--- ---  # Secrets to Mastering Your Gmail Inbox by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Feb 3, 2016 5:07 AM UTC  envelopes envelopesDaniel Grizelj—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Feb 3, 2016 5:07 AM UTC Everyone’s email has become, at one time or another, a labyrinth of unread messages. Yours might be in a perpetual state of unreadability (no judgment here!). But if the thought of just opening up your Gmail app makes you panic, it’s probably time for a deep clean. Thankfully, it’s not overly complicated to declutter your inbox. A few sneaky settings changes can stop you from sending accidental emails. Storing often-used responses makes thank-you letters a cinch. Plus, there are easy tricks to coding and organizing your inbox, so you can easily pull up that party invite or note from your boss without too much digging. The secret lies in the settings of your Gmail. 4 Secrets to Organizing Your Gmail Inbox ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4204757/4-secrets-to-mastering-your-gmail-inbox/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4204757/4-secrets-to-mastering-your-gmail-inbox/"},"headline":"Secrets to Mastering Your Gmail Inbox","datePublished":"2016-02-03T05:07:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:01:46.910Z","description":"Say goodbye to that stressful, cluttered email account","url":"https://time.com/4204757/4-secrets-to-mastering-your-gmail-inbox/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc1d66d18542e59a/69887bde2dce01b5c79e7a20/colerful-letters-mail-inbox.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc1d66d18542e59a/69887bde2dce01b5c79e7a20/colerful-letters-mail-inbox.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Colorful Envelopes","caption":"Colorful Envelopes","creditText":"Daniel Grizelj—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4204757/4-secrets-to-mastering-your-gmail-inbox/","name":"Secrets to Mastering Your Gmail Inbox"}}]}] ```