@clicknathan: I set up a regular old Gmail account with this in mind (to use my personal domain's email addresses instead of @gmail.com) and everything works fine with one rather annoying caveat: when you send email from a personal domain's address, the recipient receives it with the message "Sent via thisguy@gmail.com."

Does anybody know if Google Apps for Your Domain operates the same way?

LastVigilante

In my hospital work setting, GroupWise (Novell) is the schedule/calendar/ToDo list of choice. I 'pile' my inbox just like my physical desktop, and use the Search function to find specific emails.
I mostly file by pile, as my brain really resists the practice of a clean desktop, though I can pinpoint the location of a paper within seconds (up to 2 minutes if it's not been touched for a few months). My boss actually tested me on this, and gave up trying to "re-habit" me when I produced every paper he requested.
I do like the idea of a clean worktop and a short inbox, but my efforts at keeping things that way actually cut into my productivity, and in the end, it's the results that matter, not the intentions.
But I continue dreaming about working in a clear space!

jbsanno

I use Callwave and Jott to help simplify my inboxes ...

Callwave not only records my voicemails and puts the mp3 in my inbox, but they do a so-so job of transcribing them so that I at least get the gist of what the person is saying (i just OK, but for my needs works). Often enough I don't have to listen to the message at all because I was just waiting for a yes/no answer.
Jott is for everything from me to myself - I constantly leave myself voice notes through jott that 'magically' appear in my inbox minutes later. I've even got my wife on board (and set up her speed-dial) so that now if it's something she considers a 'to-do' for me she doesn't call, she just jotts me!
These 2 tools have made the most difference for me by far.

TechTalk WRLR 98.3FM

I've set up both the Windows and Mac versions of the Scansnap and eburcat is right, it is a lot more hassle on Windows. The scanning and ocr software is much slower and Adobe Acrobat takes forever to load.

However, creating and editing PDFs is simple on a Mac. Press one button, and my files are scanned and ocr'd automatically. All I have to do is name the file.

And using Leopard's Preview, (which launches instantly) I can rearrange pages, combine PDFs by dragging and dropping pages from one file to another etc. And there is no need to organize files into folders. Scansnap can dump them into one folder and Spotlight can find them in seconds.

devnull

You can have your own email address via Gmail even without Apps.

Go to Settings » Accounts and right at the top you can set up additional email addresses to send from/to.

I only mention this because Mail for Your Domain is often a few days/weeks behind on features that roll out into regular Gmail.

clicknathan

For snail mail, I heard of a website called [www.earthclassmail.com] which receives your mail for you and allows you to read it online. From there, you can archive it, toss it, shred it, or (re)mail the original to your real address.

Solarusdude

ScanSnap your papers into PDF's as suggested may increase order but it is far less optimal solution by itself.
There are two main disadvantages for the offered solution:
1. The ability to edit PDFs - e.g. reorder pages, insert pages in the middle - is very limited and usually requires too much hassle.
2. Just saving the file into "folders" impose another problem of organizing the files and later searching inside. I personally think that the "folders" structure when we have hierarchy and every file is positioned in one location is inappropriate,
and when we have scanned a lot of papers we will start asking ourselves where is the most appropriate folder? (This problem relate also for the search).

We at [www.42Tags.com] suggest, what we believe, a more appropriate solution:

1. Scan directly into TIF. With 42Tags, you can manipulate pages as much as you want. Whenever you need to export/email as PDF - it's quite easy.
2. We don't use folders but tags in order to categorize scanned documents. So you can add as many tags as you want to your scanned documents and later find it on any of the tags.
We do to your scanned documents what del.icio.us does to websites.

Here is the link to a demonstration video (7min) - [www.42tags.com]

eburcat

I've tried scanning documents to PDF, however the OmniPage SE 4 OCR software that comes with my canon scanner is not as accurate as i thought it would be.

even with 12 point Times New Roman font, it misspells some common English words, and forget about typewritten text. it recognizes less than half. it also gets confused with numbers.

gem

@Jfitzpatrick, suggestion: leave instructions on all your voice mailboxes to send the message via email. Then forget about voicemails; they are 20th century.

Regarding the original story, minimizing inboxes is truly valuable. POP all emails to one inbox. Get one PO box for all physical mail. I have the PO box clerk forward certain items to me once a month and shred/toss the rest.

Gerald

@JFitzpatrick:
Have you tried using Grandcentral? I only give out my GC number nowadays, and my cell phone is set to auto-forward to my GC number if I don't pick up, so I get all of my voicemail in Grandcentral's inbox. Not sure how it might work with home/work numbers, but my understanding is that it would most likely automatically go to GC's voicemail as well.

sinderphytik

i know it's been mentioned on lifehacker before, but I use simulscribe (simulscribe.com) to have my voicemail transcribed and arrive in my email inbox. I haven't dialed my voicemail in months. It's fantastic.

trevvy

One of my favorite inbox minimizers is paytrust.com. I receive all of my bills online and can pay all my bills online. Good stuff.

dj3g1990

I can't even tell you how much I would give for a truely unified inbox where I could access all my voicemails, emails, txt messages, etc. etc. I -hate- wasting portions of my day checking my home voice mail, my cell voicemail, my work voicemail... to the point that I neglect it more than I should.

JFitzpatrick

I would recommend EarthClassMail (www.earthclassmail.com) rather then a normal PO box for snail mail. They handle all the scanning, shredding and recycling. You simply login to their secure site and have your mail in PDF's ready for reviewing or filing. Another option is PayTrust(www.paytrust.com) though they only handle bill processing.

rmowery

@eburcat:Eitan, Does 42tags have the ability to import existing PDF files?

djmikmik

When I come home at night, I go through the snail mail, looking for the *very few* important things I get these days. I try to throw out the junk right away.

My wife puts all the mail I don't toss in a metal box with the lettering DIRT on the side. I think she got it at Restoration Hardware. ;-) Every few days I go through it and fish out the bills.

Outtacontext

Does anyone use his/her ScanSnap with PaperPort?

I am looking into buying one but I would like an automated system for storing my PDF files, automatic emailing to a specific email account/FTP etc...

djmikmik

@DJMIKMIK - you can drag and drop them, and tag them - in a snap. You can check it out for yourself at [www.42Tags.com], we'd Love to hear about your experience.

eburcat

@eburcat: Thanks Eitan. I have emailed you several additional questions.

Mickey

djmikmik

The best all round in-one-place collection bucket I know is EverNote, paid version. Oh, let me count the ways:...

POP email can be auto-imported from any POP account. (This allows you to email yourself reminders from your phone, for example.)

Using a pen tablet, any note you make gets auto-imported and your handwriting recognized for later search.

To-do's are immediately enabled for any clip of information appearing on your screen, regardless of the source.

Links to important documents in your system's directories can be made by drag and drop.

For the txt file lovers, auto import of txt files can be enabled from any folder on your system - keeping the original file or deleting them.

Information directly entered can be plain or formatted using templates (bills, contacts, etc.) The "bucket" can be called up system-wide using a hot key combination.

It's all auto-dated, can be filtered by most recent, searched, titled, sorted by date, and exported back out to email or html file if need be.

It can be used through POP import with the the voicemail transcribers mentioned above to put all voicemails - auto dated - in one place.

Stuff you want to get to later - web content, drafts of documents in progress, portion of an open email, can all go to EverNote.

Plus, it all gets synched to a thumb drive. All of it.

Forget the skin, Evernote is the bucket minimizer's dream. Worth every dime.

Jimmer