Long before I made the switch from Outlook to Gmail, I discovered Google Desktop Search and I was amazed to see how superior it was to the existing Search options on my PC. [Update December 22, 2012 – Google Desktop was discontinued in September 2011.]

Now I've got that same incredible Search performance in my email and calendar. And I am LOVING it.

While I used to create a folder for every client, so I could quickly and easily see all of our past correspondence and conversation threads, this got very cumbersome as my business grew.

Now all I have to do is type the client's name in the Gmail Search box and I get an instant folder (I had tried this in Outlook but found it slow and unreliable).

Or if I'm trying to find a specific email, I can just type a few words that I remember from the conversation, and voila – amazing results again!

I even find myself emailing information to myself with descriptive subject lines and body text, just because I know how easy it will be to find it later!

As I already pointed out, there's tons of storage space in my Gmail account so there's no danger of clogging anything up by doing this (while that was certainly my experience with Outlook).

Canned responses is one of many Gmail "labs" – applications created by Google staff and other Gmail users that are still in the testing phase (but we get to play with them already).

Whenever I notice myself typing or pasting the same thing over and over again in emails, I can quickly and easily save it as a canned response. Then, when I want to include it an another email, I just click the list of canned responses to select and insert it.

Here are some of the things I am using canned responses for:

• Welcome emails to new clients
• Alternate signatures (e.g., in emails to my music therapy clients)
• Instructions for clients (e.g., how to use tracked changes in MS Word)
• Template for project estimates
• Technical support issues (e.g., where to find missed emails from my Roadblocks to Creativity e-course)

More praise and adulation for Gmail and Gcal coming up in future posts about my transition from Outlook to Google.

I first heard the term Inbox Zero at the 43 Folders blog, and they have a lot of helpful suggestions there. The thing is, I KNOW all sorts of ways to deal with email clutter, but I was still bogged down by it.

My worst email habits?

• Using my Inbox as a reminder system or task list. I would store emails there to remind me of things I still had to do. No wonder I never wanted to open my email browser!
• Continuing to receive newsletters and updates from businesses I was no longer interested in. What will they do? What will they say? How will they feel? None of that is more important than my own peace of mind! I love when someone unsubscribes from my mailing list and includes a message about how they're de-cluttering their email. I always applaud their efforts in a quick thank you note.
• Losing myself in a complicated series of folders and sub-folders. Watch for an upcoming post about how Gmail's Labels and Search tools make folders completely unnecessary.

Now that I've transitioned to Gmail, I'm achieving Inbox Zero more regularly than I ever have before. Here are the two Gmail tools that are making it happen:

1. The Archive button. As soon as I've dealt with an email, I archive it to a folder called All Mail. If I'm replying, there is a "Send & Archive" button that does this in one step. Genius! Of course my All Mail folder is filling up quickly (over 5,700 emails and counting, filtered in from four different email accounts), but watch for an upcoming post about how I can create instant folders and find any email quickly and efficiently.
2. The storage space (oh, the storage space). My Outlook was getting slower and slower because of all of the emails I was saving. And that was even after I archived them regularly and used other clean-up and compression tools. Today, Gmail tells me: You are currently using 268 MB (3%) of your 7312 MB. Watch for an upcoming post about how I'm backing up my emails, now that I never have to delete any unless I really want to.

I admit, some of what I'm doing with Gmail I probably could have also done with Outlook, just by applying the discipline to delete and/or move emails from the Inbox more diligently, but Gmail's cool tools have definitely given me extra incentive.

Well, I made the switch. I've been talking about it for awhile but was nervous about losing things during the transition.

I planned as best as I could, created a checklist and just DID IT!

So far, I am absolutely loving it. There was one little glitch when I discovered that my iPod does not automatically sync with Gcal the way it does with Outlook. A bummer, since one of the main reasons I bought the iPod was to use as a PDA.

That was solved with a lovely application called NuevaSync, which I've now successfully used to get my Gcal info onto my iPod. 

I'm going to write several more posts about how I'm using Gmail and Gcal, and how they are making my life both easier and more fun!! Check the Productivity index for new posts over the next while.

If you're curious about how famous folks get things done, check out the Daily Routines blog. It's already a fascinating collection and I can't wait to read more as they add new profiles.