL, Yahoo, Gmail and iCloud and is free.

7. Sanebox

I’ve been reading glowing reviews of Sanebox, which has a huge fan base. Its reviewers say the app restores sanity to your inbox. It declutters your inbox and saves you time by organizing your emails by priority.

The app organizes your folders by urgency of email by memorizing how quickly you open different emails. The folders are labeled with appropriate titles like “Sane Next Week” for what the app thinks you’ll want to read next week, and so forth.

Sanebox even has a “black hole” feature. If you send a communication into the “black hole,” you’ll never hear from that sender again.

Sanebox


Sanebox
 has varying plans to choose from.

[bctt tweet=”Add more minutes to your day with Email apps.”]

Take Back Your Time

Are you ready for your 24-hour day to get longer?

It’s not your imagination. Email overwhelm really has gotten worse which can have the effect of making your days seem compressed into less time.

However, by using these or other email management apps, you free up your time to be more productive, less stressed, and more organized.

And that will certainly add more minutes to your day!

When you have a lot on your mind, time management is crucial to success. Busy people like you can’t afford not to use the tools that promote it.

We can’t live without email these days, but email management apps streamline the process and saving you valuable time that you could be spending on other activities.

Busy people can’t afford not to use tools.  If, as they say, “time is money,” you just got a whole lot richer.

Readers, please share.  Perhaps other bloggers overwhelmed with all their Email clutter would appreciate knowing about these tools.  The best part– there are choices for both IOS and Android users.

Do you use any email apps to help you increase your personal productivity? Or how about any hacks you’ve discovered that you can share? Let us know in the comments below!

Related Posts:

3 Shrewd Ways to Easily Triple Your Productivity

How to Blog and Easily Have Time to Sleep

  1. Eric Klingenberg

    The irony with time saving programmes and apps is that you can waste a lot of time researching them in first place. If you decided to get them then a lot time is wasted setting them up. Thanks for the article thou I’m use some of them will be useful.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Eric,
      Thanks for writing me. One of the commenters agreed with what you wrote. However, does it really take that long to download an app? I downloaded the Zero Mail app. I was underwhelmed, but it didn’t take that long to download or set up.
      Janice

  2. Debby Gies

    JANICE I’M HERE! I told you it worked! Just received this post by email no doubt! I signed in with my alternate writer email. Wonderful article and thanks for adding in my blog with yours. Also note – about your @twitter handle. If we click to share with twitter under your actual post it goes to @shareaholic, but if we choose to share from the share options that come up at the sidebar, that’s where your handle is added. You may want to see if you can add it to both. Nice to be back!

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Debby,
      I am so sorry if you felt hassled in any way at all. It was kind of funny in retrospect. You are right. It should be a movie. Maybe one day you will write about it in one of your books. I am so proud of you with all your books in your sidebar. I mean, I really welled up with pride for you when I saw them! Maybe over winter break I’ll have time to pursue authoring a blogging book. I am thrilled you are back too. Wayne still knows you as the Derek Shepperd fan. He is glad the Derek Shepperd fan is back too!
      By the way, Ralph, your commenter, is guest posting about his system for saving time for me this Tuesday. You did a great thing by reblogging Hugh. Thank you. Thanks to your reblog, my site will have two spin-off posts from his original post! I will link back to your site again when I reference it, of course.
      Janice

    • Janice Wald

      I should explore it. Thanks for the suggestion and the comments.
      Janice

  3. Melinda

    Once again, it’s Janice to the rescue!! My BBFF is now a superhero!
    SuperJanice!
    No joke, this subject has been of real concern lately. Thanks!
    Melinda

    • Janice Wald

      Wow! A superhero! High praise! I mean, really high! Thank you so much. I don’t think I’ve ever been called a superhero before. I think I would have remembered that. As they say, there is a first time for everything; I guess it’s true! Thanks so much for the comments (you are my #1 commenter) and the compliments.
      Janice

  4. Melinda

    For some reason I’m getting double emails from you.
    How apropos for this topic!
    BBFF,
    Melinda

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Melindad BBFF,
      I agree. Wayne thinks we should try Sanebox and I think one other. I saw you on FB having a happy Sunday. I am glad. My grandkids are coming swimmig later today.
      Janice

  5. Hugh Roberts

    Thanks for linking my recent post in this article, Janice. I’m so very happy that the post lead you to writing this one. Struggling under mounds of emails is not fun and your advice will go a very long way in helping many people.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Hugh,
      Thank you for writing me. You got traffic from my site on Sunday. I am glad. I will be linking to your “Is Your Blog Out of Control” post on Tuesday when Ralph Willis guest posts about it and I am linking to it again in tomorrow’s linky party!
      Janice

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Corinne!
      I just came from your site. I am glad you found the post on Email apps helpful. I am hosting a guest author who is writing a follow-up post to this one on how to ease blogger stress, publishing this Tuesday.
      Thank you for writing me!
      Janice

  6. Carol Graham

    I had no idea there were these tools available. However, I agree with Eric. It takes time to set up and research, I have my own system which I find works well and I am too much of a control freak to give the reins to someone else to handle my inbox.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Carol,
      What is your system? I am having a reader guest post about his system on Tuesday. Perhaps I can share your system as part of the post and link back to your site.
      Janice

  7. Jennifer

    I love unroll.me and love that after I carefully saved some emails, after seeing them in digest form week after week, I decide that I no longer need some of those as well. Of course, it’s never ending, once I delete some, I then add others.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Jennifer,
      Thank you so much for coming to my site. I don’t believe we’ve met before. Thank you for the recommendation. My husband wants to try Sanebox. Word of mouth is safer, I think.Thank you for coming, writing, and offering us your feedback.
      Janice

  8. M. J. Leake

    These are all great ideas.

