5 Steps to Organizing Your Email Messages
The majority of individuals have a love-hate relationship with their inboxes. Yet, emails may be thrilling. It’s a good option if you're working on a client, substituting a meeting with an email thread, or receiving an invitation to a fun social function.
Despite the benefits, emails may be overwhelming, especially if you lose control. And it's so simple to lose control. After all, emails are one of the most common ways we contact people, from best friends to those we've never met.
Most of us are constantly flooded with new emails every day or by the hour. It's distressing, especially when you think about missing out on the essential items among the torrent of less relevant stuff.
Not all things are black and white, but work when it's time to work and play when the time to play. Don't waste time dealing with low-priority emails when you have an urgent one. Instead, accept that you will never complete everything and prioritize your emails.
Besides, when it comes to email, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. That's because each person has their unique style and approach. But if you're looking for a few steps that can help you organize your inbox, here are some tips:
1. Set a schedule
Nobody likes being interrupted when working on a tough assignment. Incoming email alerts and notifications may rapidly become irritating. That's why many people switch them off and disregard new emails.
That's a good idea, but don't overlook those unopened emails for too long since they might pile up and become overwhelming. So, to set up a schedule, you'll need to know your best time for checking email.
Unfortunately, this isn't something that you can easily determine. Most people who send or receive emails regularly don't know what time of day works best for them. So, it will take some trial and error before the perfect schedule becomes clear.
At work, check your work emails. After work, check your emails (or on breaks). Inform your relatives and friends that they must use text messages if they want rapid replies. This way, you can avoid missing important messages.
Moreover, check your bulk email account when searching for something to read at night or on your commute. Your concentration is your most valuable asset. So don't allow anything to get ahead of your peak production hours.
There are only two ways: either set aside specific times (for example, Monday through Friday, 8 AM-10 AM) or just do whatever comes naturally. It’s not easy, but you can work something out to suit you.
If what comes naturally doesn't work for you, try setting aside specific times. But keep in mind that these might not work either! After all, everyone has their unique workflow, which means different things work well for different people at different times throughout each week.
The main thing here is consistency. If your productivity depends on being consistent with certain tasks, then ensuring those tasks get done consistently will keep everything running smoothly over time.
Remember that having several email accounts is pointless if notifications appear on your desktop, browser, and phone. Spend some time taming these temptations. Try a little searching into your settings and preferences may generate a lot of mental peace.
2. Use labels and folders
Even if your inbox is endless, remove as many email messages as possible. When you have fewer emails in your inbox, it is easier to discover a specific message if you need it. But what about all the emails in your inbox that you can't delete?
Learn how to arrange your mail using folders and labels. Then, apply these tags to an email message through the mail system. Many email applications feature folders, similar to drawers, in which you store emails to save them from cluttering your inbox.
You may make many folders and assign each to a different type of email, such as job emails, emails from family and friends, or social media notifications. Your inbox is the main folder that contains all of your inbox emails.
Labels vary from folders in that they function similarly to post-it notes in Gmail. However, when you apply labels to inbox emails, the emails do not move. As a result, a single message might have many labels yet only appear in one folder.
You may categorize your messages and organize your email by category after you know how to create folders in Gmail. For example, I have a " work " label and another “personal” in my inbox. So all work-related emails go into one inbox while all personal ones go into another.
You can create folders for different projects or tasks you're working on at any time if you need to keep track of multiple projects simultaneously. It will save you time and energy navigating between tasks and projects.
For example, if someone asked me if they could take over their neighbor's yard work job after he got sick—I'd put all his clients in one folder. It makes it easy to find the folder later without searching through every single project file again!
3. Create multiple emails
There are several fantastic free email services available these days. Therefore there's no point in using a single email address for both professional and personal emails. Having many accounts makes organizing email messages easier.
Consider using disposable email accounts. A disposable email provides protection when signing up for services or filling out online membership forms to access additional material. Ensure you are not using a throwaway email account for anything critical.
Create one email for each project. This is your “to-do” list and should be easy to find. Make sure you use a calendar (such as Google Calendar). You can also use project management software (like Todoist). It allows you to track when something needs to be done.
