How to Best Organize Your Inbox

Most of us get hundreds of emails per day.  It is very easy for messages to get lost in the shuffle.  How can you stay on top of so much information without being overwhelmed, missing important deadlines, or losing key details?  It is actually very simple.  It just requires a technique to organize the information so that what you need is where you can easily find it when you need it.

 

Clean Your Inbox

First of all, you must commit to only keep items that require action in your inbox.  For those of you that have 15,000 old emails in your inbox, this can sound like the last thing on Earth you want to do.  Hear me out. 

 

Start with taking all of those old emails and putting them into a folder called “Pre-2013” for example.  Move EVERYTHING into that folder.  There you go.  You’ve got a clean inbox. 

 

Sort Incoming Emails for Efficiency

Now, for all future incoming emails, read through them quickly and determine what action you need to take.  Take the action immediately to reduce the amount of time you spend on each email:

1.      If no action is needed, read through it and then move it to an appropriate folder.  Make your folders applicable to categories of work you often perform so that you can easily find any information when you need it, such as: Best Practices, Clients, Financial, Insurance, Meetings and Scheduling, Projects, etc.  By using appropriate folders you will be able to find a message if you ever need it without it clogging up your inbox and diluting your attention.

 

2.      If action is needed, keep it in your inbox.  You will now be staring at it until it drives you crazy and you take action.

 

3.      If follow up is needed, put it in a “_Tickler” folder and flag it with an appropriate follow up date (right click, follow up, add reminder). 

 

Pending Folders vs. Archive Folders:

By using an underscore (_) at the beginning of a folder name, you indicate that the folder is pending and requires further action.  This allows it to show up higher on the list of folders so that you actually see it and don’t forget about it.  Folders without the underscore are regular archive folders that only need to be looked at if you are searching for something to reference it. 

 

Set a recurring appointment on your Outlook calendar once per month to go through this follow up folder for a half hour or so and make sure you haven’t let anything slip too long.  During that appointment also file away any emails that are completed and no longer need to remain as pending. 

 

*Tip: It is a great tactic to move your own sent items that you want to follow up on and make sure they don’t get lost in the shuffle into this tickler folder as well.  Simply drag them from your sent folder to the tickler folder.

 

4.      Projects: If you get a lot of emails per day for a certain project, create a folder for pending items for that specific project.  That way those emails aren’t bogging down your inbox and are ready for your review when you are focused to work on it.  For example, I get hundreds of resumes in my inbox per week.  Upon receipt, or first thing in the morning, I move them all to “_Recruiting to do” – a pending folder I keep in my inbox.  I also move all correspondence from managers or coordinators in there so that the hour or two I spend on that project per day, I can focus on all the new activity at once with full concentration.  When I am done with something from that folder, I move it to a regular archive folder “Resumes and Recruiting”.   You can also set up recurring appointments, as needed, to remind yourself to catch up on those folders, if needed.

 

Keep It In Control

Learn your comfortable limit of action items in your inbox.  Mine is 30 on a good day, 60 on a busy day.  I’ve been to 100 and that was the most I could handle before I pulled a Saturday to catch up on the backlog. 

 

It is ideal to touch things only once if possible.  If you can process something in a minute or two, do it quickly and be free from that task in your life.  If not, put it in the appropriate place and deal with it when it is best for you.

 

With this system, I am almost always aware of things that need action and I can usually find things that have been archived.  I also have an impeccable follow up system so I don’t lose track of things nearly as much. 

 

Other Helpful Tricks

1.      Templates.  Do you send some emails repeatedly now and again?  I do. I have a “_Templates” folder that includes things such as directions how to get to my office or responses I have for candidates so that I can go and just forward the template rather than searching and/or recreating it.  Every moment saved adds up!

2.      Employees.  If you have employees you manage, you can create a folder for their assignments that you don’t want to forget to follow up on.  For example, “_Sarah to do” reminds me of all the things I have asked Sarah to do that I don’t want to forget about.  I drag the sent item into that pending folder.  Prior to our weekly meetings, I go in and see if there is anything in there I want to follow up on.

3.      Reference.  For those great emails you compose that you will want to refer to someday, or for those amazing emails you get from me that you may want to refer to someday, keep them in a “Reference” folder. These should typically be informational emails that you will want to find again at some point.

4.      Posts.  Try using posts to leave yourself quick little notes where you will see them.  Use the same type of organizing rules for them as you do with regular emails.  They are a great way of taking quick notes that won’t get lost.

Posts look like a little yellow sticky note with a pin in them. 

They act like a regular email message but can be edited.

5.      Too Much Space.  Do you get the warnings each week that your inbox is too full?  I do.  I have developed a work around with the wonderful guidance of Sandor.  All of the folders I create, except for the “_Tickler” folder are created in the Archive area of my inbox folders.  That way they do not require space from my inbox and are stored directly on my computer.  One bummer of this method is that whatever folders are stored directly as an archive are not viewable on the online access of Outlook.  I do not use the “_Tickler” folder in the archive section because that would disable the follow up flags from working, so I keep that one up in the true inbox folder. 

 

The Big Picture

The whole concept is that your inbox should be a tool that empowers you to be unstoppable.  It should not be a huge maintenance project that requires extra time for you.  Of course this system works best with a great calendaring system… perhaps I will share insights on that soon as well. J  Enjoy!

 

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me at Danielle.crume@vmbc.com.

by Danielle Crume © 2012