This document provides tips for managing email posts from The BGI Channel in Gmail more efficiently. It recommends setting keyboard shortcuts and indicators to on. It also recommends removing extra webclips and adding a search filter for Twitter posts. Several Labs tools are recommended to enable like Advanced IMAP Controls and the Google Calendar gadget. It then provides steps for filtering Channel posts into labels to organize them by forum like #BGI-Channel, #BGI-Channel/Commons, and #BGI-Channel/Commons/Renewable-Energy. Other tips include starring important posts and best practices for using labels over folders.

1. Filtering
Channel
Posts
Tips on how to manage
email posts from The BGI
Channel to be able to use
this tool more efficiently
and effectively

2. In Settings: General, set
Settings: General “Keyboard shortcuts on”

3. Settings: General Turn on “Show indicators” and “Show snippets”

4. Remove all extra webclips
Settings: WebClips
In Search box, add:
http://twitter.com/bgiedu/

5. In the Settings for Labs there are a number of
Settings: Labs lab tools to add

6. Labs: Advanced IMAP Enable
Controls

7. Labs: Google Calendar Enable
gadget

8. Enable
Labs: Nested Labels

9. Enable
Labs: Quicklinks

10. Settings: Labels For the “All Mail” label, turn off “Show in IMAP”

11. Log in to The Channel, and
Channel Posts
click on your profile link

12. Channel Posts
Click on Edit Profile

13. Turn off Digest - single email per form post.
Channel Posts
Save. You will need wait a while to receive some new
non-digest posts before you can continue.

14. Without filtering or
So we have to filter out messages from
digests, inbox is noisy The Channel and Label them
with channel posts

15. Start with a single This one is from “Commons”,
Channel message and “Renewable Energy”

16. Select “More actions” and then
Filter this message “Filter messages like these”

17. Gmail will make a guess on Along with the post you selected, all the other
how to filter this message posts to the same Channel Forum will be shown

18. However, for our first filter, we want all Channel
Change filter to grab all
posts to be grouped together. Change to
BGI-Channel posts “list:(.bgichannel.org)” and click Test to see result

19. Create a master filter for Select “Skip the Inbox”,
all channel posts “Apply Label” and “New Label...”

20. Create a new label #BGI- Create New Label “#BGI-Channel”
Channel and “OK”

21. Click on
Create a new label #BGI- “Also apply filter to conversations below”,
Channel
and finally “Create Filter”

22. Your filter and label are
now created

23. The #BGI-Channel label Your Inbox is cleared of Channel posts, and your
has all your posts, not your #BGI-Channel label has them instead.
inbox Now we will create individual forum labels

24. Go back to your single Note the name the forum that it came from. This
Channel message one is from Commons, and Renewable Energy

25. Select “More actions” and then
Filter this message “Filter messages like these”

26. You’ll see all posts to this same Channel
View test results Forum will be filtered together.
Click on “Next Step”.

27. Select “Skip the Inbox”,
Create a new label “Apply Label” and “New Label...”

28. Create a new label #BGI- Create New Label “#BGI-Channel/Commons”
Channel/Commons and “OK”

29. Select “Skip the Inbox”,
Create a new label “Apply Label” and “New Label...”

30. Create Second Label
Create a second label “#BGI-Channel/Commons/Renewable-Energy”
and “OK”

31. Click on
Create a filter for both “Also apply filter to conversations below”,
labels
and finally “Create Filter”

32. Your second filter is now Now your channel posts are
created
organized in a nested labels

33. You can “star” posts from Announcement forums,
Another useful filter option or classes you are currently taking. This will mark
is to “Star it” them for more attention until Unstarred.

34. Gmail Best Practices
Other Topics:
Labels are not Folders
Archive is not Trash, instead it is NOT label Inbox
Thus Archive button is = remove Inbox label
All mail has every archived mail
Move button removes current label and adds new label.
Label button is safer, adds label to existing labels
Special Labels !! ! @ #
!!Highest and !High priority are sorted to top, use like “!Homework”
@, useful for emails from a specif email account, will be sorted to top next
#topic labels sorted above normal labels
Useful to “Hide least-used Labels” using Settings:Labels
To hide completely read Labels, enable the Lab