    I spend a little time daily unsubscribing from emails and doing the same on my social media accounts that are not affiliated with writing, blogging, and reading,

    • Janice Wald

      Hi M.J.,
      There has been such widespread interest (all over the Blogosphere) about reducing Email clutter, I have another post publishing in about three hours on how bloggers can find more time in their day. The post a guest post, details one system.
      I am planning a follow-up post about other systems for dealing with Email clutter. I will include your idea for dealing with Email clutter and link back to your blog when I do.
      Thank you so much for following my blog, by the way. I am quite flattered by what you wrote about us helping bloggers. Thank you for writing me and all your support.
      Janice

  9. Yvonne Jasinski

    I will definitely try some of these. I do no even bother to unsubscribe anymore. I have thousands of emails. Once in a while I do a massive delete.

  10. Janice Wald

    Hi Yvonne,
    Thank you so much for visiting my site and writing me.
    Your comment at first sounded shocking. Thousands of Emails! Crazy! Then I realized I have thousands too. My husband thinks Sanebox would help me. If it’s for IOS I’ll try it. I had tried an Email app, Inbox Zero or something but I was underwhelmed and deleted it.
    As far as your system, I do unsubscribe but feel guilty about it.
    Thanks again for your visit and your comments and for reading what I wrote.
    Janice

  11. Raquel

    I am going to check out some of these apps to save some time! Thanks for the list.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Raquel,
      My pleasure to describe the apps. I am always happy to help. I see you write about organization. These apps are a great way to organize your Email inbox! Thanks for reading what I wrote and writing me.
      Janice

  12. Heather

    I think you’ve touched a nerve because many of us are overwhelmed with email. Gmail does sort them nicely but I find that promotion tab overflowing…

  13. Pam

    Thanks for the great info. I haven’t heard of any of these apps! I’m going to try one or two of them right now. 🙂 Found you via SITSGirls! 🙂

    • Janice Wald

      HI,
      People seemed concern checking out the apps might be time-consuming. If you check them out, perhaps report back on what you thought. My husband thought I should try SaneBox, but I haven’t yet.
      Janice

  14. Gilly Maddison

    This has to be one if the best blogs for people with a thirst to learn more about blogging and find tool to help save time. Thank you for this help.

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  16. Kim

    Swizzle sounds awesome!!! I have so much spam that I want unsubscribed, but it takes forever to go through it and unsubscribe it. Thanks again for great tips:)

  17. Kim

    Just went to app store for swizzle and it doesn’t exist:( When I clicked on the link for Swizzle in your post, the last Tweet was January of 2014 and there is no theswizzle.com website either. Also, Sanebox doesn’t support Verizon email. Just wanted to let you know about those 2 things. I’m sad because they sounded great.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Kim,
      Thanks for the update and filling us all in.
      I am sad too. My husband wanted me to try Sanebox. I also use Verizon. I did feel there was variety in the apps, something for everyone, but the apps I would like to use don’t seem to support IOS or, as you say, Verizon. Swizzle? Maybe it didn’t do well, so the developers don’t support it anymore. How frustrating is that! Thanks again for the updates. I had started using Inbox Zero but wouldn’t recommend it.
      Janice

  18. Mary Hill

    These tools seem very helpful. I will be checking them all out. Thanks for sharing on Literacy Musing Mondays.

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  20. Gilly Maddison

    Thank you once again for reminding me of this. I had already read it way back but hadn’t really needed to implement any of the suggestions. I certainly will now – will probably try the unroll one as both you and Jennifer in the comments have said it’s good.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi again Gilly.
      Have you tried Unroll.me yet? I mentioned it’s easy, fun, and free. Also, more importantly– effective!
      Janice

      • Gilly Maddison

        No – I haven’t tried it yet – I have just had the week from hell with my hosting company and have had to change to a new one. The technicalities have been hideous and I was thankful to have someone on hand that knew how to deal with it all. Hence it is 4.30am and I am now catching up with stuff I got sidetracked from last week.

        • Janice Wald

          Hi Gilly,
          Sounds stressful! What hosting company do you use? I use A Small Orange. I’m an affiliate, if you’re ever interested in trying them. I also have a great tech helper if you need.
          Janice

          • Gilly Maddison

            Thanks for the suggestion – I was using 1and1. They were fine for the first couple of years but then things went downhill in a very bad way. I have a close friend who sorted it all out for me and he has set me up on his server.But thanks for the offer.

        • Janice Wald

          Hi Gilly,
          I never heard of 1 and 1. You are lucky you have a friend to help. Tech trouble can be stressful when you’re trying to blog.
          Janice

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