Comments on: A simple way to simplify email — From Stowe Boyd

By: George

George — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:00:19 +0000

Thanks for the great article. This is just what I was looking for … and it combines the 2 things I use the most for email and browsing : Firefox and Gmail.
Firefox is the best.

Thanks again !
Stumbled it !

By: Markus

Markus — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:47:40 +0000

what a great article. I have tried and found that RTM is a great way to keep my inbox at zero and organize my information. No more searching through archived emails. Very GTD!

By: niilo alhovaara

niilo alhovaara — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:57:16 +0000

I’ve been using RTM within the GoogleCalendar for a while and it works fine for me; however, the RTM-Gmail integration is definitely interesting. I use GTD Inbox with Gmail and I wonder if GTD and the RTM add-on play nicely together? I seem to get logged off from RTM every time I star a mail.. Something not quite right, I guess! Any comments appreciated.

By: jay

jay — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:12:43 +0000

“With the RTM integration, I can simply use the Gmail Star feature for email, and automatically create a RTM task linked to the email”

HELP…. how does this work? i’ve been using the add-in for some time but have never heard of this. how do you make this automatic?

thanks

By: Martin Wildam

Martin Wildam — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:28:37 +0000

I know why there is no task list in GMail: They have an outstanding calendar. Why then need a task list if you have a calendar?

If there is a thing to do there are either two possibilities:

1. Get it done sometimes: Schedule it on the calendar.

2. Not so important to waste time: Archive it (and maybe tag it with “maybe later”.

My experience: If you don’t schedule it, it will not get done. Getting things done means that you need to find a time WHEN to get these things done.

I don’t use to-do-lists any more. Only thing I have is those two labels “Action” and “Waiting” (for somebody else to response or take action). The action label is for temporary use only as long as I have not decided about the optimum day/time when to schedule.

By: Beaver

Beaver — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:23:02 +0000

What is the most efficient way to deal with a large number of old e-mails?

For a lot of time, I dumped e-mails into backup archives without separating essentials from the rest. At this point, I got around 400000 e-mails starting with 1999, in the form of thirty backups in three different database formats. I do not want the archive to grow this much anymore, hence the need to declutter this area.

So, here is what I have done so far. First, I used the original e-mail programs to export e-mails to a common format. As the second step, I loaded the exported mails into Thunderbird. Third, I used the Remove Duplicate Messages addon to remove all duplicates (this addon can remove duplicates even if they are in different folders!).

Now I got around 40000 of them in 200 folders, and I want to choose the essential ones and throw the rest. At this point, I need to deal with them manually. Could the blog readers, who went through something similar, share their strategies on dealing with massive amounts of old e-mails?

By: James Levy

James Levy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:24:48 +0000

The one crucial thing that’s missing is a Gmail API. I use a few different machines throughout the day, and the barrier is still too high if a browser extension is required.

Perhaps RTM would be a great gobble for the Google Borg?

By: Andrew Twigg

Andrew Twigg — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:20:41 +0000

I’ve started using a combination of my calendar and documents (spreadsheet) to manage my to-do tasks. Perhaps this is a bit much for some people, but with two businesses I find a standard to-do list inadequate.

The upside of this is that I have Google Sync (and other google apps) installed on my BlackBerry. This allows me to sync the two; my BlackBerry calendar automatically syncs to Google Calendar every time I add, delete, or modify an item and vice versa. I can access my documents on my phone as well. I can also choose to share any or all of this info with others.

I use the calendar like my “assistant” who makes sure certain things get done at certain times. That way I can set a reminder to write a check on Friday at 2 while I’ll also be taking care of another similar item in a similar place. And I can snooze or even reschedule the reminder when it appears on my BlackBerry if for some reason my schedule isn’t working out quite the way I hoped.

I just started using Google calendar synced with my BlackBerry two weeks ago; it has been a retraining process learning to not put things into iCal but I’m much more organized and on top of things this way.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:41:22 +0000

I’ve been working with the same idea for the last couple of weeks and have have also added GTDInbox (adds some really neat features to Gmail in a GTD framework) and Better Gmail 2.

That may be moving away from the original idea of “a simple way to simplify e-mail”, but all these add-ons seem to play nicely together and really improve the overall functionality of Gmail! And I like Jott too!

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:13:52 +0000

One of the things I really love about Remember the Milk is that it works with Jott (http://jott.com) and has a nice mobile version I can access from my mobile phone. I like that I can submit new items via email, text message, or voice dictation. I also like that I can build custom filters and have RTM send me txt msgs when items are due.

Combine Jott, RTM and Google Calendar and it’s like a virtual personal assistant!

By: Glenn

Glenn — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:03:52 +0000

I second the PortableApps suggestion; they’re all I use for Firefox, Thunderbird, and several other programs.

By: Jonas

Jonas — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:38:39 +0000

I use Thunderbird+Lightning for email and calendar at work, but I don’t like Lightning’s task management, so I set up the RTM iGoogle gadget to open in Firefox’s sidebar. (I don’t like iGoogle either, but the sidebar functionality is awesome.)

Since I have Firefox and Thunderbird both constantly open, it’s easy to switch back and forth, though it’s not as nicely integrated as your solution. But with my system, when I’m aimlessly web browsing (such as now) I always have my to-do list staring me in the face.

By: sylrayj

sylrayj — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:49:25 +0000

I have been using Google Sidebar. It is a side window, looking somewhat similar to the Remember the Milk task list, but it is there regardless of what program I have operating in the main window (unless it dominates the entire screen), and it doesn’t require being connected. Mine is set up with a to-do list at top, a picture viewer next, and finally, a notepad…

When I check my online sales flyers, I write down what’s on sale in the notepad, then transfer it to my Palm pilot’s grocery list. I have my upcoming appointments listed in the sidebar, in case I didn’t have Google Calendar open already and need to book something in a hurry (or if my ISP is a bit fussy). I have a few important to-do’s listed.

The only problem I know of with this method is it’s on just my computer, whereas the Remember the Milk sounds like it’d be on any computer from which you could read your Gmail. Since I only use one, instead of multiples, this works great for me, and I don’t need any sticky notes.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:02:35 +0000

I have found the answers to my questions. It is all explained in under ‘services’ then ‘gmail’ in the rtm help pages. http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/gmail/

By: aaron

aaron — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:54:32 +0000

@ Jen

if you cant install firefox, you may consider installing the portable version of firefox on a usb drive. portableapps.com I use foxmarks to sync my bookmarks etc at work, and its great.

Thanks for the RTM tip, ive been sending emails to myself when i want to remember things…is there a way to archive the RTM notes? Is RTM searchable..so i can say…yeah i did that one thing…3 months ago.