Thanks again !
Stumbled it !

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

sounds great! – But how do you create the envelope icon link to the email? Also, what is the meaning/use of all the categories in the pop-out box when you mouse over the tasks?

List?
Repeat?
Estimate?
Tags?
location?

Thanks!

Btw, tasks could be emailed to RTM from any email account (I do that from Outlook at work), although it’s less easy.

I use RTM iGoogle widget as a primary RTM interface – not only for upcoming tasks, but also for an overview of tasks per project (by using multiple copies of the widget with different settings).

http://portableapps.com/

Dave

So simple to get up and running. AAAAAAA. Like a kid with a new toy here (and I’m not usually like that).

Thank you!

Jen – No, I don’t. The RTM unintegrated solution is very well-done (although I have some design quibbles), and the model you suggest would probably feel intuitive.