Conversations are probably the second largest barrier to Gmail adoption, after Labels vs. Folders. No silly, not speaking conversations...email conversations! Conversations are also known as threads i.e. a conversation thread, so lets use threads...a much cooler word.

For many people, the idea of having all of your email tightly bundled together must just be too easy, too fast and too convenient. Imagine how the world would crumble if you could get more done in less time? Heaven for bid you actually eat lunch AWAY from your desk, leave the office at a normal time or maybe spend a little time doing work instead of trying to figure out what work you need to be doing.

Alright, I didn't always "get" threading in Gmail. In fact, it took switching to Mac before I really started to break my unproductive habits. In Outlook I was always trying to change the user interface, I thought folders and color coding was the answer to making related messages standout. I wasted hours of my professional and personal life trying to "keep things together" and unfortunately it was all for not.

Threading, in Gmail, some say is just too much change. It's awkward, unnatural and too confusing. I'm not sure what's confusing about "keeping like messages" together. If you haven't spent a week in Gmail threading...you're missing out on life...literally. Digging through your clunky desktop mail application is like swimming with your shoes on...sure, you can do it but sooner or later you're going to loose something or worse...

IMPORTANT: Before you get all freaky with threads take a minute to look our recent guide on Labels and Filters. If you receive a lot of email messages with the same subject line but from different people, you may want to set a Label and/or Filter to automate. Also, I'm not oblivious to the reality that threading has it's shortcomings...but I rationalize that there are far fewer than the alternatives.

Here are a few tips to get you over the fear of threading;

Threads are based on Subject

Senders Name Opens Individual Message

Long Threads Collapse

Long Threads Scale