5 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Your Email Inbox

Your email inbox can do a lot more than just send and receive emails. From Yahoo to Gmail, email providers have been on an innovation spree for years. They have been busy adding useful features, but unfortunately, not many people know about some of the interesting functionalities their email program offers. But not to worry, we have compiled some of the best tips and tricks for getting more out of your inbox.

Increase Your Recall Time

You compose an email and hit send. And then immediately after, you realize it has mistakes or you should not have sent it. Email providers have just the perfect solution for you. In 2015, Gmail added the recall feature, allowing users to “un-send” an email, even after being dispatched. Microsoft’s Outlook team followed suit the same year. Each provider has its way of enabling this feature. With Gmail, go to Settings – Undo Send – Enable Undo Send, and select the recall time that works best for you. You can set your recall time for up to 30 seconds.

There are also other features to help users protect their emails. In 2018, Gmail introduced the self-destruct feature. The feature allows you to add a timer to your email, which begins to tick when the receiver opens the mail. After the period of time you have set, the email becomes invisible to the receiver. To create self-destructive emails, click the “lock” button under the email you are composing.

Send/Receive A Fax

Recently, Lionel Messi, arguably the world’s best footballer, sent shockwaves through the sports world when he sent a burofax to Barcelona, indicating his desire to leave the club. What surprised people was also that he used a burofax – a service provided by Spain’s Postal Service.

Faxing has long held the fort as the safest and most official way of sharing documents. The good news is that faxing has evolved, and now you don’t need a bulky fax machine to get the job done – all you need is an email address.

Once you sign up for an excellent online faxing platform such as eFax, you can compose a new email message, upload your documents, add a cover page, and hit send. You will receive an email when the recipient gets your fax.

Post To Social Media

Your email inbox is not just for sending and receiving emails, you can use it to post on your social media page as well. If, for any reason, you can’t access your social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram and you need to post, your email is your best bet.

Let’s take Facebook as an example. Every Facebook profile has a secret email address, which can be found when you go to “settings.” To update your status on Facebook, send an empty email to your personal Facebook email address. The subject line of your email will become your status on Facebook. If you attach a video or an image, the video or image will be updated as your status, and your subject line will be the caption. The guidelines differ from one social media site to another, so take a moment to find out what the guidelines are for each of your social media channels. For example, here is Tumblr’s guide.

Get Unlimited Email Addresses

Did you know that you can have an infinite number of alternate email addresses? For instance, by merely changing the capitalization or adding a dot or a + sign to your Gmail address, you can produce several email addresses from just that one address. Let’s say your email address is MichaelJohn@gmail.com.

You can tweak it to get other email addresses such as:

• michaelJohn@gmail.com
• Michael.John@gmail.com
• Michael+John@gmail.com
• michael.john@gmail.com

If anyone sends mail to any of the above addresses, it will come into the same inbox. You can use this trick to organize your inbox. For instance, every time you subscribe to a newsletter, you can use a particular variation of your email address and create a label for it in your inbox.

Control Your Smart Home

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true: you can control your smart home from your email inbox. Smart devices such as Philips Hue, TP-Link HS200, Ecobee4, NetGear Arlo Q, Char-Broil Digital, Electric Smoker with SmartChef Technology, and Perfect Bake Pro have become the order of the day. And with the free web service “If This Then That” (IFTTT), you can create an applet, set your email address as the trigger, and connect your device. In creating the applet, make sure that you specify an action that your smart device will execute. It could be anything from turning on the light or turning on a cooker.

Discover More

In this post, we have outlined some of the novel and seemingly hidden features of your email. Of course, there are other unique features emails have depending on the service provider. These include sending a text message, uploading files, starting video calls, and storing files. The good news is that these email providers are competing and finding ways to get your attention, so you can always expect new and innovative features. That’s why you should always be exploring and experimenting with your email address to see what new features ad tweaks can help you use the service better.