Using email account as a collection tool etc

[macgrl]

Does anyone use a dedicated email account as a collection tool or for any other gtd / organistion purposes. Keeping it separate from your actual proper email account

I am wanting to discover if there is s gtd use for email. I have an iPhone and find that emailing myself ideas etc is a good way of Collecting things but would like it separate from my proper email account . What do you do?

 

[pxt]

Does anyone use a dedicated email account as a collection tool or for any other gtd / organistion purposes. Keeping it separate from your actual proper email account

I am wanting to discover if there is s gtd use for email. I have an iPhone and find that emailing myself ideas etc is a good way of Collecting things but would like it separate from my proper email account . What do you do?

Absolutely ! This was the first thing I did when I started reading the GTD book.

I have an iPhone, Macbook and MobileMe email. Within the email system, I have defined an alias email account for myself. I have an email folder called 'Collector'. Then I have a rule that moves all emails for that alias into my Collector folder.

I can collect everywhere by emailing myself from my iPhone. I do it while I'm on my computer. And, when I'm on a client site's systems with an email account they have provided, I email from their account to my collector without ever having to back away from the computer.

There are so many cool things I have found about this that I can't list them all.
Consider that I can snap a photo with my iPhone and then email it to my collector to process later.
When I receive an email, I may decide to move it to my collector for processing later.
I can paste in images, links to websites, attach documents, it's really flexible.

And of course it's completely synced across all my devices and backed up and searchable on them all too.

* Actually, my email system was my first list manager and covered every part of GTD, with folders for each Context, Someday-Maybe, Tickler, Reference, everything.

 

[pxt]

Just a technical point too, you don't necessarily have to define an email alias.

If your email address was macgrl@me.com, you could send emails to addresses like macgrl+collector@me.com. Email standards says that this should arrive just fine. This can be any word you like.

So you can define a rule like this:
When email address is macgrl+c@me.com then move to folder Collector.

You can send as many of these as you like:
macgrl+c@me.com
macgrl+ref@me.com
macgrl+tickler@me.com
macgrl+sdmb@me.com
etc.

The original use for this was to help you identify the source of spam.
So you could enter macgrl+amazon@me.com when you buy something from them and if you get spam addressed to that, then you know who sold you out!

This is not an Apple thing, most email accounts support it, though I think not Outlook.

 

[darlakbrown]

Omnifocus

You can email stuff directly into omnifocus by using an email alias. I think other GTD software has this ability too.

 

[macgrl]

Just a technical point too, you don't necessarily have to define an email alias.

If your email address was macgrl@me.com, you could send emails to addresses like macgrl+collector@me.com. Email standards says that this should arrive just fine. This can be any word you like.

So you can define a rule like this:
When email address is macgrl+c@me.com then move to folder Collector.

You can send as many of these as you like:
macgrl+c@me.com
macgrl+ref@me.com
macgrl+tickler@me.com
macgrl+sdmb@me.com
etc.

The original use for this was to help you identify the source of spam.
So you could enter macgrl+amazon@me.com when you buy something from them and if you get spam addressed to that, then you know who sold you out!

This is not an Apple thing, most email accounts support it, though I think not Outlook.

That sounds really good! how does that work? does it work with any word after the first bit? does that work with any email address?

Does this have a name?

 

[pxt]

That sounds really good! how does that work? does it work with any word after the first bit? does that work with any email address?

Does this have a name?

Yes, you can use any word at all after the '+', as long as it's a valid character.
All that's happening is that the email service is ignoring the word after the plus.

You don't need to set anything up. Just try it. Send yourself a normal email, then send yourself another with a plus and a word. As long as your email provider is complying with standards, then it should just appear in your inbox as normal.

 

[macgrl]

Thank you. I will try it. I have mobileme but my main email is via my own domain name hosted by google aps.

I was toying with the idea of setting up a different email address for each area that I wanted ( i can have upto 50 with google) such as online@xxxx.com or shopping@xxx.com

That would mean alot of different email accounts - the way that you are suggesting is much better - i can have just one account gtd@xxx.com for all my gtd stuff so as to keep my normal email address clear .

Many thanks

 

[pxt]

...

Does this have a name?

I think it's called email sub-addressing.

According to Wikipedia, MobileMe and Gmail use a plus sign and Yahoo! Mail Plus uses a minus sign.

