For those of us with cluttered desktops, cars, and homes, these eyesores are nothing compared to the horrors of opening the email inbox. Whether looking for spam fighters, specific tips, or just help in general, visit the 100 sites below to get that inbox clean.

General Tools

Stop by these websites to separate the unread from the unwanted and the critical from the dangerous by using the tools and applications below.

1. Ella: More than just spam filter software, Ella keeps important email in your inbox, moves your electronic newsletters into their own folder, and stops spam. Users have reported success rates approaching 100%, including people who get hundreds of messages each day.

2. SpeedFilter: If you have over 100 messages in your inbox and all outgoing mail is directed to the Sent folder, then this is the software for you. With SpeedFilter you can quickly file received messages, store outgoing messages, and organize your inbox in no time.

3. Flow Ruler: This application allows you to automatically organize your inbox and eliminate spam. Other features help administrate contacts, manage appointments, and assign tasks.

4. Inbox Organizer: This download allows you to quickly and easily manage the wealth of information contained in your e-mail inbox. Features include adding or removing subscribers from a mailing list, working with various accounts, and more.

5. ClearContext Inbox Manager: This free product helps Outlook users manage email more efficiently. Inbox Manager utilizes patent-pending algorithms to automatically highlight a user’s most important email, without any configuration or training.

6. Mail Manager: This Outlook plug-in helps you treat email with the same care as paper documents. You can reduce the size of your inbox, keep email in the same folders as other documents, and more.

7. Thunderbird 2: With new features and upgrades, the email manager has many tools for organizing your inbox. Tag messages, use improved search methods, and more with this free download for Windows.

8. WebMailNotifier: This add-on checks your webmail accounts and notifies the number of unread emails. It is compatible with hotmail, yahoo, google, and more.

9. GTDInbox: Transform gmail into a powerhouse of productivity and manageability with this Firefox add-on. Get organized in no time with features like improved speed, turning email into tasks, and more.

10. YouSendIt: If you have trouble sending mail out because of an unclean inbox, this online sending application is for you. Features include the ability to send up to 2GB in files and folders, the ability to receive files, and tracking of all who have downloaded your files.

11. dragdropupload: This Firefox Add-on allows you to drop files into attachment boxes instead of browse for them. Drop multiple files, and in gmail it is possible to drop the files directly over the “Attach a file” link.

12. Pocket Outlook: Specifically designed for pocket PC users, organizing mails is no longer a cumbersome experience. Now with just one installation of Pocket Outlook software you will be able to organize your mails at your convenience.

13. Midnight Inbox: Collect emails, files, calendar, to-do items, and notes automatically with this application. Process all of your collected items into to-do items you can do when you are able and organize those items into projects you can track easily.

14. Auto-Mate: This is a program for those who would like their Outlook Inbox to be empty every morning. Auto-Mate is a personal assistant that automatically files and deletes your mail.

15. GCalQuickTab: If you have both gmail and Google Calendar and would like to organize them, check out this application. By making it easy to switch between the two in your browser, this download will make inbox organization is a snap.

16. Universal Inbox: This application gives you control over how you store your digital assets. It doesn’t matter if it’s a file, an email, a contact, a twitter message or RSS feed, you can store them all in the same folder structure.

17. Gmail Checker: This light-weight Firefox extension allows users to check for new emails without having to sign in. Intended for those with gmail and Google Apps.

18. NutshellMail: Consolidate all your social networks and multiple email accounts through the inbox you use the most with this free tool. NutshellMail also keeps you connected by sending email alerts of new activity on a schedule you choose.

19. Gmail Manager: The original gmail notifier for multiple accounts, this application allows you to manage various email accounts and receive new mail notifications. Display your account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets.

20. Zenbe: Do more with your email without changing accounts using this web application. Organize your email accounts, make lists, and view multiple pages at once with Zenbe Personal.

21. Gmail Notifier: This application alerts you when you have new gmail messages by displaying an icon. It shows you their subjects, senders and snippets, all without your having to open a web browser. However, it is not compatible with the Google Toolbar.

22. Beagle: This search tool ransacks your personal information space to find whatever you are looking for. You can use beagle to find emails and attachments, as well as index them and much more.

23. Folders4Gmail: If you miss the old way of sorting through your gmail, this application is for you. It will organize your labels in a folder like manner, ideal for subcategorizing. You also need Greasemonkey to run this application.

24. Gmail Skins: If the appearance of your inbox is a problem, change it using this add-on. It contains skins and other appearance features for your gmail account.

