Accessing and Managing your Samsara Email (G Suite Mail)

Table of Contents

What is G Suite Mail (Gmail)?
Accessing your G Mail
Managing your Inbox (Tip and Tricks)
Understanding Gmail Labels (Not Folders!)
How to create an Email filter
Exporting Email Filters
Importing Email Filters
Graymail Email Filtering
Mobile Access to Gmail

What is G Suite Mail (Gmail)?

Gmail is our go-to email service provided by Google. It's where you'll send, receive, and manage emails in a simple and user-friendly interface. Not only can you use it for emailing, but it's also integrated with other services we use, like Google Drive and Google Calendar, so you can easily share files and set up meetings right from your inbox.

Even if you're familiar with Gmail, this guide will help you take full advantage of its features.

Accessing your G Mail

To access your Samsara Gmail account, follow these steps:

1. Open your web browser and log in to the Okta homepage.
2. Once logged in, click on the tile labeled "G Suite Mail" to access Gmail.

Managing your Inbox (Tips and Tricks)

In this section, we'll go over some tips and tricks that will be helpful for organizing your inbox and setting up filters.

Understanding Gmail Labels (Not Folders!)

What you may traditionally think of as 'folders' are actually called 'labels' in Gmail. Labels allow you to categorize your emails neatly. You can apply multiple labels to a single email. Think of labels like sticky notes that you can put on each email to categorize them in various ways. This is especially useful when creating filters to organize your inbox and cut down on clutter.

Note: The default view in Gmail shows all emails with the label "Inbox." If you want to filter out certain emails from appearing in your default view, you'll need to remove the "Inbox" label from them.

How to Create a Label

1. Open Gmail and look at the left-hand sidebar.
2. Scroll down until you see "More," and click on it.
3. Scroll down a bit more and click "Create new label."
4. In the pop-up window, type the name of your new label and click "Create."

How to Apply a Label to an Email

1. Select the email(s) you want to label.
2. Click on the label iconat the top.
3. Choose the label you want to apply.

How to create an Email filter

1. In Gmail's search bar at the top, click Show search options  .
2. Fill in the criteria for the emails you want to filter (e.g., emails from a specific address). If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search
3. At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
4. Choose what actions you want the filter to take (e.g., apply a label).
5. Important: If you don't want these filtered emails to appear in your default "Inbox" view, make sure to check the option "Skip the Inbox (Archive it)." This removes the "Inbox" label from these messages.
6. Click "Create filter" to finalize.

Create an email filter using a particular message as an example

Graymail Email Filtering

Graymail is bulk email that doesn’t fall under spam because it is solicited, comes from a legitimate source, or has varying value to different recipients. Examples of graymail include newsletters, advertisements, mailing lists, and announcements.

Graymail Protection is a Gmail add-on designed to efficiently manage graymail, ensuring that the most relevant emails reach your primary inbox.

When an email is delivered to your inbox that matches the criteria for graymail, it is filtered to the Graymail folder. 

What if an email was incorrectly labeled as graymail?

• If an email is labeled as graymail that should not have been, simply drag and drop the email from your Graymail folder to your primary inbox. 
• This will remove the filter and ensure that going forward the sender is safelisted and emails from that sender land in your primary inbox.
  
  

What if an email should have been labeled as graymail?

• If an email is delivered to your primary inbox that should have been classified as graymail, simply drag and drop the email from your primary inbox to the Graymail folder. 
• This will ensure that going forward the sender is blocklisted and email from that sender will be labeled as graymail and  be sent to the Graymail folder.
  

Attention: For more Graymail Troubleshooting and FAQ, please check out this Article HERE!

Mobile Access to Gmail

If you need to access your email on mobile, there are a couple of methods you can use to access it.

Gmail App

This can be either the iOS app (link) or the Android app (link). This will allow you to receive push notifications, and is the best experience for mobile. Please note that apps other than the official Gmail app are not supported for checking your Samsara email.

For any additional questions, check out our FAQ or reach out to #help-biztech in Slack.