Three email accounts will be sufficient for the majority of us. (Don't waste time and effort creating dozens of email accounts and subfolders.)
At all costs, keep this account free of distractions. Don't tell your friends or family about it. Do not use this account to subscribe to career-related newsletters or mass emails (use your social account instead).
When you open your business email account, you should only see emails directed directly to you. So keep this one short, tight, and focused on your top priorities. No unnecessary personal subscriptions.
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Give your closest family members and friends access to a separate account. When you're in the zone and working quickly, you don't want to be sidetracked by family conflict or future social activities.
Give your children's schools/caretakers this email address for updates and notifications. They have your contact information for emergencies, right? So why should they not have an email address?
Create a bulk account for anything else to protect your existing accounts from "read-but-don't-respond" stuff. This may include personal subscriptions to mailing lists on different products or services.
Send this address to career/parenting experts, ebook downloads, newsletters, subscriptions, etc. Also, ensure that any alerts from social networking sites are sent to this email (or just turn them off).
4. Rule them all
This one is the simplest for some and the most difficult for others. Hopefully, you haven't subscribed to any email lists using your work or personal email accounts. Instead, transfer them to your social/bulk account if you have them (or just delete them).
Don't skip over the uninteresting things when seeking anything to read in your social/bulk email. Instead, take them out of your life. Then, take a few moments to unsubscribe and return to living your life.
If a content source fails to keep your attention and make you want to read their posts, simply unsubscribe. However, Unsubscribing may also be time-consuming, so remember that prevention is better than cure. Don't subscribe until you are certain you want it in your inbox.
If you keep track of things like event calendars, blog subscriptions, discounts, and promotions, keep in mind that you can always Google them. To unsubscribe, empty your email, and clear your thoughts.
Besides, when it comes to inbox email messages, one thing is certain: fresh ones keep arriving. So while you won't be able to halt all incoming messages, you may use rules to help. You only need to use them wisely.
Rules allow you to identify emails by sender, recipient, or subject line and automatically store them in the appropriate folder, label them, or delete them. Moreover, email rules, often known as filters, are supported by many major email providers out of the box.
While each service conducts this work differently, knowing how to filter emails in your Yahoo, Outlook or Gmail account will help you save time managing your inbox. So, you don’t have to worry if you are using a different email service from everyone.
If you're looking to organize your email, here are some of the best ways to do it:
5. Use stars and flags
Use stars to mark important messages. These are the ones you want to read first and respond to immediately or ask a question about later in the day. So as you go about your day, no important message will go unread.
Flags, on the other hand, can be used to indicate urgent messages. These are the ones that need your attention right now and should be dealt with as soon as possible. So, you will reply to any urgent message on time.
An example is an email from a client who needs help with something they don't understand or an issue with their website that needs immediate attention. If you have time after dealing with these urgent matters, return later in order not to leave them hanging around too long!
Besides, you may star and flag emails in some email applications. Consider using this feature as often as possible since it helps you visually differentiate emails you wish to look at later. Each email application has a different way of starring messages.
You need to follow these steps to star a message in Gmail:
And to mark a message in Outlook.com, do the following:
Moreover, some email applications allow users to configure numerous stars and flags to identify communications depending on certain criteria. For example, you can flag or star messages according to low, medium, or high urgency.
Don't overdo it with starring or flagging signals. When most of your messages are tagged or have numerous stars, it might be difficult to discern which messages are significant. The excess of flags and stars is merely one of the email organization blunders to avoid.
Conclusion
Before responding to an urgent communication, flag it and move on, an even more important message awaits you on the following page. Quickly scan message headlines and sort your emails into a few basic categories (today, tomorrow, during the week, etc.).
So many bulk email organizers make it simple to keep your inbox email messages arranged like a pro. Deleting, transferring, or archiving hundreds of thousands of emails takes seconds.
However, there is no harm in looking for a professional to handle your emails if you are packed with lots of emails and don’t know where to start. Digital Estate Media has all the right services and professionals to help you.