25. Xobni: Xobni is the Outlook plug-in that helps you organize your flooded inbox. By displaying details about senders, users can stay ahead of their messages before opening or deleting them.

26. Better Gmail 2: With this useful add-on you can combine useful extra features to gmail, such as hierarchical labels, macros, file attachment icons, and more. By having all of these options in one place, you are sure to get your inbox organized.

27. MimiMail: Spend lots of time on social networking sites and are too busy to constantly switch windows? Minimail allows you to compose and send emails in seconds without the need for a bulky mail client.

28. Inbox.com: This free email service allows you to send and receive attachments up to 20MB, easily organize your messages, and quickly find archived messages. You can also view full conversations, compose and read messages when you’re not online, get POP3 and SMTP access, and much more.

Applications For Organization

With a cluttered inbox, comes a cluttered lifestyle. Use these tools and applications to organize even better and get rid of post-its, calendars, stacks of papers, and of course: email clutter.

29. Gmail Todo: With this application you can use your gmail account as a holder for your to do list. Easy, free, and perfect for those who spend lots of time in their inbox.

30. iubo: Sort out your digital clutter with this application and search it from anywhere, share it with friends and family, and organize your life. Create your own personal search engine for all your digital clutter within moments of signing up.

31. Gspace: Turn the 2GB of your gmail account into free online storage. With Gspace you can manage unlimited gmail accounts to store your favorite music, view pictures and manage your Gdrive files as well.

32. Manage My Ideas: This is a web application for keeping track of your ideas. You can keep your ideas to yourself, or share them with other people.

33. Wridea: This is a web service to avoid ideas being forgotten, to organize them, and then improve them. There is also the opportunity to share your ideas with friends and necessary tools to improve your them.

34. l8r: With this application, you can email anyone in the future, even yourself. Write birthday cards in advance, send yourself reminders, or much more with l8r.

35. Braincast: This application provides you with a free, easy to use, internet and phone based recording. This reminder organization system is compatible with any U.S. based cellular or regular telephone network.

36. iPheed: Ideal for this those with an iPhone, this application was designed to help make organization easier. Just store your emails, tasks, lists, etc. privately online and access it using your iPhone.

37. Futureme: Type in the email address, subject, text, and date you wish to send, and this application will do the rest. Perfect for those who remember at the wrong time.

38. Trackslife : For those who have a hard time remembering to keep track of the progress in their diet, budget, inbox, etc. This database keeps notes of money, tasks, and even lets you send yourself reminders.

39. YourOrganiser: This personal online assistant offers personal and group organizers, a diary, calendar, address book, and more.

41. Helipad: For those who constantly need reminders, this application lets you write notes online with an accessible web interface. It offers tags for organization, and you can always search your documents or share with friends.

42. Delegate To Remember The Milk: This tool for Firefox allows use to add a task option to your gmail account. Perfect for those who lose track of time while reading emails.

43. Viapoint: This application is intended for those needing help with business organization. Viapoint makes it easy for users to store emails by client or project.

44. Netvibes: Use this free web service to create a custom page with email, blogs, news, weather, videos, photos, social networks, and much more. It is automatically updated every time you visit.

For Mac

Users of OS X, a MacBook, or any MacIntosh product can use the below to help organize their inbox and more.

45. MailTags: Use this download’s convenient side panel to add tags, keywords, project, or priority notes to your inbox messages. Contextual menus allow you to tag several messages at the same time.

46. gotMailG: gMG is a widget which uses the gmail atomfeed to determine the number of unread messages in a users account. This information is then displayed using a simple and clear interface designed to use minimal space.

47. gDisk: Intended for those with a gmail account and a Mac, this software turns your account into a portable hard drive. With gDisk, you can always have your important files accessible across the internet.

48. gCount: This menu bar will alert you to email updated to your gmail account. Different alerts for known and unknown messages as well as other features make this application worth a look.

49. gFeeder: A small ticker tape application allows you to see the contents of your gmail. With just a glance at your OS X desktop, you can view your inbox.

50. Gmailer: This application is ideal for those who need to back up their email messages. With one click, you can backup any file to your gmail account.

51. getmail: This is a mail retriever designed to allow you to get your mail from one or more mail accounts to your local machine for reading with a minimum of fuss. It is designed to be secure, flexible, reliable, and easy-to-use.

52. Gavamail: This application is intended to be a POP3/IMAP server implementation for gmail accounts. Still in development, it allows you to access gmail through a POP3 account.

