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rp_help2025-04-04 09:15 am
in_sufficientdata) wrote in rp_help2025-04-04 09:15 am
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tutorial: Gmail Tips & Tricks
A lot of people who RP on DW like to use Gmail for their email service so that they can use Gmail's automatic label function to sort their characters and games via automatic labeling. This tutorial includes tips originally found on Vivi's tutorial that was written some years ago, but the screenshots include Gmail's updated look and feel, and also includes other tips for functions I personally use to sort my incoming RP emails.
The following tricks can only be done on desktop. I looked for a way to do it on mobile and couldn't find a way.
Gmail's labels are sort of like its folders – if you archive an email, it can be found in the label in the listing down the left hand side of the page. Here's what my inbox looks like with all the labels set up:
I will explain the various labels you can see there as we go along.
To set up a game's automatic labeling, write down a list of all the names of the game comms, as well as the mod journal, and put OR as a keyword in between each of them. In my case, I'm playing several characters at Pixie Led, so I marked down "pixieled OR pixieledlogs OR pixieledooc OR pixieledmemes OR changelinged".
Next, open the search menu at the right-hand side of the search bar at the top of Gmail's inbox.
Enter the list of game keywords in the box that says "Has the words" and click the "Create filter" button.
Check the box for "Apply the label" and select "New label..."
From here you can create your game label. When you create the label, there's a tick box that pops up that says "Apply this filter to [number of] existing messages". It's helpful to tick that box at this stage. I use this star symbol ☆ at the beginning of the game name, so that the labels always show in the same order when I get a tag (game name and then character name).
This is a little more complicated because it requires you to fuss with the email settings at Dreamwidth. What happens is that if you add a plus sign to your email address user name and put stuff after the plus sign, Dreamwidth ignores it. But gmail will use it to filter emails if you set up filters using that.
This is under Settings on Dreamwidth; you can click here to go to that page for your character journal. You can use the user name or character's name there – whatever works for you. You just need something after the plus sign that's unique for that character journal.
Now go back to gmail, click on the search bar and create a label again. This time you filter it according to the email you confirmed for that character journal in the To field:
Again, I use a diamond symbol ⟡ at the beginning of my character labels so that everything always shows up in the same order in the inbox.
There's also a method you can use that uses the secret address that Dreamwidth uses for replying via email, which is outlined here.
You may have noticed the following label on the tags in my screenshot of my inbox:🔸
This is the symbol I have set to be appended to any tags I need to respond to.
To set up this rule, the search box and in the box "Has the words" enter "replied to a comment you left" OR "reply to your entry" OR "edited reply to your comment" OR "edited reply to your entry" with the quotation marks.
This is a completely optional step, but I find it helps me keep in mind whether something that has come into my inbox needs to be responded to. You can easily remove the label after viewing the email by clicking the X on the tag:
I use the following tag for things posted in the ooc or meme comms, or by the mod journal, in my games. I set up a new rule under "Has the words" for only the ooc comm names and include this symbol as the label:🔹
I also label anything that comes in from meme comms I participate in, such as Bakerstreet, with ⇀ and TFLN tags with ★ .
This is another completely optional thing that you may or may not find helpful. Personally, I use the Multiple Inbox feature so that I can see game tags separately from everything else that comes into my email. Here is how you set that up.
Click on the gear icon at the upper right of your inbox and select "See all settings".
Go to the Inbox tab and select Multiple Inboxes from the drop-down menu.
Now the boxes for configuring Multiple Inboxes will appear.
From here you can choose the position of where you like the additional inboxes to show up (I like it on the right-hand side) and how many emails you can to show up in them. I add the Unread label to each one because I pick and choose a lot sometimes what I'm going to tag, but you don't have to do that. But the screenshot above will allow you to set that up, if you wish.
Note that the Reading Pane option in Gmail doesn't work if you use Multiple Inboxes.
If you also like to pick and choose what you tag you can archive emails directly from the inbox to the Multiple Inbox pane:
All your new labels will be listed at the lefthand side of your inbox. If you click on the three dots next to the label, it will allow you to change its color.
