Take Control of Your Inbox and Get Organized with Taskforce

As I’ve mentioned before, my Gmail account is horrific. It seems like something so simple as keeping it organized has become a huge chore. In an attempt to redeem myself, I signed up to receive an invite to Taskforce. So far, I have been using the service for about a week and it has really come in handy. So now I’m sure you’re wondering, what is Taskforce?

Well it’s a little drag-able widget that

“integrates into your existing workflow; allowing you to assign tasks collaboratively, and eliminate email overflow. You can write comments, attach files and prioritize tasks.”

Taskforce is installed via a browser extension (Chrome, Firefox or Safari) and can be used with Google Mail or Google Apps for your domain. It splits your emails into three logical components: Action, Information and Broadcast. Any email message can be converted into a task and you can even set  a 2-day reminder for it.

A nice feature that Taskforce adds is the ability to collaborate with friends and coworkers. This is because tasks can be shared and you can also add comments to them. This is great for eliminating even more email because you shouldn’t need to do CC’s or BCC’s as often — and no more replying back and forth via email, just use Taskforce comments for that.

Action (New)

I’m still not 100% sure of how this area works. Tasks just seemed to appear here magically. I did notice that you can add items in this section to your current tasks just by clicking on it. You can also invite users and add comments to these items.

Information (Current)

Here you can see current tasks. This is just a speculation but I think that all new tasks are added here, and if you set a reminder for the task, it then gets moved to “new” in 2 days so that you know it’s important. Items here can be rearranged by just dragging and dropping. Checking off an item will remove it from the list. Clicking on a task will let you see more info, invite other users, add comments, open the related email, edit and archive the task.

Broadcast (Activity)

The activity feed adds your own personal social timeline to your inbox. All broadcast emails (notifications, updates, messages) from sites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and more will be placed here and archived in your inbox. Emails in which you’re CC’d can also be placed here if you choose. This helps to clear up your inbox of all those (sometimes annoying) social networking notifications.

You will have to set this up by creating a Gmail filter and then forwarding your messages to an email specified by Taskforce. They will give you step-by-step directions for this once you get your invite.

Taskforce also has mobile access. You can use their mobile site to view, add and manage your tasks as well as add comments. Plus you’ll also be able to view your activity feed.

I find Taskforce a lot easier to use than other tools out there for organizing your inbox. I like how it removes all the annoying social networking notifications and turns them into a mini-timeline right in your inbox.

I don’t like how the items are handled once clicked though. When you click on an item in the activity stream, it takes you to the email message and then you have to click to open it. I kind of wish that it could open it up within the widget. Besides that, I’m finding Taskforce very useful and definitely think it’s a keeper.

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