53. GMail Drive: This extension creates a virtual filesystem around your gmail account. It allows you to use gmail as a storage space for all your important files.

54. Mark Lyon’s GML: Currently being updated, Gmail Loader can be used with Windows or Linux. It aids you in loading your other email accounts into your gmail.

55. Gmail Filesystem: Use GMFS to provide a mountable Linux file system which uses your gmail account as its storage medium. For those in need of a virtual drive, visit this site.

56. MacOS X HTTP Mail Plugin: This program was designed specifically for Mac users with a hotmail account. A simple download adds the ability to fetch mail stored on a Hotmail server.

57. K9: Working in conjunction with POP3, K9 automatically classifies incoming emails as spam or non-spam. The program’s analysis can result in extremely high accuracy over time and eliminates the need for maintaining rules or constant updates.

Spam Busters

One of the biggest obstacles to inbox cleanliness, spam is a constant source of frustration for all. If you are willing to pay, or looking for something free, the below applications are worth a look.

58. Mailwasher: With over 8 million users, it’s easy to see why this is one of the leading spam filter softwares. Working with Outlook, Outlook Express, and every other email program, Mailwasher allows easy deleting, viewing, and has a horde of anti spam tools.

59. OnlyMyEmail: Because the spam filtering runs on their servers it works with any hardware or software combination. Hailed by “PC Magazine,” OnlyMyEmail works for entire networks, personal accounts, or those who want a safe email solution for children.

60. CA Anti-Spam: This software works immediately upon installation without any configuration or training. As you work with Outlook or Outlook Express you’ll hardly notice CA Anti-Spam as it protects your inbox from email threats and spam.

61. SpamAssasin: A free spam filter, this runs on virtually all platforms. Features include a wide spectrum to identify spam, flexibility, and easy configuration.

62. Mail Security Enterprise Edition: From Symantec, this software delivers antispam, antivirus, and content filtering protection for the SMTP gateway, Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino servers in a single bundled offering. Intended for business users, this application will keep you safe on all fronts.

63. IronPort: An all-in-one appliance, The IronPort® C150™ is an accurate, affordable, and easy to use tool for email security. Intended for small to medium businesses, it features virus defense, policy enforcement, and email authentication.

64. Barracuda Spam Firewall: An external hardware component, this is the answer for complete protection of your email server. It provides a powerful, easy-to-use and affordable solution to eliminating spam and viruses from your computer.

65. eXpurgate: This is a free service from spamfence. Requiring two different email accounts, this is an easy to use and effective tool to fight spam and viruses.

66. POPFile: This free spam blocker works with any computer system. Popfile is a favorite among the technologically inclined who like the way they can customize it.

67. SpamSieve: This application gives you back your inbox by bringing powerful Bayesian spam filtering to Mac e-mail clients. Quick and easy to control, SpamSieve can be customized to how it interacts with the rest of your message sorting rules.

68. Cloudmark Desktop: For use with Outlook, Outlook Express, and Thunderbird, this spam fighter is easy to use. Free for the first 15 days, Cloudmark protects from spam, phishing, viruses, and more.

69. Spamato: This is an extensible spam filter system, available as an add-on for Outlook, an extension for Thunderbird and Mozilla Mail, and a stand-alone proxy component. Free of charge, Spamato keeps your mail secure.

70. Clam AntiVirus: Designed for UNIX, this is an open source (GPL) anti-virus toolkit, intended especially for e-mail scanning on mail gateways. It provides a number of utilities including a flexible and scalable multi-threaded daemon, a command line scanner, and advanced tool for automatic database updates.

71. Inbox100: This tool keeps your inbox 100% clear of spam from the moment it is installed. It works by allowing only e-mails from your approved list, address book, and sent items folder on installation.

72. Ninja Email Security: With a 30 day free trial, this software contains antivirus, malware protection and antispam software for the Microsoft Exchange Server. With this product, you can stop spam, viruses, faulty attachments, and more.

73. Easy Email Spam Filter: This is an easy to use email spam filter utility that will stop spam from entering your Outlook or Outlook Express inboxes. For $14.95 this application runs unobtrusively while being minimized in the system tray.

74. SpamBayes: This application works with several different platforms and email accounts to block spam. Also of interest is the option to try the stable or test release versions.

75. SpamPal: This is a mail classification program that can help separate your spam from the mail you really want to read. It is free and compatible with Windows, POP, Outlook, or Eudora.

76. Spamexperts Desktop: Compatible with Outlook, Thunderbird, WinMail, and more, this software is available for a price or for free. There is also a chart to compare the two versions so users can decipher which is right for them.

