Emails will invariably pile up if you've used the same address for years and haven't been diligent about removing yourself from mailing lists. It's all too easy to get into a situation in which you get more emails you don't care about than those you do. Luckily, the three classic productivity tricks below still work great today and can help you keep track of the messages that actually matter.

1. Add Dots to Your Email Address

With Gmail, adding periods or dots inside an email address doesn't affect it. For example, if you have the address johnsmith@gmail.com, and someone sends a message to john.smith@gmail.com or j.o.h.n.smith@gmail.com, it will reach you all the same. You can use this fact to your advantage.

For example, you might tell your friends and family to send emails to the 'johnsmith' address, and you might tell business associates to send emails to the 'john.smith' address. Then, you can create a filter in Gmail to separate the two automatically when they arrive.

You have to set up filters if you want messages sent to one address to skip the inbox and go directly to another folder.

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Set up a filter with these steps:

1. From the cog icon in the upper right side of Gmail's dashboard, click See All Settings.
2. Select Filters and Blocked Addresses from the top bar.
3. Select Create a New Filter (it's at the bottom of your Filters list).
4. In the To field, enter the Gmail address with the periods.
5. Choose Create Filter.
6. On the next screen, select where you want the incoming messages to be directed. If you want incoming messages for that address to go directly into a designated folder, select two options: 1. Skip the Inbox, and 2. Apply the Label (choose the label you want or create a new one). You must apply both filters, or else the new mail will still end up in your inbox.
7. Hit Create Filter to save your changes.
8. Finally, if you've already received messages to this alias, you might want to add the option "Also apply filter to X matching conversations." Doing so sweeps all the relevant mail to the new folder right away.

2. Filter Automated Messages With Plus Sign Aliases

The second trick is nearly the same as the first, but here, you use a plus sign and words before the @ symbol to make aliases. All these aliases work without you having to set up anything special in your settings:

• johnsmith+news@gmail.com
• johnsmith+shopping@gmail.com
• johnsmith+listserv@gmail.com
• johnsmith+emailmarketing@gmail.com

This is a great strategy to use when you sign up for a new web account or app. If you make an account on, say, J.Crew's website, you can use the address johnsmith+jcrew@gmail.com as your login name. Once you create a filter for this address, as in the above step, Gmail automatically directs all J.Crew emails to a dedicated folder.

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You can simply change your email address on existing accounts to add a plus sign alias. So, for example, you can easily filter all shopping-related emails into a single folder. 

3. Customize Your Inbox With One Click

The last tip is to customize what goes into your inbox without creating a bunch of folders and filters, which is easy for just about anyone.

(Credit: Google/PCMag)

Click the cog icon in the upper right side of your Gmail dashboard, and scroll down to the ‘Inbox Type’ section. A few options for customizing your inbox are available here:

• Default
• Important first
• Unread first
• Starred first
• Priority Inbox (combines aspects of Important, Unread, and Starred to try and put the most meaningful messages in front of you first)
• Multiple Inboxes

When you apply one of the options (other than default), Gmail reserves the top of the inbox for the message type you chose. You can fine-tune exactly how these options work by clicking on the ‘Customize’ button below them. It's possible to adjust your Inbox unread count settings, change which tabs appear in your email, and more.

Do What Works for You

These Gmail features are particularly useful if you want to better manage your inbox without creating new email addresses. It is perfectly acceptable to simply create more email addresses and use them for different purposes, too. It's more important to do what works for you than to follow some prescribed "right way." As long as you choose a method that you can stick with, it'll help you maintain some semblance of sanity with regard to your inbox.

Jill Duffy contributed to this article.