---
title: "How to Gmail like a Superhuman"
publishedAt: "2025-06-19"
summary: ""
---

<Image
  src="/blog/gmail-superhuman.png"
  alt="Superhuman-like setup in Gmail"
  width={1200}
  height={800}
/>

I’m a big fan of [Superhuman](https://superhuman.com/). They just created an email client so good that I wanna use it even though I don't really need it. And it almost kinda feels guilty to say this, but Gmail just works for me.

Gmail only works for me though, because I set it up a lot like Superhuman.

My whole setup is based on the idea that email is the [center of notifications](https://julian.digital/2020/01/17/superhuman-the-productivity-meta-layer/). And the thing that makes that work is Superhuman’s Split Inbox feature.

To recreate that in Gmail, follow these steps:

**Activate Gmail Shortcuts**: Go to Gmail Settings > General, scroll to ["Keyboard shortcuts"](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6594) and enable them.
    
**Enable the Preview Pane**: Go to Gmail Settings > Advanced and enable ["Preview Pane"](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/9499937). This lets you scan through emails quickly like in Superhuman.
    

Once those are on, you can move through emails with the arrow keys and process them using shortcuts like:

- **X** = select
- **Enter** = read
- **R** = reply
- **C** = compose
- **CMD + Enter** = send
- **Z** = undo

But the most useful shortcut is **Y**. Why’s that?

> In Gmail, when you select a message and press the shortcut Y, it performs the action of removing the selected email from its current view. Specifically, this means:
> 
> - If you're in your Inbox, pressing **Y** will archive the email, moving it to the "All Mail" folder.
> - If you're in the Trash, it will move the email back to the Inbox.
> - If you're viewing a label, it will remove the label from the selected email while keeping it in your Inbox or "All Mail" folder.

So just like you can press **Y** in the main Inbox to archive an email, you can also press **Y** when you’re inside a label view to remove that label. Since those emails are already archived, pressing **Y** just removes them from that label view—they stay in All Mail.

To really make use of that, you can [**create filters**](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579). That way, incoming emails get labeled automatically and skip the inbox. So each filter should do two things:

- **Skip the inbox** (so the email is archived)
- **Apply a label** (so it shows up in the right label view)

This setup lets you process emails by context. I use labels like Newsletters, Events, Social, Ops to split my inbox into different lists based on context. You go into a label, go through the emails, press **Y** when done, and move on. That’s how I get to [inbox zero](https://fortelabs.com/blog/one-touch-to-inbox-zero/).

If you wanna mimic the Split Inbox feature even more, you can use the [Gmail Tabs](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/gmail-tabs-by-cloudhq/ckoglchhifaedlfjhnoaebnloipiepjg) extension to turn labels into tabs. And of course, there are more ways to make Gmail more Superhuman-like.

I feel like the day will come when I make the switch to Superhuman. But for now, this setup works for me. 

On a similar note, I wrote about [email](https://www.nklswbr.com/blog/email-as-everything) as building block of everything.