Just because your email account doesn't offer IMAP access doesn't mean you have to put up with reading and deleting the same messages ad nauseum. Web how-to site Webmonkey offers a detailed rundown on setting up the free Dovecot server on your system to pull in any kind of mail and dish it out in that synced, folder-sorted, always-accessible IMAP way. This guide is specific to Ubuntu and Debian-based systems, but Dovecot is available for lots of open-source platforms. If running your own box seems like a bit of overkill, you can always set up Gmail with IMAP as a go-between.

Although modern webmail clients such as Gmail offer generous file allocations, there are still limits to the size of attachments you should send when using email. A posting at the Outlook Team Blog provides a useful overview of the reasons why sending big files is a bad idea (in a nutshell: you'll probably ruin your own inbox or someone else's, and it's quite likely the file will never get through). It also offers a bunch of suggestions on how to get around the problem which, while mildly MS-centric, do essentially boil down to a single proposition: "Put your files in a shared location and then send a link." My own approach to this problem has generally been to just FTP files to my own site, but there are plenty of other ways to crack this particular egg (many of which are probably cheaper and more secure). What's your favourite way of pushing a multi-megabyte file to your friends or co-workers? Let us know in the comments.

Windows with Outlook 2007 and an Exchange account only: Email Prioritizer, a new Outlook plugin from Microsoft labs, gives email receivers the tools to both "pause" their email and have it ranked by priority on a scale of one to three stars. Once you've installed the plugin, you'll notice a new toolbar with a "Do Not Disturb" option, which can be set from 10 minutes to 4 hours (or, smartly, until a meeting you've planned expires) and delays the delivery of mail to you on the client side. Not exactly an Inbox Zero approach, but it might work for do-or-die deadlines. More innovative is a ranking system that automatically sorts your mail based on how it was sent and who it's from, derived, in part, from Microsoft employees. Let's take a look at some of the options:

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The basics of how email works hasn't changed much since its invention, but even forty years later, there are still tiny features and enhancements that can make dealing with large volumes of email easier. Your email client already provides message attachments, filtering, HTML email, auto-fill contacts, spell-checking, folders or labels, keyboard shortcuts, search, and an advanced spam filter. What else do you need? Well, as people rely on email as a primary means of communication, and everyday users deal with a mounting level of new messages per day, even more advanced features can help all of us keep our inbox under control. In honour of Mozilla Thunderbird 3's latest alpha release, let's take a look at some email innovations—some concept, some already available in various clients and plug-ins—that you want in your inbox.

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Firefox with Greasemonkey: The GmailAgenda user script puts your Google Calendar's upcoming events on the right hand side of your inbox. This script is pretty straightforward: Once you install GmailAgenda, a panel appears on the right side of every view inside Gmail which contains your GCal agenda (as pictured). On my Mac, the agenda panel did white out intermittently, but even with slight bugginess its usefulness makes it a keeper. GmailAgenda is a free download for all platforms running Firefox with the Greasemonkey extension. (Better Gmail users: I've asked the script author's permission for inclusion in Better Gmail; if I get the green light it's in.)

Lots of webapps—Flickr, Tumblr, and Remember the Milk, among them—let you upload items through custom email addresses. Those addresses, though, are usually very long, or extremely random, and hard to remember when you're trying to dash off something. The Digital Inspiration blog recommends putting the ever-clever disposable Gmail address trick to work, which also works with other email providers. Set up a filter to send mail addressed to YourName+Flickr@gmail.com to your custom Flickr address, and those camera pics just got a lot more convenient to post. Hit the link below for more detailed instructions, and share your other webapp email work-arounds in the comments.

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Managing your email through a follow-up system (like our own Trusted Trio) is the best way to stem the endless tide, but sometimes you might not trust yourself to get back to something on time. HitMeLater, a free email service, will re-send any emails you forward to it, based on when you said to send it. So when mum emails to ask you for an answer Friday on the gift you're getting your sister, forward it to friday@hitmelater.com, and it appears at the top of your inbox Friday. The author says the site's "secure" and "spamless," but I don't see a visible privacy policy. It shouldn't be a primary mail manager, but HitMeLater could be handy when you're checking mobile email or need double-assurance that you'll follow up on a message. No registration required.

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Chandler, an open-source, cross-platform scheduling app, was conceived back in 2002 as a potential Outlook-killer—a free organiser that would process all your email, calendar appointments and tasks into one smooth workflow, no matter what format or system they were on. Over its long and storied development, intriguingly chronicled in the book Dreaming in Code, Chandler morphed into a meekly-dubbed "Note-to-Self Organiser." There's a lot of neat ideas in Chandler, implemented in rough ways, and if you're a serious to-do hound, it just might find a place somewhere in your work flow. To find out, let's check out some screenshots of this long-awaited Personal Information Manager.

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Free email protection service akapost isn't the only way to hide your email from spam bots and unknown correspondents, but it is one of the most hassle-free ways of doing it, for both mailer and respondent. Once you set up your account with akapost, you can use it as a simple redirection tool by posting it in forums or on your website (and then using the right filter for mail coming through it), or by writing directly to people you don't quite trust with your address yet. Add .akapost.com to a message sent directly from your protected, registered address, and your recipient just sees your akapost address, while any replies still come to you. akapost protects one email address for free, while charging for additional or group addresses.

Dear Lifehacker, I want to learn more about using and enhancing the auto-complete feature in Outlook. My company doesn't let me download free software for use on my office computer, but I am computer literate. Any hints? Thanks, Mike

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