How to Manage Your Inbox
Your email inbox is likely one of your primary connections to the world but, if it goes unattended for just one day, it can quickly become overwhelming. Missing emails can mean overlooking important details or missing out on opportunities. Luckily, there are a number of tricks that can help prevent your inbox from becoming untamable. Here are three of them:
- Set up foldersSetting up folders, tags or labels in your inbox allows your email client to categorize emails automatically. You can typically set filters according to email address, so emails from your Aunt Hilda will go into their own folder and won’t clutter your inbox.This helps you decide which emails need to be read immediately and which ones can be left until later. This convenient feature is available in most email clients and services.
- Enable conversation viewConversation (or “threaded”) view is available in most email clients and it does a great job of making your inbox seem more manageable. Instead of seeing dozens of individual emails about a single topic, they will all be grouped together, taking up much less space in your inbox.Also, when you use this feature, you will address all emails in a conversation whenever you address one. There is no longer a need to go through and archive each individual email – delete one, and you’re done.
- If it will take less than 5 minutes to address, deal with it right away Many emails take lots of time and energy to really tackle. For those emails that don’t require much time, it is typically best to deal with it right away. Putting it off will only make it seem bigger than it is and create more stress than is necessary. As you address these emails right away more often they will become easier to deal with.
These are just a few simple tactics that can help make your inbox more manageable. There are many more tricks that are just as easy and can make a big difference in your everyday email habits.
For more tricks and tips, check out this Business Insider article.
