Set up Gmail for inbox zero

In order to use Gmail effectively, for the last five years, I've had my Gmail inbox set up as described by Lindsay Kolowich Cox on HubSpot (Link).

In essence, I've defined a few extra "panes" which display emails that match certain rules. The rules look for emails with different "stars", e.g. the standard yellow star.

To achieve inbox zero, I process my emails often and consitently. The processing boils down to:

• if spam, archive by pressing xy.
• if recurring spam, define rule to archive automatically.
• if something I need to reference later, mark it with the appropriate star by pressing s repeatedly.
• if something I need to read, read it, then archive it.
• if needs my reply, send the reply, then archive it.

The main rule is: always archive an email once it has been acted upon. No emails are important enough to linger in my inbox. I can always find my archived emails by searching for them or, if I need to have something visible as a reminder or for extra easy access, by using the star-system.