Following are the top tools to boost e-mail performance and boost our work productivity at the same time. So, how do these e-mail services work?

Unroll.me

This tool is specifically recommended to busy professionals to trash annoying and unwanted mails. Unroll.me helps rolling in all junk mails into one e-mail to deliver you a ‘daily digest’ of all Spam messages. Therefore, you no longer need to select and delete those mails in batches. Are you struggling to unsubscribe from those coupon codes and promotional mails? Unroll.me will help you unsubscribe from all of them at one click. Here is one limitation: this e-mail service only works in Gmail and Yahoo! mail accounts.

The Email Game

As the name suggests, this e-mail service has changed the ritual of managing and clearing e-mails into a game and let you win points! Recommended by the Time Magazine in its list of 50 greatest websites of 2012, The Email Game e-mail service has removed the monotony from the ritual of deleting mails and managing mails into a challenge. The game plan motivates Gmail and Google Apps users to shrink inbox to zero number of messages to win points; the faster, the more points you win.

SaneBox

If you are looking for a more comprehensive and serious e-mail service to tackle mails from all major platforms, then SaneBox is for you. SaneBox is compatible to any e-mail client you use including Gmail, AOL, Yahoo!, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, on iPhone and Android. This is one of the best e-mail services you can count on; it helps filter unimportant mails and by doing so, it has helped save more than 42 million minutes of its users, as it claims. SaneBox is a paid e-mail service which charges little as $2.04 a month to boost e-mail performance.

Do you need more options to try before you select one? Try FanMix (supports social media too) and Boxer e-mail services along with these to save huge time to be spent in digital correspondence.

Image credit: Naldzgraphics

Backing up Gmail on a hard drive does not involve rocket science. It is easy and simple and can be done by anyone. One of the effective and easy to use tools is the Gmail Backup tool. Available for free, this software is nevertheless popular and can do your task really well. All you need doing is installing the tool and you are ready to go. When you opt to download your mails to keep here as a backup, you will be asked to fill in a detailed form wherein you will have to highlight the backup folder and period (dates from when you require to backup). Check the ‘Newest e-mails only option’ to make your downloads faster. All saved files will be available to you as separate .eml files! Simple.

However, saving e-mails as .eml files may not save your conversations as threads, which may make your task somewhat cumbersome. Therefore, you may consider saving your mails in a hard disk.

If you are comfortable saving all your Gmail account mails on your hard disk, you can easily do so by configuring a desktop e-mail client on your computer. Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc. are a few names to be mentioned here. Setting up a desktop mail client is simple and involves just a few do-able steps. Once you have set up, you can move all e-mails and attachments to this client and continue working comfortably.

Astrid is a to-do list manager and strives to work as an assistant to you and remind you of the small and big tasks that are important. It works perfectly well with the Google Chrome browser and remembers for you and notifies you of all tasks including an impending mail reply. It is simple to get started with Astrid. All you need doing is installing the browser app and signing up for its account. So, the next time you log on to Gmail and find an interesting or important mail that you have to reply to or have a mail in your inbox with significant details that you may need to refer to later, do not fret. Simply get started with Astrid and let it handle the stress for you.

Setting a reminder in the Astrid app is an easy job. You just have to login to your account and click the ‘Remind Me’ button. It will remember for you the task and deliver it accordingly. In this way not only is your time and efforts saved; you can also increase your productivity and concentrate on your current tasks.

Besides the web, Astrid is also an effective app available on iPhone, iPad, and Android-based smartphones and tablets. It also offers you free cloud backup, which means that your contents are all in safe hands. And should you lose access to your Gmail account or your smartphone, you always have your information in the cloud to fall back upon. With this open source and free to use app, you can conveniently share your reminder lists with others in your team/family and add notes easily by voicing it out. Yes, it allows you to speak your tasks too… To top it all, the settings on Astrid are customizable. This gives you the opportunity to tweak the app settings according to your preference and particular task in hand.

So, to keep you organized, reminded of the nearing deadline, and alerts, just engage Astrid to do the wonders while you sit back and enjoy life.

Windows Live Mail desktop

All Windows users who are comfortable using Microsoft products, you can bet you will simply love engaging the Windows Live Mail as your desktop mail client. It is available for free and gives you an almost Microsoft Outlook experience although lacks certain features as is available in the latter (calendar, tasks, etc). However, it more than makes up for it as it provides easy access to your Hotmail and Live e-mail accounts.

