How Do You Organize Your Inbox?

from JoeUser Forums
Chances are your inbox looks as mine does, cluttered and unorganized.  Whether you use a mail client such as Outlook or Thunderbird, the problems of organizing your inbox are basically the same for someone who gets a decent amount of e-mail.  I am using Outlook 2007 which gets the overall job done, but I have so much incoming mail that I need to now get a system going to sort it all out.

Outlook has a great set of customizable rules, some of which I use already.  I think my next step is creating specific folders for specific mail to go to.  I guess folders such as newsletters, news releases, community, etc. would be helpful in sending specific e-mails to the proper places.

So my question to the community is how do you keep your inbox organized?


58,654 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I have a folder for each category of mail, such as WC mail, personal mail, receipts, info, and folders for some of the groups I'm in etc. Then I have Outlook (2002) move mail automatically using rules. Works fine   

btw, when you set up a rule you can have Outlook move existing mail too - so no need to go through everything   

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I really like using virtual search folders

Organization is key.  Large catagories to smaller.
CursorFX - Customize your Windows cursor
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ever heard of having inbox folders? I have 2 imap accounts and 6 pop accounts and use the inbox folders to read a subject line. Thus my inbox is sorted to the proper subjects and my junk mail is very well sorted for it takes a closer look at the full header in the subject line.
It's really nice with Outlook 2007 and I hear now it is also available with the new windows live mail beta. One draw back to all of this is confusing the server settings for an imap account. Be careful what you use for some accounts such as aol does not support the inbox folders.

SGT
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I sort a lot of my email by who it is from.  I have roughly a dozen folders with people's names attached that I frequently receive mail from.  I use Outlook rules to filter messages to these folders automatically.

I also do some sorting based on topic.  For example, the GUI Champs gets its own folder and set of filtering rules.

Then, because I still have so much email left over after all the filtering and sorting, every month I take emails from 2 months ago and place them in a new folder.  I separate this by year and month so I have an archive folder for 2006 with subfolders for July - December, and now one for 2007 with subfolders up to August.

Starting next year, 2006 will be moved out to a backup pst on a network drive.  I'll cycle out annual email batches like that every year so I keep the current year and previous year on-hand.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Zoomba..efficient as usual.

No idea what a rule is but I do use the heck out of Outlook. Good litmus test for a useable skin too.






Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Good litmus test for a useable skin too
Tease
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Manual sorting here...in theory less chance of overlooking an email...
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
I manually sort things, with rules for things I don't need to look at - for example, automatic response emails for things I do often are sorted to a folder and marked as read. Everything else is manually sorted by case.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
On my home account I use 4 folders.....Inbox, delete, Registrations, and Saved (archived makes 5 but I don't count it)

For my business I use drag & drop........I have a folder for every project on the server which has several sub-folders, one of which is correspondence. Correspondence has sub-folders under Client, Agencies, Sub-Consultants & E-Permits. Everyone in the office is required to copy any email related to that project to that folder. All paper correspondence is similarly sorted in the "physical" Project Folder(s)

I also have a couple folders in Outlook for private stuff.....Administrative, Saved, Receipts, Registrations.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Organize my email? I have 2 basic categories for email- junk, and everything else.......
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My Inbox itself is empty, I move everything into the Read folder I've created (Outlook 2003). Then I've used the Organize tool to color-code mail from specific people. That's about it.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It's really nice with Outlook 2007 and I hear now it is also available with the new windows live mail beta. One draw back to all of this is confusing the server settings for an imap account. Be careful what you use for some accounts such as aol does not support the inbox folders.


I've started to use the new Windows Live Mail (it's just come out of beta) and they have something called Outlook Connector (Click Here for Link) which means that when you set-up your email account in Outlook it gives you a new method and basically syncs everything without you having to do anything. Very easy.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I started with a simple category tree (Work,RnR,Software,Hardware) in 1989, and I've never got around to changing it. It just... you know... grew. So now I've got around 220 sub-sub-sub folders and I keep meaning to reorganise, but...
I use Thunderbird to help manage some of the stuff for me - old forum announcements, mailing lists, that kind of thing - but then I find that I've suddenly got 3,249 astronomy messages that I haven't read.
Rules are cool, but they tend to follow the "principle of most surprise", even in Outlook (which I used for 9 years until I found TB works on X64).
So I don't "organise" as much as "weed" and "stash".
I tend to think of email much like a squirrel thinks of nuts - good for winter, but winter never arrives.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I usually push the in box close to the edge of the desk so when someone walks by they hit it and knock it on the floor. Best why to get someone to sort it for you. What, that's not what you folks are talking about?  
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
Rules and Multiple Folders.  I like the idea of moving older mail to another PST (From Zoomba), and will do it soon.  My problem is not sorting, but size!  Still have that 2gb limit on PST files. (once I go 64 bit, that should change, right????)
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Interesting how everyone does this. 

Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i want to make my outlook automatic
when ever i reply, it should mark that email as replied automatically

any one has any idea of how can i do so?
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
btw, when you set up a rule you can have Outlook move existing mail too - so no need to go through everything


The *only* real rules I have setup RE: Outlook are for the tower alerts (everytime a tower goes down or comes back up, however briefly, I get an email. This can amount to literally hundreds of emails per day) and for the software that we sell. I need to get more organized, but for now, the rules work nicely in those two categories.
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
How Do You Organize Your Inbox?


I don't.