My focus for the next month is going to be on time management. I am working towards figuring out how to be a more efficient blogger. This week I am getting all my canned replies ready in Gmail. I love this feature. It allows you to send an email for a reply that you find yourself doing and over and over. It saves time typing out each message. I use it for my Winner Notifications, Blog Features Requests, Winner Replies (after their info has been submitted to the sponsor) and now I am adding in Canned replies for posting press release inquiries, discounts and contests.
To start using Canned responses, you need to first go into your settings and look for Canned Responses under Labs. Click “Enable”.
Then to make a Canned response go to Compose Mail and write out the email that you want to use. Then click on Canned Responses beside the Attachements and give it a name and Save. Then when you need to use the canned reply you just open Canned responses find the name and boom you are done! It saves SO MUCH TIME!
If you use Gmail, do you already use Canned Responses? If so, what types of emails do you use them for?
About Stacie
Oh I am so setting this up tonight!!! I had no idea..this will save me a lot of time. THANK YOU!!!
OMG, I have had gmail since it first started, and I knew there was a spot to do this I just didn’t know where lol. this will save me sooooooo much time thank you thank you thank you!
That’s neat. I wish Yahoo had something like that!
Here’s a link on how to do something similar in yahoo
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/hjrecruiter/tools/tools-emailtemplates-01.html
I was doing this when I was with GoDaddy email. I think I will set it up again with my gmail account though.
I can see how this could become efficient. However, I feel some people may not appreciate canned responses (which the name itself can carry a negative conotation.) They eliminate interpersonal relationships, and can be bland or too generic. When I comment, I want to hear from you, not the robot you created.
Then again, like you mentioned, it can be used for replies that you have to give very often, such as an explaination for your contests, giveaways, blog hops, etc. I feel that that is different.
I guess, just don’t lose all of those unique and personal replies. I know many people who appreciate them far more.
AubrieAnne @ http://whosyoureditor.blogspot.com/
I agree! I only use them for emails that I am writing over and over again like telling someone they won a giveaway or letting them know that I have sent their info to the sponsor. And for companies who are looking for my pricing info…that’s time consuming to type over and over again.
This is amazing! I am absolutely implementing this right now.
I have a Word file with email templates that I use for requesting book review copies, notifying winners etc. I use them because I don’t want to forget anything when I send the email. I do a copy and paste and then customize as needed.
But after I read your post I googled and found a way to do it in yahoo mail. Here’s a link to the about.com that tells you how. It’s pretty cool! I’m going to try it!
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/hjrecruiter/tools/tools-emailtemplates-01.html
I prefer yahoo email for my main account, but have gmail set up where I can send email from gmail using my yahoo email address.
Canned responses are terrific!
Sounds like something i definitely want to look in to. I use gmail, but had never heard of this. Thank you for posting!
LOVE IT! I’ve been typing the same thing over and over again when I win something and this will save me time! Thank you!
Love this, Stacie! I use Google, but I use Yahoo much more, so I’ll read the info at the link Ellen left.
I can totally vouch for the fact that Stacie does send personal replies, even when she probably doesn’t have time. ;o)
Thanks Cara! Yes, like I said its only on the repetitive types of emails- winners, blog feature questions, etc that I just canned replies. It saves me a bundle of time.
Thanks Stacie! I had no idea about the LABS tab. Very cool. Now… What the heck does the rest of them do! LOL. I’ll have to fiddle with them. I wish I knew what all the apps were about.
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST! You just made my life simpler! I was previously cutting and pasting, and even that takes up a lot of time. I am now using it for general sponsor info, giveaways, and more! I might start canning my mom! HA! Kidding!
omigosh, i just tried this and it works! off to generate some canned responses now!
oh a note about personal emails and how they sounds more . . . personal. one can always slightly edit a canned response to sound more personal. just because one didn’t key in every word doesn’t mean the email is insincere.
I’m definitely going to have to look into this.
I’ve been using this for my giveaways for a few months and it’s so much easier! You can still personalize with canned responses, but the template is there for the stuff that I am posting over and over. I just edit and customize as needed.
I have been using Gmail forever and I never knew about this option. Thank you for this post!
Great idea. I need to use these for my giveaways
I didn’t even know you could create canned responses. Thanks so much, I just set mine up following your directions.
I have every intention of organizing myself like this someday. Operative word….someday.
what a great idea! i’m wondering if i could use this to send an email to the hubs every day just to say ‘hi’?
thanks!
This is awesome. I had no idea you could do this! Off to go set it up!
Okay it took me less than 5 minutes to set up too! This rocks!
Wow! That is awesome! I didn’t know such a thing existed. Of course I don’t use gmail so it won’t help me. Lol. But that’s awesome for those who do!
I really need to do this. Thanks for the tips.
I didn’t know this was an option. That’s a really cool tip for saving time. I hate writing the same things over and over. It goes against a writer’s natural instincts.
Thank you for posting this! I did a google search and figured out how to set this up in Outlook with Quick Parts- what a smart idea!
Now I would love to see Windows Live Mail implement this into their program, and then I would be very happy!!!!
Another great tid bit to know. Thanks for sharing all that you do
I use Outlook… wonder if there is something like that in there. Either way, I just save tons of stuff in drafts and copy and paste. It is pretty quick going that route too. :-0
I loved Canned emails since you introduced them to me a few months ago and I save so much time…
Thank you as always for the fab tips!
I am eager to see how this works for you. I hope you’ll share later.
I didn’t know this existed! I have a folder and save all of my email replies than do the old copy/paste trick. Thank you so much for this info! You’re a life saver!!