Recently we wrote about how awesome Gmail is and how close it comes to replacing full blown desktop email clients. One of the great features of any email client is the ability to sort through all the email you get and perform automated tasks in a breeze. It is possible to automate a number of tasks using a set of carefully crafted filters, labels and automated replies in Gmail.
The other day Lifehacker mentioned Syphir. Being such a big fan of Gmail filters and labels I was keen to see what Syphir could add that was not possible with the indigenous filters in Gmail. I must say, I am quite impressed by certain feature that Syphir brings to your Gmail inbox.
First off, you need to authorize Syphir so that it can access your account. This seems scary at first but they don’t store your passwords and you can even turn off the advanced mail analysis if you are not going to use some of the advanced features or the iPhone app.
Now go ahead and set your time zone, next up you will be creating rules! Each rule has a condition and an action which is performed if the incoming mail satisfies the condition you specified. There are different types of conditions that you can use individually or combine to form your rules. You can filter mail based on who sent it, content, time of arrival, number of recipients and if it needs a reply or not.
Next step is to create actions that will be performed on the emails that match the said criteria. In addition to the standard actions like skip the inbox, apply a label or delete, Syphir offers two additional actions called “Notify Mobile Device” and “Delay Email“. While the first requires that you purchase an iPhone app (which will then receive push notifications), the Delay Email action on the other hand simply prevents the mail from appearing in your inbox till the configured time you specify as an option.
Lastly, give the rule you just created a suitable name and you are done. You can then view all the rules that you created on the rules page. Clicking on the “+” icon quickly shows you the conditions and the actions associated with the rule. You can just as easily delete rules from using this overview page.
In addition to the conditions and actions mentioned above. Syphir also mentions additional conditions and actions that are in the works presently. These are greyed out and won’t work if you try to use them. So in the future you could hope to use Syphir to filter emails by the amount of time they have been sitting in your inbox or auto respond to emails or forward it to a new account.
Syphir adds a little something extra and allows you to do a lot more than Gmail filters. That said, one has to be careful not to rely too much on third party enhancements, especially after what happened with Xoopit for Gmail.
Do you use Gmail filters and labels regularly? Would you use third party enhancements like Syphir to set up advanced filters in Gmail?
Tagged: automate • email management • email tips • filters • Gmail
