Boomerang Email Add-On for Outlook or Gmail

Boomerang is an email add-on service (currently available for Outlook and for Gmail), which lets you schedule outgoing emails and postpone incoming emails for when you need them.

Outgoing emails can be sent at a specified time, and incoming emails can be temporarily archived from your inbox and magically reappear at a date or time you specify.

This is actually fantastically useful. Why? Because it lets you implement good email habits, eliminates wasted time and frees up your attention. It's a much better system than a back-logged inbox or cluttered folders where one forgets what's in there.

Let's first look at incoming emails:

With this system, every incoming email is instantly actionable and can be either

• deleted
• archived
• answered/forwarded and then archived or deleted
• scheduled for later arrival in your inbox - when you want it.

As the Boomerang website states:

"Want a cleaner inbox, but don't want to lose track of important messages? Use Boomerang to take messages out of your inbox until you actually need them. Just click the Boomerang button when you have an email open, and choose when you need it again. Boomerang will archive the message. At the time you choose, we'll bring it back to your inbox, marked unread, starred, or even at the top of your message list."

This way you can actually handle every single email in your inbox and get to "Inbox Zero". You can take your attention off remembering which emails need to be handled later. You don't need to make notes or calendar entries on who or what needs follow-up, as Boomerang brings each email or reminder back to your inbox at the right date/time. The benefits in terms of increased productivity and ease of mind are immense.

Now for outgoing emails:

Outgoing emails that should be sent later (birthday greetings for example) can be scheduled for being sent at the date/time you prefer.

Outgoing emails can also be scheduled to appear as reminders in your inbox if you get no reply within a set date/time. This way you know that your email was not answered and you can then follow-up as needed. The point of this is that the system reminds you, and you don't have to keep follow-up reminders in your head.

Pros:

• Boomerang is incredibly easy to use.
• It let's you Get Things Done.
• You can take control of your inbox and your schedule while keeping your inbox clean and uncluttered.
• Your attention is freed up and focused on what you want to be doing.
• Your scheduled emails are always available if you need them.

Cons:

• Boomerang is only available for Outlook and Gmail.
• For use with Gmail, you need to use either the Google Chrome or the Mozilla Firefox browser.

What Boomerang does is deceptively simple, but the benefits are enormous.