 

[macgrl]

wonderful, thank you.

I just love finding out something that I never even knew existed.

The question now is do i set up filtering on my gmail web based interface or on my mac?

I want to be able to access both and see the same emails in the same place?

Would I be correct in thinking that I should do it on gmail web page as this will then sync with apple mail so the labels and folders will be the same?

I would want the filtering at the source (gmail page) right?

 

[kelstarrising]

Make sure you are not trying to blend Collect with Process+Organize. Collect is often best when it's raw Collect and you are not trying to force yourself into what is it? (process) and where does it belong? (organize).

 

[macgrl]

Make sure you are not trying to blend Collect with Process+Organize. Collect is often best when it's raw Collect and you are not trying to force yourself into what is it? (process) and where does it belong? (organize).

Thank you for your post kelstarrising,

I am trying to find a good way of collecting information when I am on the go and like the idea of emailing myself , of using a separate email address to just dump ideas and things that come to me etc so that I can process them later.

I must admit that I do sometimes find that there is an overlap between collection and process / organization - I must resist the urge to do that !

 

[kelstarrising]

I also use email to Collect on my iPhone. I do it all of the time. It goes into the same inbox as everything else I am collecting to be processed. Really convenient on the go when my phone is all I have with me. I also created myself as a contact with the name "Q Q" so I just type a Q on my phone and can quickly capture something to myself as an email.

Just watch the slippery slope blending collect/process/organize!

 

[macgrl]

What tips do you have to stop getting onto the slippery slope.

What hard lines can I impose on myself to not let the lines get blurred?

Do you think that it is a bad idea to have folders for the collection process (especially via email) as this means that I will have to do some processing in order to chose the right folder? Am I best off with just one big collection folder (bucket) in my email from which I can then chose what folder they would go in when I process them?

But would it be ok, for example to have a folder for me to email what I have spent in a day, so that I can then add that to a spreadsheet that I have? There is some processing involved but I know exactly what the purpose of my sending myself and email with the expenditure on is.
Many thanks

macgrl

 

[kelstarrising]

What tips do you have to stop getting onto the slippery slope.

Regular Weekly Reviews will tell you if it's working or not. If you're finding things in folders that you forgot to process, you'll know it's not working. Or if you have things on lists that require more thinking, you'll know it's not working. Not wanting to collect something because some part of you thinks you have to figure out what it is and where it goes in one of these special folders will tell you it's not working. Having clear edges between those 5 phases is one of those diamonds in the rough with GTD. If you really get that those are 5 distinctly different phases, and treat things that way, you'll be light years ahead of most people and their productivity. Most people blend collect/process/organize and wonder why they have amorphous blobs of stuff on whatever they have been calling To Do lists, and wonder why they are more repelled than attracted to their lists, work and choices.

What hard lines can I impose on myself to not let the lines get blurred?

It's not so much hard lines as having clear systems that are maximally efficient. I suspect you are using those folders you created as quasi To Do lists, yes? That's blurred to me.

Do you think that it is a bad idea to have folders for the collection process (especially via email) as this means that I will have to do some processing in order to chose the right folder? Am I best off with just one big collection folder (bucket) in my email from which I can then chose what folder they would go in when I process them?

It comes down to how many places you want to look when it comes time to process your input. I'd want those in as few places as possible.

But would it be ok, for example to have a folder for me to email what I have spent in a day, so that I can then add that to a spreadsheet that I have? There is some processing involved but I know exactly what the purpose of my sending myself and email with the expenditure on is.

Sure, if that makes sense to you and has clearly defined edges. That's different than random collection.

Many thanks macgrl

Sure thing!

 

[macgrl]

Your reply is very much appreciated thank you.

I will take the time to digest it properly when I get in from work.

Again many thanks

 

[pxt]

Good conversation above !

My approach to using my iPhone + email as a list manager was to have a very deliberate way of processing. On my desk I had only: my computer, my iPhone and a stack of scrap paper. Every time I finished an action, I would take a break from work to stretch my legs, then pull out a piece of scrap paper and read the first item off the collector mailbox.

I would keep writing/drawing until I felt that my head was empty of further thoughts on the topic. This part is like a mini brainstorm and I've come to really enjoy it.

