I actually don't know anyone that uses the archive function.
My "inbox zero" equivalent is to have no unread e-mails as I often leave e-mails that I need to respond to or handle as unread.
My "inbox zero" equivalent is to have no unread e-mails as I often leave e-mails that I need to respond to or handle as unread.
If you think of your inbox as a to-do list (where the most basic task is "read this"), then the most common pattern ITDBG (In The Days Before Gmail) for managing your to-do was using read/unread as your done/todo flags.
This was annoying; when reading an email that can't be actioned right away you'd have to go back and mark it as unread. Trivial, but it always felt like there was a better way.
When Gmail launched with it's Archive feature, it was definitely an "ah-hah!" moment. Now the read/unread flags had no hidden meaning, and your to-do list was simply whatever your saw in your inbox. When you action an email, away to the archive it goes.
Reaching inbox-zero is a gloriously satisfying moment. Why yes ... I WILL read some google news.
I use priority inbox to filter out the messages that I ignore 99% of the time. For items I need to act on later, I use stars. With P.I., I can hide or show my Priority emails, my starred emails, and everything else. So things that are new can get my attention, or I can focus on finishing something up, etc.
I don't disagree that your system works effectively for you, but I think it's a silly statement to tell someone else they're doing it wrong (especially silly to capitalize the phrase Doing It Wrong.)
I filter mail aggressively. My inbox currently sits just below 2000 messages. "All" folder has nearly 25,000 messages. Given a 1-week average, I seem to get about 200 emails/day.
Most of those are machine-generated notifications or various list / subscribed mails. Subscriptions are generally ingnorable, though I'll be interested in stuff that pertains to my own posts, and occasionally search archives for issues related to things I've encountered (dual curse of GMail: it makes handling mail a bit awkward, but its search utilities are pretty good).
Those filter rules are also a bit funky. Where procmail gives great power (and requires great responsibility), GMail's filter syntax is more limited, doesn't allow running arbitrary commands (duh), and leaves me a bit confused on the order of application of filters (though it seems better than MS Outlook, which was completely broken in this regard).
My email is not just a to-do list.
It is in part a to-do list.
It's a reminder pile.
It's a knowledgebase.
It's a news stream.
It's a "oh, X happened, let's see if there's any other notice of it elsewhere in mail".
Not a one-size-fits-all tool.
My preferred interface
5 overall states for email:
unread
read+star (urgent/reminder)
read (todo/reference for current tasks/projects)
archived (done + keep for reference)
deleted (done + not needed for reference, or ignored altogether) - so "your amazon order shipped" etc.
I don't keep the inbox empty, but there are only emails regarding ACTIVE tasks/conversations in it, its natural state is 0 unread emails, as if you don't do that, well chaos awaits.
Archive Tip; you can reply+archive; gmail resurrects the whole conversation if you get a reply back, so you can pick up the whole thing if something you thought was done with gets resurrected. (useful for those "here's an answer, hit me up again if that's no good" replies)
The flip side is; I don't bother with labels at all, search just seems to render that redundant as far as I can see.
I would love to see these states represented:
- Unseen (sent but I haven't opened my inbox or cleared the notification)
- Unread (seen but not opened)
- Read
- Read & replied
Then I can delete and archive when I want.
Pretty sure all versions of iOS >= 4 (and new-ish versions of OS X) support Archive when you tap the Delete icon, so it's not something I even think about anymore.