From time to time, I see posts around the Internet about how to keep your email inbox cleared out. They suggest you just delete what you don’t get handled or only handle those you can right away… they must not have jobs like I where people are expecting an answer back otherwise they wouldn’t have sent the email.

Another big ‘no-no’ in many articles is using your inbox as a ToDo list. True it isn’t a good idea to keep adding to your inbox and trying to sift through emails vs tasks. Properly handled though, the modern email software allows filtering and tagging so it can be considered to marry emails and tasks.

A feature of using your email software to manage tasks is that you don’t have to since lists, involve a cloud or sync across a network. You simply email the task to your account. This works particularly well if you use gmail. You can set up filters to handle emails that are tasks to be filed into a particular folder. With gmail, you can also move an email into a task pretty easily with their built-in tools. Available through Google apps or with any computer logging into your account.

Is creating a email that has a task in it quicker than using a ToDo app? It can be is you use the free iPhone app Task Me. The app will send emails through your GMail, MobileMe or regular SMTP account.

Once you have your email account setup in TaskMe, just launch the app, enter your task and hit ‘Send Now’. If you choose to use filters in your email software, you can key off of ‘TaskMe” as it is automatically sent in the email’s subject line.