3 ms·

How are you guys checking your email? I don't have a single unread message in any of my inboxes. That's my system. Under that system, it's hard for me to find u

How are you guys checking your email? I don't have a single unread message in any of my inboxes. That's my system. Under that system, it's hard for me to find use for priority inbox.

patio11 16y ago
Priority Inbox is great for me because it segregates "nice to know but not critical" (sold another copy of BCC, comment on blog, CC charged successfully by one of my dozen service providers) from "attention required" (customer inquiry, metrics hit a yellow alert, Slicehost couldn't charge card and I've got 48 hours to call bank before my business dies). Red alerts, obviously, don't even bother w email.
- charlesju 16y ago
  Why don't you filter those messages out into a label and auto-archive?
  - patio11 16y ago
    Because if it doesn't hit my inbox I'll never see it at all. The archive is great for looking up stuff ("What did I pay for Slicehost last month? Did Mary Smith get a purchase confirmation?"), but not great for push notifications. Non-priority emails in the inbox are, for me, a good compromise in terms of amount of distraction caused per unit of actionable info gained.
    - jackowayed 16y ago
      I have a bunch of filters setup to archive but also label them as "Skim". So I see in my sidebar when there Skim has unread messages, and I get around to reading them when I have time. I could just have those filters "Never mark it as important", but those messages are less important than stuff in the not-important part of my inbox. It's stuff like high-volume mailing lists that are never urgent. I'll let Skim go for 2 or 3 days if I'm busy, whereas I like reading all email in my inbox within a couple hours of seeing it.
lsd5you 16y ago
Google thrives on messy heuristics so it is perhaps unsurprising that they would view the problem from this perspective. I tend to agree with you that optimally all email should be read (and that this is realistically achievable in most cases), in which case the priority inbox feature is just a palliative and not a cure.

How are you guys checking your email? I don't have a single unread message in any of my inboxes. That's my system. Under that system, it's hard for me to find use for priority inbox.

patio11 16y ago

Priority Inbox is great for me because it segregates "nice to know but not critical" (sold another copy of BCC, comment on blog, CC charged successfully by one of my dozen service providers) from "attention required" (customer inquiry, metrics hit a yellow alert, Slicehost couldn't charge card and I've got 48 hours to call bank before my business dies). Red alerts, obviously, don't even bother w email.

charlesju 16y ago
Why don't you filter those messages out into a label and auto-archive?
- patio11 16y ago
  Because if it doesn't hit my inbox I'll never see it at all. The archive is great for looking up stuff ("What did I pay for Slicehost last month? Did Mary Smith get a purchase confirmation?"), but not great for push notifications. Non-priority emails in the inbox are, for me, a good compromise in terms of amount of distraction caused per unit of actionable info gained.
  - jackowayed 16y ago
    I have a bunch of filters setup to archive but also label them as "Skim". So I see in my sidebar when there Skim has unread messages, and I get around to reading them when I have time. I could just have those filters "Never mark it as important", but those messages are less important than stuff in the not-important part of my inbox. It's stuff like high-volume mailing lists that are never urgent. I'll let Skim go for 2 or 3 days if I'm busy, whereas I like reading all email in my inbox within a couple hours of seeing it.

lsd5you 16y ago

Google thrives on messy heuristics so it is perhaps unsurprising that they would view the problem from this perspective. I tend to agree with you that optimally all email should be read (and that this is realistically achievable in most cases), in which case the priority inbox feature is just a palliative and not a cure.