MailFred | Master Your Inbox

At your service. We help you master your inbox.

[mailfred]

Never forget about a follow-up or an email again

We love simple. We love productive. We simply love getting things done. In a nutshell, that's what MailFred is about.

The problem MailFred is solving is simple yet annoying. 

Do you have mails in your inbox that you have to act upon (reply, wait for information, do something) but not just yet? Are you going through a bunch of mails over and over again to check on what to do next just to let them linger "for later"?

Have you ever send mails where you expect a reply (in a certain time period)? Have you ever forgotten to check up on that mail?

With MailFred you can schedule your emails for later. Your mails will be temporarily archived and come back to your inbox when you need them. Also you can set reminders to follow up on emails you have sent. Even based on whether you have gotten a reply or not.

You will never forget about a mail again and you can focus on the things that matter now (also see our post on InboxZero). And the best thing it integrates seamlessly with GMail. You install a tiny browser extension once and that's it. 

Why GMail you may ask. Well, GMail is the best email program out there. We intend to make it even better. We put small improvements into GMail that make a big difference to us. We hope to you too.

If you haven't signed up for closed beta yet you can do so at our signup page.

[mailfred]

How to archive all your messages in your GMail inbox

We told you we like inbox zero. But what if you have thousands of mails still lingering in your inbox. It is a time killer to go through all of them to archive them manually.

Here is a fast way how to archive all your messages before a certain date:

Click “Create a Filter” and enter “before:2012/09/01″ (or any other date) in the field “Has the words”. 

Choose “Next.” 

Check “Skip the Inbox” and “Also apply this to the conversations below.” 

Click “Create Filter”.

Now you are set for inbox zero. Enjoy more peace of mind.

[mailfred]

Why the concept of Inbox Zero is great

Before we dive deeper into what we are up to and what mailfred.de is all about, we'll share some posts outlining what we believe in. Not some abstract values or mission statements. Rather some specific concepts and methods.

We love the concept of Inbox Zero. It is a term coined by Merlin Mann, founder of 43folders. The basic idea is to have your inbox to "zero" most of the time (at the end of the day or at least at the end of the week). That’s not “Zero mails unread”, that’s “Zero mails I need to do something about (right now)”.

Every mail is an "action" item. Once a mail is opened/read there are basically five "purposeful" actions: delete, delegate, respond, defer, do. Choose at least one.

Image source: Slideshare presentation by Merlin Mann (see below).

The implications of this approach are simple yet powerful. Acting directly on an email and doing the next step means that

The amount of how often a mail is touched is drastically reduced.

Clutter is removed from the inbox.

Mails are out of your head because they are where they belong. It just feels better, doesn't it?

To get a basic idea of the concept check out the slide show from Merlin Mann:

If you have more time you can also watch this video with a presentation at Google from 2007.