Inbox Zero - the promised utopia of all things digital. Email apps are the ones we love to hate and hate to love. A service that causes stress for some and makes others even more chaotic. You know who you are… Email is supposed to help your life and work, right? Not make it harder to do your day-to-day tasks. It's a tool to work for you. And like most tools, if you don't use it properly, you may be wasting a lot of time or energy (like this guy). How many of you have ever said this to yourself, "I just spent all morning going through emails that I know I've already looked at" ? :: raises hand ::
This post isn't meant to make you think I can show you how to keep from receiving emails - although there is a trick for a lot of unwanted emails. However, this is a practice I've been using for the past few years and it makes working in my inboxes manageable. The common saying about cleaning your house - a little bit everyday - definitely applies here. To keep your inbox manageable, you need a schedule of "cleaning out." A once a year spring cleaning will not work here. Another reason being on a schedule is helpful is it will make it habit. While many of these tips are a one-and-done tip, you must spend at least a little time filtering and practicing these tips.
Here's 5 tips I hope will help you reach and keep Inbox Zero.
1) Move all current emails into a new folder called .OldInbox
While the name of the folder can be anything, a period at the front of the name puts it at the top of the list of all folders. I do understand this is a "cheat" to get to 0 quickly, but tips 3-5 help knock it down over time - when you make time to come back to it. This is the elephant, one bite at a time.
An easy way to do this, is simply to click on an email in your inbox, and on your keyboard, press "CTRL-A" to highlight all emails. Then simply use the mouse to drag them into the folder you made.
2) Use your inbox as a “working table”
Once all of your emails are out of your inbox, you can leave new emails in your inbox until you’re “finished” with it and filter accordingly based on the below tips. Some of which can be combined. By only keeping emails that you need to take action on in the inbox, this works as a to-do list. This can also be accomplished by marking emails as unread as your inbox count rises, or flagging them (email client dependent).
3) Create rules and filters for anything and everything
One of the first rules to create requires first making a folder (as many others do) called "Newsletters." After the folder has been created, create a rule (or filter) that moves any incoming email with the word "Unsubscribe" in the body of the email to that folder. If you find that this is too general, you can have multiple rules or a modified version that can also include other examples of text in an email body: "This email was sent to" or "Manage preferences". While this is just one example, there's a few that feed off of this same principle.
Depending on what types of emails you receive on a normal basis, you can create a rule for a specific sender (think Weather or News updates), a specific coworker with a certain subject line (if someone sends a weekly email about pay, etc), or a certain project title regardless of the sender. You can be pretty specific and creative here. Filters for the Newsletters can be created by sender, too - if you don't want a blanket filter. And here's the great part, once you create a filter, it's set. You never have to create the same one again. If you do receive emails from newletters you no longer wish, you can simply unsubscribe through the email, then setup a rule to even automatically delete incoming emails with a given email address.
In Outlook, Settings > View All Outlook Settings
4) Create folders (or categories) for everything
Similar to rules and filters, all email services offer the ability to sort mail into folders or categories. I'm not here to change any workflow you may have setup (if you already use one or the other), but these can be used to stay organized and easily find an email you're looking for. If you use categories, I still suggest moving all emails out of your working inbox into at least one other folder. If you use folders, consider nesting folders inside of other folders and drill down as specific as you'd like. Arguably, you wouldn't want a folder for just one email as that kind of defeats the purpose, but there's no limit to how many folders you can have.
5) Use search!
The search box is probably one of the most robust tools in your email client.
This feature tied in with rules and filters from the third tip can also be used on the ".OldInbox" folder created earlier to quickly sort those emails. Examples include searching for all emails from a certain sender, by certain topic, etc. Once you have search results populated, the CTRL-A keyboard shortcut can let you move them into the appropriate folder. Alternatively, you could just as easily delete them should you wish.
Bonus Tips for Microsoft Office 365 (Outlook) Users
6) Turn On or Off "Conversation Rule"
This can be useful as email chains grow to help keep all emails regarding the same topic stay together. You may love it, you may hate it, but I suggest at least trying it if you never have. A great feature of option is it keeps "reply all" responses on the same chain and keeps your inbox count down drastically as more and more people respond to the same email. It can however, be a little tricky on mobile and allow some emails to get lost in the shuffle. Your mileage may vary.
For more information, see:
https://support.office.com/en-US/Article/View-email-messages-by-conversation-0eeec76c-f59b-4834-98e6-05cfdfa9fb07
7) Modify incoming mail
The desktop client (not the webmail version) of Microsoft Outlook (and some other email clients) allow other rules to be put into effect allowing a very tailored experience. For example, a rule can be set to highlight incoming emails if you’re the only recipient in the "To" box. This means that any email with you as the CC recipient or one of many recipients will not stand out compared to those addressed only to you. You can also make the email subject bold, show up in a different color font, a different size font, etc. This can also be done for specific contacts, subjects, etc. These rules allow a quick glance in your inbox to see what types of emails await action and allow you to spend your time more efficiently.
For more information, see:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Automatically-change-incoming-message-colors-and-fonts-based-on-sender-subject-or-recipients-4EFBF993-FB00-4F2C-9A3F-78E64E4455EC