A writer's Gmail setup keeps his inbox tidy with built-in tools

A writer who used Gmail for years says he was barely using it. Parth Shah of Android Police rebuilt his setup with tools already inside Gmail. His inbox now sorts much of itself. Nothing needs to be installed, and each step takes only a few minutes.

What he changed

Shah used to open his inbox, scroll through dozens of emails, delete promotions and star the important ones. Everything else just sat there. Gmail's default layout split off promotional and social mail, but he still had to scan for what mattered.

He switched to Priority Inbox. It groups mail into important and unread, starred, and everything else. To turn it on, open Gmail's Settings, find the Inbox type menu and pick Priority Inbox.

Labels and filters

He also added labels, which work like folders. Under a main label called Work, he made nested labels for different publications and projects. He gave frequently used labels colors so they stand out at a glance.

Filters were the biggest change for him. A filter is a rule that tells Gmail what to do with certain emails as they arrive. His rules do things like these:

• Mail from Asana or Figma gets his Work label automatically.
• Some messages are archived, meaning moved out of the inbox without being deleted.
• Important work emails are starred and stay in the inbox.
• Bank statements and credit card bills from chosen senders are forwarded to his accountant.

To build one, open Gmail's advanced search options, set the conditions, click Create filters and choose the actions. Shah says he made sure the financial filters match only the relevant emails. That matters when mail is being forwarded automatically.

Adding Gemini

He also connected Gmail to Gemini, Google's AI assistant. He can ask it to summarize his latest email conversation with a colleague. He can ask it to find the payment due date for his HDFC credit card, without opening bank emails or PDF statements.

He can also combine steps. Gemini can find a due date and create a reminder in Google Tasks. It can pull key details from an email and save them as a note in Google Keep. He still opens Gmail to reply and manage mail, but less often.

What to do

Shah's advice is to give Gmail's built-in features a fair try before switching to another email app such as Outlook, Spark or Thunderbird. A simple order is to start with Priority Inbox, add a few labels, then set one filter for a task you repeat often.