Dealing with your inbox backlog is a nasty ordeal, Just thinking of my inbox sometimes makes my temples throb…. but, using these 5 quick tips can help you de-stress your inbox.
Disable New Mail Alert
Turn off your new mail desktop alert. I used to think this was a super-cool and necessary feature of Outlook until I discovered that EVERY time I was alerted to a new email, I would stop what I was doing to attend to it. Constant interruptions break your train of thought and give you a built in ‘excuse’ to wonder off to other tasks instead of attending to more important issues.
To disable new mail desktop alert go to Tools | Options | Preferences tab | Emails Options | Advance Email Options | uncheck the option ‘Display a new mail desktop alert’ under the ‘When new items arrive in my inbox’ section.
Use Sub-folders
The quickest way to empty your inbox is to move email that you have already handled to sub-folders in your inbox. To create sub-folders, just right-click your inbox and select ‘New Folder’. You can create sub-folders for sub-folders.
Think strategically about your folder structure; think about the way you work first and organize tasks. For example; I have a sub-folder for ‘Customers’ and a folder for each customer under that folder.
Many people use mailbox rules to automatically move email from the inbox into the proper sub-folders and then rely on the unread email indicator to help them ‘find’ items that need attention. I would strongly suggest against this as it causes a lot of extra ‘hunting’. Just let your inbound email appear in your inbox, process it, then move copies to the proper sub-folders for proper organization and to decluter your inbox.
Follow-ups
Often times your email people on items that may need followup. The easiest way to do this is to flog your email for followups on a future date and let Outlook tell you when to followup.
To flag an email for followup that is in your inbox/sent items folder; just right-click the email and select Follow Up. A sub-menu will appear where you can select the proper follow up date. You can also flag an email for follow up as you are composing it by selecting the ‘Follow Up’ button at the top and selecting a date.
To view the list of followup items, select View | To-Do Bar | Normal. Your follow-ups will appear arranged by due date.
To ‘clear’ a follow-up, just right click the email (or follow-up in your To-Do Bar) and select Follow-Up | Clear Flag.
Finding Related Emails
Oftentimes I am working multiple tasks/priorities at once. When responding to an email I often spend time hunting for emails that are related to a particular recipient or topic.
The quickest way to find related emails is to right-click an email and select Find All | Related Messages. This function searches the subject lines of all emails for phrases matching the subject line of the email you were viewing.
Finding Emails from a Sender
Even the best filing system trips up under certain circumstances and you need to hunt down all emails from a particular individual (even if they are sorted into different folders).
To do this, right-click an email and select Find All | Messages from Sender.
Good Networking!
Eric Hobbs
Technology Associates
ehobbs@technologyassociates.net
919-459-0109 – Direct
