“Write emails faster” usually means templates. Templates do not help if you spent twenty minutes finding the email. Start with ranking.
Session design
Close Gmail between batches. When you open it, go to Briefing or a filtered Action view—not the infinite recency list. Two minutes of Act beats ten minutes of mixed scrolling.
Draft only survivors
If the thread is Know, archive mentally and move on. If it is Act, write the smallest honest reply. Smart Reply can propose a body; you still own the send.
InboxSift inside Gmail
The Chrome extension stays on mail.google.com. No copy-paste into a chat tab to decide what matters.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I use keyboard shortcuts?
- Gmail shortcuts help once you know what to open. Shortcuts plus an unsorted pile is still a pile.
Sources & further reading
Published 2026-05-18. See also our full article library.