org-gmail: A Deep Integration of Gmail into Your Org Mode
Bala Ramadurai (he/him) - https://balaramadurai.net, bala@balaramadurai.net
Format: 20-min talk ; Q&A: Etherpad
Status: Waiting for video from speaker
Description
For many, email is the starting point for tasks, projects, and reference material. While Emacs has powerful, full-featured mail clients like Gnus and mu4e, they are designed to manage the entire email workflow.
org-gmail offers a different approach: it is not a replacement for a full mail client, but a tool for deeply integrating your most important emails into your Org Mode knowledge base.
This talk will introduce org-gmail, a package that allows users to fetch entire Gmail threads or individual messages and save them as entries in Org mode files. The core idea is to triage emails in the Gmail interface and pull relevant threads into Org Mode, where they can be linked to tasks, notes, and projects.
We will explore the key features of the package, including:
- Fetching emails by label and syncing new messages for previously downloaded labels.
- Managing labels directly from Emacs, including creating, deleting, editing, and bulk-moving threads between labels, which updates both Gmail and the corresponding :LABEL: properties in your Org files.
- Performing common email actions from within Org Mode, such as replying, forwarding (delegating), snoozing (deferring), and moving messages to the trash.
- Integrating emails into a task management workflow by creating actionable sub-tasks that appear in the agenda.
The session will demonstrate practical use cases for both Getting Things Done (GTD) and the P.A.R.A. method (Tiago Forte). For GTD, we'll show how to process a Gmail inbox, download actionable emails into an Org file, and then defer, delegate, or create TODO items. For P.A.R.A., we'll demonstrate how to label emails according to projects and areas, and how to archive them systematically using the bulk-move feature.
By the end of the talk, attendees will understand the unique workflow org-gmail enables and how it can help them turn their email into a structured, actionable part of their Org Mode system.
About the speaker:
Bala Ramadurai is an entrepreneur, professor, author, coach, consultant, and podcaster. He is the CEO of Spirelia, a company that helps innovate. He has authored a book called Karmic Design Thinking and holds 3 patents.
In this talk, Bala will introduce org-gmail, a package he developed to seamlessly integrate Gmail with Org Mode. You will learn how to transform your important emails into actionable tasks and reference material, leveraging the power of Org Mode for a more organized and productive workflow that supports methodologies like GTD and P.A.R.A.
Questions or comments? Please e-mail bala@balaramadurai.net
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