Gmail Productivity Tip - delay incoming messages

Back Posted on 20 Nov 2013

Update: as of 28 November 2016 the instructions and script linked below are no longer available.

Productivity articles commonly recommend checking email on a specific schedule to avoid distraction and the urge to respond immediately.  This is easily set up if your email client is Outlook which allows you to work offline or set the interval at which new mail should be downloaded.

With Gmail however new mail will land right in your inbox by default.  While I could simply close Gmail it's not particularly practical when the instructions or files required to do a job are in there.

Today I found a neat little solution from Musubi who suggest applying a label to all incoming messages called Delayed Message via the Filters tab found under Gmail Settings.  The clever part is the script provided by Musubi can be set to run on a schedule and it simply removes the Delayed Messages label resulting in new mail showing up in your Inbox.

If you are expecting an urgent email that must be dealt with before the next scheduled move you can find it by selecting More Labels > Delayed Messages.

I tested this out today and am pleased so far, I wasn't as tempted as usual to break what I was doing to take a quick look at my Inbox and didn't get distracted by new mail when searching old email conversations.

The script and full installation instructions can be found at:
http://blog.musubimail.com/post/33715626157/gmail-timer-schedule-when-to-receive-new-mail