Make email work again.
Taking the insanity out of email.
Some context
As a headteacher I was getting around 100 emails a day. Roughly speaking these broke down as follows:
I found that I got stressed if I had not read emails and found myself checking on my phone and computer frequently. Boomerang insights calculated that I was wasting nearly 2 hours a day checking emails(Boomerang is an add in for Gmail ). I found that I was frequently re-reading the same email as it stayed in my inbox.
I realised that I needed to do something as it was driving me insane. I read around the internet and came up with some strategies.
Triage:
- Is this email actionable?. If not – delete.
- Is the action under 5 mins? Do it!
- Is the action over 5 mins schedule it
Where I might need an email for future reference I file it as a PDF.
I also turned off all of the notifications for emails on all of my devices; this prevents distracting popups.
This improved things but I still felt I was spending too much time on email. I searched around for solutions. I tried multiple email clients but this did not particularly help.
I then came across SaneBox which has been brilliant.
What is it?
SaneBox uses advanced algorithms to sort your email. It categorises your email so that you can easily see what is essential and what is not. It is amazingly accurate and does not need any apps as it works in the cloud before your email arrives.
It works pretty much out of the box and you have lot of ways to customise it.
How it works
You sign up, you permit access to your email. You then choose what features you want to use.
SaneBox then adds folders to your account. Some of these are fully automatic others are trained both by your previous actions e.g. how quickly did you read/reply. You can also manually train by dragging an email into a particular folder.
What this means is that your most important emails stay in your inbox. Other emails automatically go to folders where you can deal with at an appropriate time.
Key Features
@SaneblackHole
I would buy SaneBox for this feature alone. You drag an email in this folder and you will never hear from this person again. No need to unsubscribe just drag in and it is done.
@Sanenoreplies
Emails you have sent and someone hasn’t replied to
@sanelater
Emails that Sanebox knows you can deal with later.
Do not Disturb
This is a fantastic feature. Effectively you can set a schedule so your email is paused for parts of the day. You can also use this to set up a holiday etc. The difference between this and vacation mode is it actually keeps the email out of your email box.
Reminders
Another of my favourite features. This allows you to send an email to your future self…
You can forward an email so that it will reappear at a set time/date. For example I received an email about an opportunity for the school in September. I simply forward email to 1sep@sanebox.com and the email will then arrive on that date.
Cost
They offer a free 14 day trial and 25% off for education and non profits. The price then ranges from 24$ a year to $299 a year. I went for $99 plan (discounted to $75) which includes two email addresses.
Conclusion
Pros:
- Makes email work for you
- Works across all devices
- Simple and highly configurable
- Saves hours of time
Negatives:
- Paid for service
Try a two week free trial (no credit card needed)
https://www.sanebox.com/signup/ede1a8d05f/c
Disclaimer: I have not been paid for the review. If you use the link above I will get a discount on my renewal.
