Reasons to mute more

Muting allows you to focus on conversations that matter. Now that the "how" is clear, here are some ideas and workflows of what else you can do with muting.

Also - why is the "mute" button there, when you might just as well use that sexy "Snooze" button (which even sounds better)? And what is the difference between muting and similar-sounding options?

Muting is your quiet place.

Relaxed control and semi-automation

To let go of any situation requires you to be comfortable with its current situation. Then you can focus on something else.

But that "point of satisfaction" may not always be the same - which is why filters aren't used by everybody for everything.

"Muting" is a building block of semi-automation. Here is what it does, in a nutshell.

(A complete walkthrough is here.)

Mute messages you are ready to disengage from.
You can unmute at any time.
You continue to receive replies - they just don't show up in your inbox, but wherever you put the message. That's the whole point.
Individual replies (the important ones!) will unmute the message for you.
Search for is:muted to bring up muted conversations.

Mute-based workflows in G Suite

Here are some ideas to inspire you to come up with your own:

Keeping your inbox clean

You may have things you need to be aware of - but not constantly aware of. Would it not be great to get a summary at the end of the week, instead of every single email?

Examples:

Something you delegate - did it end up in a good place?
A conversation others were having - what was the outcome?
Automated notifications - did that ticket get closed?

You can make a search for is:muted is:unread part of your Friday routine.

Hard snooze

Muting is similar to snoozing, but not the same. Snoozing will also hide an email, but always has an expiry date. It's like throwing a ball into the air - it will fall down. Snoozed emails are reminders. Muting is permanent until you disable it.

Also, snoozing is not spam protection - any reply will unsnooze an email. Muting keeps emails out of sight, until you want to deal with them again.

Take a look at the snoozing use cases to see if some of them work for you.

Invisible unsubscribe

It is very rude to tell people not to message you anymore and some people may take offense at taking you off a thread. Replying "hey all, please remove me" also causes extra mail.

So I found muting to be perfectly palatable as a private unsubscribe button. That discussion that drifted? That thread that will not die? It gets muted. Nobody will ever know! Nobody will certainly ask for my opinion, because they're off discussing something that doesn't interest me.

Suspending your inbox

Can muting help you during a crisis?

When the world is falling apart and you have put Chat into emergency mode with 10 parallel conversations and spaces, you can free up mental space by muting conversations.

When the storm is over, do a quick search, unmute and resume normal operations. That is relaxed control.

Muting vs. the competition

Muting relates to various other tools you have at your disposal, but does not overlap with them, oh royal person of Gmail filters:

Muting vs. snoozing

Snoozing is temporary (though you can snooze for years) and any reply will unsnooze the thread. Muting is permanent (until you disable it) and designed to stay muted. It is the opposite of snoozing.

You cannot snooze and mute an email at the same time.

Muting vs. archiving

Archiving means getting emails out of your inbox when you're done with them. They are still available.

An archived conversation returns to your inbox when replied to, a muted one does not. Archiving is your default action to clean your inbox.

Muting vs. marking as spam

Marking something as spam means replies also go to the "spam" folder - but it also damages the sender's' reputation. Don't mark internal conversations as spam, only unsolicited information.

Muting vs. deleting

You should not delete, ever.

In a managed environment, deletion puts you at a disadvantage, because admins can still read it. What you sent is out there. Deleting just removes it from your control.

Mute or archive everything, delete nothing.

From a productivity perspective, muting can be a fire and forget mechanism. It was certainly meant as a low-level spam protection.

On the other hand, muting can be a mindful tool, because it forces you to come back to what you have muted. Since it is indiscriminate, you risk muting too much, so it may force you to look at some threads from time to time. Queue the old Yoda quote - with great power comes great responsibility.

Are you ready to mute fearlessly? I certainly am. I go through periods of overload (we all are), where I get aggressively protective of my time and dial back my commitments. The invisible unsubscribe helps me a lot. I have also been the angsty delegator, so muting has its fixed place in my toolkit, alongside snoozing. Are you ready to integrate it in yours? Let me know! Thanks for reading!

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#gmailPublished 2020-05-07 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2022-01-20 by Holger Matthies.Republished 2021-09-30 by Holger Matthies.Written listening to: Hans Zimmer - The Dune Sketchbook

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