Efficient use of Gmail (Google’s free email service at http://www.gmail.com ) requires a paradigm shift in how you think about your email inbox. Other email services and clients treat email as you might a piece of paper in your office. It is either in your inbox, a filing cabinet or a trash can. Gmail does not, however, emulate a a filing cabinet with folders, where your mail can only be in one folder at a time. Instead, it offers a label and search system, where mail moves from your inbox to a single archive, and is retrieved via search or by one of the multiple labels that can be assigned to it. Stephen Shankland explains why he became a Gmail convert (
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9994405-2.html ).