Mozilla Thunderbird

If you are looking for ways to enhance your productivity, you surely can’t do without the Mozilla Thunderbird Mail. It works perfectly on Windows, Mac and Linux computers and is available for free! Besides managing multiple e-mail accounts, it can also manage RSS and newsgroups too.

Zimbra Desktop

A Yahoo! Product, you can certainly opt for the Zimbra Desktop client irrespective of whether you use a Mac, Linux, or a Windows computer. It is elegantly styled, integrates e-mails and contacts and is compatible with Apple Mail and Microsoft Outlook as well.

eM Client 5

If you are a Windows 8 user, you would love to explore eM Client 5 as your desktop e-mail manager. With updated features such as Auto Archiving, mail backup, calendar, etc., eM Client 5 is certainly a hot favorite among corporate and home users alike.

Spicebird

This is an open source, cross platform and free desktop e-mail client developed by Synovel. However, off-late it has stopped supporting Mac-based OS. Nevertheless it is still popular among Windows and Linux users.

So, with these wonderful desktop e-mail clients waiting to be explored, bring in a new dimension to your mailing experience and see how fast and effectively your mailing and other tasks get done.

It is very easy to set up your Hotmail or Outlook.com account on Outlook 2013. Just follow our simple steps and get the full power of Outlook app in just a few minutes:

1. In your Outlook 2013 account, go to ‘File’ menu and click ‘Add Account.’
2. Now add your Outlook.com or Hotmail e-mail id and password.
3. Click ‘Next’. Once the connection is completed click the ‘Finish’ button.

Simple, isn’t it? However, the real problem starts when your Outlook cannot detect your e-mail accounts correctly. For those who suffer the above issue, our simple workaround solution can come to your rescue. To solve this problem,

1. Go to the Outlook settings and click on ‘Add Account’ option.
2. Now, instead of going through the auto-setup process, select the ‘Manual setup or additional server types’ option and click ‘Next.’
3. Select ‘Exchange ActiveSync’ as your desired service.
4. Next, fill in your credentials, your e-mail account details, and the details of your ‘Mail Server.’
5. Now enter the Logon information and press ‘Next.’

That’s it! You Outlook account will sync your e-mail account and will automatically download all your messages and contacts in just a couple of minutes.

Know how HelloSign made signing a document easy

HelloSign is an e-signature app that enables Gmail users to open and sign any kind of attached document with legally binding signatures without ever leaving Gmail. With this one-of-a-kind plug-in, you can simply open and sign e-mail attachments directly in Gmail. All you need to do is upload a saved signature or draw a fresh signature on the app, paste it, include any other additional information, and send the document back immediately. And the total time for the entire process is merely 30 seconds. The most amazing aspect is that all the signed documents are legally-binding and gets securely gets backed up in your HelloSign account automatically.

HelloSign CEO Joseph Walla said, “We looked at the document-signing process and saw a lot of unnecessary friction. So we scrapped everything and set out to make the process of responding to a signature request as easy as possible. Since virtually every signature request comes via email, we built the signature process into the email workflow and the result is the easiest way to sign a document.”

Impressed with HelloSign

HelloSign, a plug-in for Gmail built exclusively built for signing documents in Gmail and can be easily downloaded for free from the Chrome Web Store. Excited to know more about eSignature functionality? Thinking of creating a template to be signed, go to https://www.hellosign.com/gmail.

Let’s take a look at them:

Break it up

Whether you are writing a one-paragraph e-mail or a page-long report, breaking up your e-mail into paragraphs and bullets makes it easier for the user to comprehend. Breaking up your e-mail into paragraphs with proper sub-heads, bullets, numbers with appropriate line spacing will make your e-mail a treat for the user’s eyes and will boost up your business communication.

Keep it simple

Use of big words, clever phrases, and fancy language will make it difficult for the recipient to understand your e-mail. The thumb rule – write as you speak.  Avoid using jargons and other technical phrases that are difficult to understand.

Avoid typos

Typos and grammatical mistakes destroy the creditability of an e-mail, making it look more like a spam message. Scan all your drafted e-mails for grammatical and punctuation errors. Double check the spellings of people’s names to save yourself from an embarrassing moment.

Delete unnecessary information

Determine the purpose of yourself e-mail and provide information that’s absolutely necessary, leaving out the details that your recipient already knows. Also, ensure that you have securely attached all the files that you need to send across.

