Do you recognize the program window above? You can probably guess based on the title of the page you’re reading, but yes, that is Mac OS X Mail. You’ll immediately notice a couple of things.

First, there is no email. This is due to aggressive and as immediate as possible processing on my part — emails need to either be archived, generate replies and then archived, or generate todo items then archived. Or deleted if no archive is required.

Next, the sidebar is missing. (In previous versions, it would be a drawer instead.) If I do need to access the sidebar folders, Command-Shift-M will show and hide it again. I use a single Archive folder. (See Filing Away for how this is possible.) With that in mind, using the keyboard shortcut Command-Option-T will move selected email to the Archive magically, once you’ve done it once. Navigating between the major boxes (if necessary) is done with the Command-1 through Command-6 shortcuts. By the way, I do have four different inboxes for four different POP and IMAP accounts, but it is set up to display them all at once.

Lastly, the top menubar icons is missing — this comes from having learned the big shortcuts — Command-R to Reply, Command-Shift-F to Forward, Command-Shift-R to Reply-All, etc. Hitting Return with a message highlighted in the Inbox will open a message window, in which all of these commands, as well as the Delete button and Archive shortcut above work, too. So I rarely have to move my hands to the mouse.

When you have a message window up, hide the toolbar and size the window down as small as you like. The size and preference of different kind of emails are kept track separately (Read Message window, Reply window, Forward window, New Message window), so you’ll just need to do it once for each.

One other mouse hold-up is if you are composing a new message (or reply or forward) and wish to switch what account you are using to send it. What I’ve done is to go to the Keyboard & Mouse System Preference, to the Keyboard Shortcuts tab, and turn Full Keyboard Access to “All Controls.” This allows me to tab to the popup menus I need.

What does this achieve? Well, it’s less obtrusive, and for my purposes this footprint helps me with the mental buffer around my “real” work that I’m trying to keep. Mail will always be a distraction, but if I make these changes, combined with turning off crazy notifications, popups, and blinkenlights, the flow of work is much less interrupted. In a GTD context, I am also able to put things in their proper bins much more easily. It is also all about Reducing Friction.

Not all email clients will have the ability to minimize this much, but the principles are the same — hide things away as much as possible. You’ll instinctively know when it’s time to see if you have new email — and I bet it isn’t every last minute of the day.