Email Management – Tips & Tricks
Emails are an essential communication tool as they are convenient and fast. Management of incoming and outgoing emails is important for an effective workflow – however sometimes when we are inundated with emails, it can feel overwhelming to manage emails appropriately. The below strategies allow for higher productivity and will assist you to limit distractions.
Strategies to assist in your email management:
Have a ‘To-Do’ folder and a ‘Follow Up’ folder to manage your incoming emails – the goal is to have zero emails in your general ‘Inbox’ folder by the end of your working day. When a new email comes in, try to move it to the appropriate folder depending on whether you need to action it today or need to follow it up. At the end of the day, there should generally be nothing in your ‘Inbox’ folder or your ‘To-Do’ folder.
Take action and file immediately. Making decisions and pursuing immediate action will help keep your inbox under control. The idea is to file an incoming email into your ‘To-Do’ folder means you need to action it today, or to your ‘Follow Up’ folder is it is something you need to follow up and re-visit at a later time. Anything else that does not fit into these two folders (emails that don’t require a response or action) should be filed in other folders appropriately – set up as many folders you need to stay organised! If there is content in an email you would like to come back to later, it is a good idea to file it in the appropriate folder but mark it as un-read so it will prompt you to go back into the folder at your leisure.
Do not let emails sit in your ‘Inbox’ / ‘To-Do’ / ‘Follow Up’ folder for days. If you have responded or taken action regarding that email, file it away.
Organise your inbox with folders and subfolders. Correspondence between colleagues, clients, and team members can help clarify any miscommunications so it’s always a good idea to file these emails in relevant folders/subfolders.
Schedule time in your calendar to review and handle the emails in your To-Do folder and Follow Up folder.
Keep your drafts folder to the absolute minimum. Anything in your ‘drafts’ should be sent within 24 hours or deleted.
Tip - Create new folders by right clicking on your email address, not ‘Inbox’. This is so the folders will be created under the email account, there shouldn’t be any sub folders under your ‘Inbox’.
Tip - You can drag an email down to the task list icon and it will automatically create a task for you. You can set this up as a reminder to get an alert to reply/action by a specific time and date.
Tip - Change your emails to work in ‘conversation view’ – this will group all emails together that are meant to be together. For example, you will be able to refer to the entire email correspondence within conversation view.
Tip - Quick Parts. You can use Quick Parts to save a commonly used body of text which will save time! No need to keep typing the same thing over and over again or find an old response to copy and paste (Highlight the text you want to save > Insert > Quick Parts > Save Selection > Name the template > New email > Inset > Quick Parts > Use the template you just saved).
Tip - Use the 1 minute rule when replying. If it takes within 1 minute to action and reply, reply to it immediately and then file it away in the relevant folder.
Tip - Rules & filters. Set up rules so emails automatically go into the appropriate folder. For example, set up a rule that all Xero emails automatically go into a Xero folder so you can read these later (as they are usually not urgent).
Tip - Downtime/Free Time. Use this time to your advantage, it’s a perfect time to go back and sort through your To Do & Follow Up folders, or come back to any emails you would like re-read
How will all of this help me with email management?
It keeps your inbox clear, allowing you to achieve an inbox with zero emails and avoid getting overwhelmed by a cluttered inbox. New emails that come in at a steady stream don't get mixed up with existing emails you've already read, pushing all the important emails down;
Your emails will be better organised. You have a set place to go for emails that need your attention (‘To-Do’ and ‘Follow Up’ folders). There are as many folders as you need to stay on top of your workload, but no more than you need;
It allows you to manage your time better throughout the day, focusing on important tasks instead of getting distracted by constant email questions and requests.
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