Mind your tone

When conveying a message, be very careful with the tone of your message, as in case of e-mails, there is a fare amount of chance that your message is misinterpreted. A misplaced sentence can easily change a neutral-sounding message into a callous e-mail. So, read your draft carefully and if in doubt, delete and try again.

Follow these tips and tricks to effectively draft your e-mails for enhanced business communication.

Let’s take a look at them:

Postbox

An awesome alternative to your Thunderbird mail client, Postbox is the newest and the most popular Gmail client for iPhone and Mac users. It offers a simple interface and an easy-to-follow setup process, making it a strong contender for replacing your Mail.app. It’s integrated with Growl, RSS compatibility, Social Networking, and OS X. Postbox offers a new interface with a favorites menu for frequently accessed folders and recognizes Gmail labels for easy sorting and organizing of all incoming mails. It also supports Gmail shortcuts for power users, helping you stay on tasks and act quickly on all incoming mails. A handy button allows you to mark messages as “To-Do” or into a grayed-out pending state. It also detects dates, letting you set up events in Google Calendar, iCal, or Lightning.

MailMate

An IMAP e-mail application that allows you to bend your e-mail at your will and sort out even the most cluttered mail boxes. With extensive keyboard shortcuts, smart search options, and automatic signature handling features, MailMate displays exactly what you want to see and powers up your day-to-day productivity. With state-of the-art search options and extensive keyboard control, MailMate ensure an efficient workflow and enhanced productivity when reading and answering e-mails.

Sparrow

When it comes to Mac, most of the users feel that Sparrow email client is best-suited for handling all types of e-mail needs. It supports a lot of native Gmail features like labels, priority inbox, and spam filtering and is quite easy to use. Sparrow lets you attach files on the cloud and offers a number of powerful search options through token-based system, which is pretty similar to Gmail and Spotlight in Mac OS X Lion. Sparrow allows you to customize your inbox – into one single inbox or separate inboxes as per your needs.         It can automatically attach files from your Dropbox account. With excellent threaded conversation view, Sparrow is a feature-rich mail client that is versatile enough to meet the needs of everyone.

EmailTray

If thousands of e-mails flood your multiple e-mail accounts on daily basis, making it difficult for you track all the important messages, then EmailTray is just for you. It unifies all your e-mail accounts and notifies you of all the important messages on the basis of your usage pattern and your own customization. EmailTray also sorts out bulk e-mails from social networking sites and marketers to help you stay focused on e-mails that are important. The app can be integrated with your Outlook accounts along with many other web-based e-mail services and supports Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating system.

K-9 Mail

An excellent e-mail client for Android users, K-9 is based on Google’s original Android mail client. It supports IMAP IDLE for push messaging and offers customized search options with multi-folder sync feature and the options of flagging, filing, signatures, bcc-self, and more. K-9 offers a thoughtful way of setting notification alerts for all incoming mails in every mail account that you sync with it. Each account can be given a different notification ringtone, vibration pattern for easier identification.

Tech support by iYogi to fix Microsoft Outlook problems

Are you unable to send or receive emails through Microsoft Outlook? Or does Microsoft Outlook freeze quite often? Relax; call up the technicians at iYogi to get comprehensive tech support to fix various Microsoft Outlook problems. iYogi experts will take remote access of your PC through an Internet connection and troubleshoot the Outlook errors that you are facing. They can also configure the email program for efficient performance.

Some of the tech support services provided by iYogi to resolve Microsoft Outlook problems include the following:

• Troubleshooting errors when sending or receiving emails
• Fixing errors when upgrading Outlook to a new version
• Configuring the Outlook settings according to your requirements
• Optimizing Outlook for fast performance

Call iYogi at the toll free number 1-877-720-7608 to get complete tech support for Microsoft Outlook problems.

Tips to resolve the common Microsoft Outlook problems

Microsoft Outlook offers an easy to use platform to send and receive emails. However, sometimes you might face Outlook problems that prevent you from using the program effectively. If you don’t know exactly how to fix these issues, you can get help from a professional tech support provider. Here we discuss the most common Microsoft Outlook problems and how to resolve them.

Internet connectivity issues

At times, on sending an email in Microsoft Outlook, the following error messages may be displayed: “The server could not be found”, or “No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it”. These errors are caused by problems with Internet connectivity or incorrect account settings. Check the Internet connection and the account settings to fix these Outlook problems.

