A Daily Inbox Triage Workflow

Why a routine matters

A shared inbox only works if the whole team treats it the same way. This guide gives you a simple, repeatable triage routine built on StretchMail's Inbox actions so nothing slips and everyone knows what "handled" means.

The routine: Sort → Decide → Clear

Step 1 — Start in Unread

1. Open StretchMail → Inbox and click the Unread folder.
2. Work top to bottom. Opening a message marks it read and removes it from Unread, so the folder naturally empties as you go.

Step 2 — Decide each message in one of five ways

For every message, pick exactly one action so it leaves your queue with a clear outcome:

1. Reply now if it takes under two minutes — respond and the thread resolves.
2. Star it if a specific teammate needs to own it. Stars are your hand-off signal.
3. Snooze it if you can't act until later — pick the date/time and it disappears until then, returning to the top of your Inbox exactly when you need it.
4. Archive it if it's informational and done — out of the Inbox, still fully searchable.
5. Trash or Spam it if it's junk.

Step 3 — Reply from your verified domain

When you reply, StretchMail sends through the governed send route under your verified domain, so your response is authenticated and lands well. If sending isn't enabled yet, your reply queues and goes out once sending is switched on — you won't lose it.

Step 4 — Clear to zero

By the end of the routine, the Inbox folder should be empty: everything is replied, starred for someone, snoozed to a real time, archived, or trashed. That's a true "inbox zero," not a hidden backlog.

Handling hand-offs with stars

Stars turn a shared inbox into a lightweight assignment system:

• Star a message for the person who should handle it.
• That person filters to Starred, works their items, and unstars each when done.
• Anything still starred at day's end is visible, unresolved work.

Using snooze well

Snooze is the antidote to "leave it unread as a reminder." Instead:

• Snooze a supplier quote to the day you'll compare bids.
• Snooze a follow-up to next Tuesday.
• Snooze a "check back" to the deadline.

Each comes back at the top of the Inbox exactly when it's actionable, and Unsnooze pulls anything back early.

Worked example

Acme Co.'s morning triage on Unread (14):

1. Six quick questions — replied on the spot from hello@acme.co.
2. Two VIP threads — starred for the account manager.
3. One contract review — snoozed to Thursday when legal is back.
4. Four newsletters and receipts — archived.
5. One phishing attempt — reported as Spam.

Unread hits zero in under fifteen minutes, and every message has a real next step.

Tips

• One action per message. Never leave a message half-triaged.
• Search instead of scroll. Full-text search covers sender, subject, and body — faster than hunting.
• Agree on star meaning as a team (e.g. "starred = assigned to a human").
• Snooze beats unread for anything you can't do right now.

FAQ

If I archive a message, can I get it back?
Yes — Restore returns it to the Inbox, and it's searchable the whole time.

Does everyone see the same starred and snoozed state?
Yes. The Inbox is shared and org-scoped, so triage state is visible to the whole team.

What if two people reply to the same message?
Assign with stars and work only your starred items to avoid double-replies.

Troubleshooting

• A snoozed message didn't come back. It's in Snoozed until its time; use Unsnooze to pull it now.
• Reply didn't send. Sending may not be enabled yet; the reply is queued — check the Engine card.
• Can't find a message. Try search (it covers the body), and check Archive, Spam, and Snoozed.