Blogs And Articles

If your inbox is full and you still don’t know what to do about it, read these blogs, stories, and tips from those who had the exact same problem.

77. 43Folders Series: Merlin Mann runs this website to help others find the time and attention to do their best work. Read this comprehensive list of helpful articles by people who want to, or are achieving, inbox zero.

78. Unclutter: This blog is about getting and staying organized. Unclutter features tips, organization strategies, product reviews, reader questions, and more.

79. Lifehacker: A useful site with tips and downloads for getting things done. Read software reviews, view recommendations, and more on this site devoted to getting you organized.

80. Trying To Organize Email?: The Monster Blog posts an article to help those dealing with email clutter by following some easy steps. There are also links to related articles.

81. Zen Habits: Leo is from Guam and blogs on achieving goals, productivity, being organized, GTD, and more. Be sure to read the beginner’s guide when visiting this site.

82. SolveYourProbelm: This site is a vast source of self improvement tips. With a special section for technology, learn the five best ways to organize your inbox and more.

83. 4 Ways To Take Control Of Your Inbox: From the people at Microsoft, learn effective ways to manage your email. Broken into four categories, you will discover how to set up a system, schedule time, process items, and use the “Four D’s.”

84. How To Go From 100 Emails To 20: Tia Ribary is a business consultant and shows you how to navigate your inbox. This article provides a great deal of strategies to help you manage your inbox easily.

85. David.R.Gilson: David is a physicist and mathematician who blogs on science and technology. Most noteworthy are his posts on how to be an email ninja.

86. How To Achieve Inbox Zero: Girlrobot is a daily mix of randomness, but in this post, she shares about her inbox nightmare. Learn how she navigated the over 1,300 messages by reading this informative post.

87. How To Organize Your Inbox: Christina Greenway takes you through the basics of inbox organization. She writes about dealing with messages as they come in, subfolders, and more.

Beyond Inbox Organization

These sites are devoted to those whose computers are as cluttered as their inboxes. Learn how to take your organization to the next level with these tools.

88. Arrowmail: Constantly receiving junkmail every time you send an email? Use Arrowmail to anonymously send mail to anyone, without paying a fee or even signing up.

89. Synchronize: An ideal way to synchronize your gmail and Outlook accounts without having to switch back and forth. Just follow the simple instructions and you are ready to go.

90. Email Icon Generator: Display your email on a website as a graphic without spam bots reading it. Works for gmail, hotmail, MSN, yahoo, AOL, and more.

91. the Enkoder: Posting your email address on a website is a sure-fire way to get an inbox full of spam. The Enkoder helps protect email addresses by converting them into encrypted JavaScript code, hiding them from email-harvesting robots while revealing them to real people

92. Email Address Enconder: This page will allow you to encode your e-mail address through the use of character entities. Simply enter your regular e-mail address in the first text box, click the encode button, and then highlight and copy the resulting code produced in the second text box to keep spammers from getting your email.

93. Pageonce: A personal productivity assistant, this application is compatible with the iPhone or Blackberry. You can access your accounts from thousands of providers, view them password free in a single application, and get alerts before they reach your inbox.

94. Gmail Music: This application allows you to store mp3 files in your gmail account and play back on your desktop using a web-based GUI. Ideal for those who want to save space on their hardrive.

95. Shoeboxed: Offering a free trial, this application organizes your receipts, bookkeeping, expense reports, and business cards for easy contact management. Step away from your scanner and mail your receipts and business cards to Shoeboxed and they will do the rest.

96. OutTwit: If you have Outlook, this application will allow you to use Twitter at the same time. Twit any of your friends from your email and avoid cluttering your Sent folder.

97. Google Toolbar BETA: With this toolbar you can access your email accounts in a snap. Also useful are the gadgets, accessibility to the toolbar from any computer, and suggestions instead of error pages for broken links.

98. DivShare: Take the hassle out of sending huge attachments by using this online storage service. Share videos, photos, documents, and more, or simply email them using this site.

99. Gmail S/MIME: With this extension, you can send and receive signed and encrypted S/MIME messages in gmail. This is for those looking for the most private emails, including attachments.

100. Gmail RTL: For those writing in Hebrew or Arabic, this application allows you to change directions. With a right-to-left button, you can send emails correctly in any language.

With new emails coming faster than you can read them, inboxes can be a source of despair. But with these 100 websites, a cluttered email account can soon become a thing of the past.