Only then would I refer to the Organise diagram from the Making It All Work book, posted on my wall and decide everywhere that an item could go in my GTD system. Then I would fire off emails to my Tickler, Someday-Maybe, Contexts etc as part of the Organise phase and throw away the paper.

The scrap paper step in the middle was the key for me, acting like a speed bump to make me get the processing done. When I read MIAW and saw that David Allen had renamed processing as 'clarifying', it made a lot of sense.

Also, separating clarification from organising was a revelation and suddenly my weekly review became a breeze.

 

[ellobogrande]

RE: E-mail filtering in Gmail

The "+" that is used in e-mail filtering sometimes causes validation errors on web site forms. I've dealt with some sites that would not accept a "+" in the e-mail address. I'm also pretty sure most spam engines are smart enough nowadays to strip away the label and reveal your real address.

You can take a couple of approaches to minimizing spam, though I'm finding that Gmail does a good enough job of filtering spam that I don't need a separate account anymore. I do, however, review the spam folder during weekly reviews and retrieve any items that are incorrectly flagged as spam.

One approach is to create a dedicated e-mail address for web site usage only and one for direct e-mail (don't put this in any form on a web site).

Another approach is to use a service like Spammotel, which allows you to create a unique e-mail address for every web site that requests it from you. While this has the advantage of knowing exactly who sold your e-mail address and isolating the spam at the source, it's a PITA when you use these e-mail addresses as your login ids. A few times I also had issues with e-mail not getting delivered from Spammotel (ISP or Yahoo mail blocked e-mails from spammotel.com without telling me) and I got nailed with late charges for unpaid bills because I never received them.

 

[Oogiem]

You can take a couple of approaches to minimizing spam, though I'm finding that Gmail does a good enough job of filtering spam that I don't need a separate account anymore.

I find it interesting that so many anti-spam ideas are based on hiding your real address, or making an alias or changing your address on a regular basis. I've had the same e-mail address for over 12 years now and my spam runs in cycles. I get a lot just after Christmas (all those new computers set up that become spambots) and periodic bursts of spam about every 2 months or so but the average is pretty stable, about 250 spam messages a day.

I have had so many real messages dumped as spam that I've pretty much given up on spam catchers. I do use one, SpamSieve, but I check it daily and even now after trying to tune it and train it I still get about 3 real messages caught as spam per week. For me it is a lot simpler to just learn how to speed read the spam folder to pick out the spam and clean it daily when I am cleaning my regular mail inbox.

My trick is to sort that folder by subject, most spam have the same subject so you can delete a bunch of them that way. I can also easily delete all the foreign language ones fast and that usually leave me with maybe 2-5 to actually open and look at.

 

[pxt]

The "+" that is used in e-mail filtering sometimes causes validation errors on web site forms. I've dealt with some sites that would not accept a "+" in the e-mail address. I'm also pretty sure most spam engines are smart enough nowadays to strip away the label and reveal your real address.

You can take a couple of approaches to minimizing spam, though I'm finding that Gmail does a good enough job of filtering spam that I don't need a separate account anymore. I do, however, review the spam folder during weekly reviews and retrieve any items that are incorrectly flagged as spam.

One approach is to create a dedicated e-mail address for web site usage only and one for direct e-mail (don't put this in any form on a web site).

Another approach is to use a service like Spammotel, which allows you to create a unique e-mail address for every web site that requests it from you. While this has the advantage of knowing exactly who sold your e-mail address and isolating the spam at the source, it's a PITA when you use these e-mail addresses as your login ids. A few times I also had issues with e-mail not getting delivered from Spammotel (ISP or Yahoo mail blocked e-mails from spammotel.com without telling me) and I got nailed with late charges for unpaid bills because I never received them.

Yes, sadly, the sub-addressing idea never worked out that well for anti-spam, but I have found it pretty cool as a way of categorising email I send to myself.

As well as having +c as my collector I also use +diary and have a rule that pushes these into my Diary folder.

 

[macgrl]

I am just going to use the + for my own system. I have various email address that I use when signing up for things online. To be honest I don't get much spam associated with signing up to places. I only tend to shop online at a few big companies.

I have been playing around with the + bit for a few days now and it is so cool.

Great for filtering into folders.

I am going to see if I can get it set up with omnifocus next