Introduction

      When we talk about email, that most convenient communication tool from the early days of the internet, some older netizens might recall the days of using E-Mail fondly. But nowadays, instant messaging has replaced email and become an indispensable communication tool. Still, there are situations where email remains necessary, so why not make the most of it? ✉️

Dealing with Spam

      Let's think back—what's the most commonly used email service among Chinese users? It's QQ Mail, a completely free email service provided by Tencent. It's tied to your QQ number, and every QQ account comes with its own email address. However, this mailbox might often receive spam, so let's see how we can improve it.

      Download the QQ Mail app. Once you log in, you might find a pile of junk waiting to be cleaned up—so take your time clearing it out. While cleaning, you can choose to block specific senders or mark them as spam. From then on, all emails from those addresses will be sent straight to the spam folder. Once there, they won't pop up notifications to interrupt your work or leisure; they'll just quietly sit in the spam folder, waiting for you to confirm whether they're truly junk. In most cases, emails in the spam folder can be deleted outright. Thanks to QQ Mail's smart filtering system, many spam emails are automatically intercepted and sent to the spam folder, but this also means some legitimate emails might get caught. In that case, you'll need to search for them yourself when needed.

Multiple Email Accounts

      Use different email services for different purposes.

      Personally, I use two main email accounts—Perfect Mail and QQ Mail—plus NetEase Enterprise Mail as a CC backup. The first two are for everyday use, while the NetEase account is rarely logged into. However, it holds a lot of important content: whenever an email arrives in my main inbox, a copy is automatically CC'd to the NetEase Enterprise Mail. Since I don't log in often, I don't bother installing its app, so there's no notification noise. If something important ever goes missing, I can check the NetEase account to recover the backup. And once I'm sure I no longer need certain content, I can simply clear it out of the NetEase mailbox.

Priority Levels

      To promptly receive and moderate blog comments, I need an email service that can notify me in real time. But unlike instant messaging—where mainstream apps make it easy to hide or bury content, and where someone like me who prefers a clean UI will keep the home screen spotless, risking accidental deletion and forgotten messages—blog comments are my highest-priority email event. For this, I use QQ Mail: its app pushes notifications the moment a new email arrives, and once linked with instant messaging apps, it can also send notifications there. If you forget anyway, no problem—unread messages will show a badge on the desktop icon, reminding you to check your email. On a computer, simply logging into QQ will trigger a popup in the bottom-right corner whenever a new email arrives.

      GitHub star and issue events, on the other hand, are my second-priority events. These are usually things that aren't urgent or that take a long time to address even after receiving them, so I don't need to pay too much attention. That's why I use Perfect Mail for these—no other apps push notifications for it, only the app's own built-in alerts. Compared to NetEase Enterprise Mail's lack of notifications, I can still learn about incoming emails within a reasonable timeframe. And since handling these tedious issues often requires repeatedly checking the mailbox, using Perfect Mail as my work email makes sense. It offers good privacy—no messages tied to a QQ number—and by only sharing this address with essential parties, I can maintain a clean, well-organized email environment within Perfect Mail.

Conclusion

      Beyond these three, Google's Gmail is also an excellent email service. Making good use of these email accounts can significantly boost productivity and let you experience a bit of that nostalgic internet charm from the old days.