While the proliferation of tools like Slack have made it easier to chat with colleagues in real-time, there's a good chance email is still very much a part of your daily routine.
But if email is the primary form of contact for work-related communications, it can be difficult to manage your inbox — especially if you're in meetings or focusing on a deadline-driven project.
With this in mind, major email providers like Google and Microsoft have added several new time-saving features over the years that can help you get your inbox under control.
Here's a look at some easy tips that can help prevent your inbox from overflowing. It's worth noting that some of these features may vary depending on the version of Outlook you're using.
Search for an email by subject, recipient, and more.
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If you're trying to track down a specific message, you can narrow down your search criteria in both Outlook and Gmail to pull up the most relevant results.
In the free web version of Outlook, click the "Filters" option in the search bar to refine results by the sender, recipient, subject line, date, and more.
You can click the down arrow in the Gmail search bar to access similar options. Gmail also offers more granular filters, such as the option to only find emails that have a specific word or phrase.
It's also possible to search for emails in Gmail by by typing a qualifier in the search bar followed by a colon and the search query.
For example, if you want to see emails sent to Emily, type "to:" in the search bar followed by Emily's email address. If you've corresponded with Emily before, her email address should come up as an autocomplete option once you start typing her email address.
Schedule or delay email delivery.
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In early April, Google added the option to schedule emails in Gmail, a much-needed addition that's sure to be helpful for those who use Google's email service for work.
To schedule an email in Gmail, just press the arrow near the "Send" button and specify the date and time at which you'd like the email to be delivered. Google also offers some pre-set options like "tomorrow morning" or "this afternoon."
There's no direct replica of this feature in Outlook, but it is possible to delay the delivery of an email in Outlook for Office 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2010.
To do this, click the "More options" button under the "Tags" ribbon when writing an email in Outlook. Then, choose the "Do not deliver before" check box under the "Delivery options" section and specify the time you'd like to delay the delivery until. This feature doesn't appear to be available on the web version of Outlook.
Unsubscribe from an email list.
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As much as we may try, it can feel nearly impossible to avoid spam emails and unwanted messages. Thankfully, both Gmail and Outlook make it easy to unsubscribe from email lists in a single click or tap.
When using the web version of Gmail on your computer, just open the unwanted message and look for the unsubscribe button near the sender's email address.
Outlook also displays an "Unsubscribe" button prominently near the sender's address on the web, as PCMag notes, and this button is also visibly featured above the sender's name in the Outlook app for iPhone.
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