You can also choose to show the label in this list only if the label contains unread messages. Simply select "Show if unread" to apply this change.
The following tricks can only be done on desktop. I looked for a way to do it on mobile and couldn't find a way.
Gmail's labels are sort of like its folders – if you archive an email, it can be found in the label in the listing down the left hand side of the page. Here's what my inbox looks like with all the labels set up:
I will explain the various labels you can see there as we go along.
Setting up game labels
To set up a game's automatic labeling, write down a list of all the names of the game comms, as well as the mod journal, and put OR as a keyword in between each of them. In my case, I'm playing several characters at Pixie Led, so I marked down "pixieled OR pixieledlogs OR pixieledooc OR pixieledmemes OR changelinged".
Next, open the search menu at the right-hand side of the search bar at the top of Gmail's inbox.
Enter the list of game keywords in the box that says "Has the words" and click the "Create filter" button.
Check the box for "Apply the label" and select "New label..."
From here you can create your game label. When you create the label, there's a tick box that pops up that says "Apply this filter to [number of] existing messages". It's helpful to tick that box at this stage. I use this star symbol ☆ at the beginning of the game name, so that the labels always show in the same order when I get a tag (game name and then character name).
Setting up character labels
This is a little more complicated because it requires you to fuss with the email settings at Dreamwidth. What happens is that if you add a plus sign to your email address user name and put stuff after the plus sign, Dreamwidth ignores it. But gmail will use it to filter emails if you set up filters using that.
This is under Settings on Dreamwidth; you can click here to go to that page for your character journal. You can use the user name or character's name there – whatever works for you. You just need something after the plus sign that's unique for that character journal.
Now go back to gmail, click on the search bar and create a label again. This time you filter it according to the email you confirmed for that character journal in the To field:
Again, I use a diamond symbol ⟡ at the beginning of my character labels so that everything always shows up in the same order in the inbox.
There's also a method you can use that uses the secret address that Dreamwidth uses for replying via email, which is outlined here.
Labeling tags that need to be responded to
You may have noticed the following label on the tags in my screenshot of my inbox:🔸
This is the symbol I have set to be appended to any tags I need to respond to.
To set up this rule, the search box and in the box "Has the words" enter "replied to a comment you left" OR "reply to your entry" OR "edited reply to your comment" OR "edited reply to your entry" with the quotation marks.
This is a completely optional step, but I find it helps me keep in mind whether something that has come into my inbox needs to be responded to. You can easily remove the label after viewing the email by clicking the X on the tag:
Other labels I use
I use the following tag for things posted in the ooc or meme comms, or by the mod journal, in my games. I set up a new rule under "Has the words" for only the ooc comm names and include this symbol as the label:🔹
I also label anything that comes in from meme comms I participate in, such as Bakerstreet, with ⇀ and TFLN tags with ★ .
Setting up multiple inboxes
This is another completely optional thing that you may or may not find helpful. Personally, I use the Multiple Inbox feature so that I can see game tags separately from everything else that comes into my email. Here is how you set that up.
Click on the gear icon at the upper right of your inbox and select "See all settings".
Go to the Inbox tab and select Multiple Inboxes from the drop-down menu.
Now the boxes for configuring Multiple Inboxes will appear.
From here you can choose the position of where you like the additional inboxes to show up (I like it on the right-hand side) and how many emails you can to show up in them. I add the Unread label to each one because I pick and choose a lot sometimes what I'm going to tag, but you don't have to do that. But the screenshot above will allow you to set that up, if you wish.
Note that the Reading Pane option in Gmail doesn't work if you use Multiple Inboxes.
If you also like to pick and choose what you tag you can archive emails directly from the inbox to the Multiple Inbox pane:
Customizing labels
All your new labels will be listed at the lefthand side of your inbox. If you click on the three dots next to the label, it will allow you to change its color.
You can also choose to show the label in this list only if the label contains unread messages. Simply select "Show if unread" to apply this change.