Outlook hangs frequently

If Microsoft Outlook stops responding quite often, it could be due to a huge mailbox. As more and more email messages are added to your Outlook account, the mailbox size increases. This slows down the program and it takes longer to send and receive emails. This problem can be fixed by transferring the old emails to an archive folder.

Email stuck in the outbox

 If an email is stuck in the Microsoft Outlook outbox, it could be due to an Internet connection problem. The email could also have been corrupted or the attachment exceeds the size limit set by the mail server. To resolve this issue, check the Internet connection or change the settings of your mail server. If the email is corrupted, you will have to delete it and again compose the message.

In the following section, we present an easy DIY solution to clear an email that’s stuck in the Outbox of Microsoft Outlook 2010.

DIY: How to clear an email stuck in the outbox in Microsoft Outlook 2010

1. In Microsoft Outlook 2010, click the ‘Send/Receive’ tab.
2. Click the ‘Work Offline’ option.
3. Select the Outbox.
4. Now you can move the email that’s tuck in the outbox to the Drafts folder.
5. Drag the message to the Drafts folder or right-click the message, select ‘Move’, select ‘Other Folder’, and then choose the Drafts folder.
6. Now you can open the email to edit it or modify the attachment.
7. If you want to delete the email, right-click the message and select ‘Delete’.
8. Click the ‘Send/Receive’ tab, and then click ‘Work Offline’ to de-select it.

By following these steps, you will be able clear an email that’s stuck in the Microsoft Outlook 2010 outbox.

Help for Microsoft Outlook by iYogi

Are you facing problems in sending or receiving emails with Microsoft Outlook installed on your PC? Relax, just call up the technicians at iYogi to get expert tech help for Microsoft Outlook. Our technicians can resolve various problems related to Microsoft Outlook and ensure that you never miss an email. They can also customize the email program’s settings according to your requirements. So, get help from iYogi experts and always stay in touch with your contacts by using Microsoft Outlook without any glitches.

Here are some of the tech help services for Microsoft Outlook that are provided by iYogi experts:

• Configuring the settings of Microsoft Outlook
• Resolving Microsoft Outlook errors
• Creating a backup of emails, contacts, and calendars
• Troubleshooting Microsoft Outlook to optimize its performance

Call iYogi at the toll free number 1-877-720-7608 to get comprehensive tech help for Microsoft Outlook.

Tips to resolve the common issues related to Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular email clients. It’s quite easy to use and has several advanced features. However, sometimes you might face technical issues while using this email program. These can range from a corrupted data file to slow performance. Here are some tips to fix the common problems related to Microsoft Outlook:

Slow performance due to a large Outlook data file

 As you keep receiving more and more emails, the size of the mailbox becomes huge. This slows down the program and it takes longer to send and receive emails. The issue can be fixed by moving the old emails to an archive folder to decrease the size of the mailbox.

Outlook data gets corrupted due to a virus infection

Outlook stores the emails, contacts, and appointments in a data file in the Personal Folders (.pst) format. If a malicious program damages the .pst file of Outlook, you won’t be able to access the email messages. As a precautionary measure, it’s recommended to back up the Outlook data file at regular intervals.

 Outlook cannot download email messages

Sometimes if the server to which your Outlook account is connected is down, you won’t be able to send or receive emails. In such a case, try to reconnect to the server after sometime. If the problem persists, contact a tech support personnel for assistance.

 DIY: How to manually archive old emails in Microsoft Outlook 2010

If Microsoft Outlook 2010 installed on your PC is working slowly, it could be due to a large data file. To fix this issue, archive the old emails to decrease the size of the mailbox. This will help you to speed up the email program’s performance. Just follow the steps give here to manually archive emails in Microsoft Outlook 2010:

1. In Microsoft Outlook 2010, click the ‘File’ tab.
2. Now click the ‘Cleanup Tools’ option.
3. Click ‘Archive’.
4. Click the ‘Archive this folder and all subfolders’ option.
5. Select the folder that you want to archive. Note: Any subfolder of the folder you select will also be included automatically.
6. Enter a date under ‘Archive items older than’.
7. If you do not want to use the default file or location, under ‘Archive file’, click ‘Browse’ to specify a location.
8. Click the ‘Include items with “Do not AutoArchive” checked’ check box to include any items that might be marked to be excluded from automatic archiving.

By following these steps, you will be able to manually archive emails in Microsoft Outlook 2010.