Inbox Management
An email inbox can be one of the most enormous and disorganized things a person confronts on a daily basis. Anyone (not just the busiest cubicle-dweller or the teenager with three hundred Facebook friends) can be at a loss as to how to approach an inbox that has gotten out of hand. If you find yourself spending more time wading through a swamp of emails than actually replying to important messages or writing your own then it's definitely time to get organized. These tips should get you started:
Don't be a slave. Resist the urge to check your email more than a couple of times a day. Try to set aside specific blocks of time for dealing with new email and stick to it. This will help you to avoid getting distracted and trapped in your inbox rather than pursuing worthier goals... like life.
Take Action. When you do log in be proactive. Don't simply passively read your email and then leave it to fossilize like a hunk of dinosaur flesh from the Mesozoic. If it necessitates a response then respond. Failure to reply when needed only adds to the influx of more email as your sender grows impatient.
Let your email system make some decisions for you. Configure your email account to automatically route emails from certain sources to particular folders. This can save you a step and will also reserve your inbox space for items that require a quicker reply.
Use folders, but don't go overboard. As folders have become the standard way to file and find emails don't be afraid to use them. Important senders ought to have their own folders. Certain subjects or projects might also call for their own folders. Avoid the temptation to create a "Miscellaneous" folder for all that stuff that just doesn't seem to fit, but that also seems to important to delete. If it's truly important it belongs in its own folder; otherwise simply delete it. On the other hand, all this folder-making can be taken to extremes. Be careful not to make so many that you have now added another vast layer that must be sorted through in addition to all the emails.
Periodic housekeeping helps. Once every month or couple of months set aside a time to take a quick glance at your overall email situation. Delete or allow your computer to archive the older data that you do not access regularly. If you haven't had to go hunting for a specific email or open a specific folder in a few weeks then chances are that it can safely be purged or archived onto your hard disk.
Save attachments don't store them. Whether it's files from your boss or dorky pictures from your family and friends try not to let these bulky attachments sit in your inbox or folders. Although some webmail services have huge amounts of storage space as part of their free accounts you ought to either save these attachments to your computer where you would normally keep other items of the same type. Why make yourself look in two places for the same thing?
Keep sensitive data secure. With all this organizing it might be easy to let certain things remain in your email account that really don't belong there. Whether it's an email with a pin your credit card company just sent you, some medical information, or anything else personal that you'd rather keep private keep in mind that your email is not the safest place to store these things. If your email account is compromised or for whatever reason becomes inaccessible you may lose these emails permanently or find out that someone else has stolen them. So if you receive an email containing something that is for your eyes only remember to save it to your computer and delete it form your email.
Take steps to prevent spam. We all have had to deal with the annoyance of unwanted emails. To keep your inbox as spam-free as possible there are a few key things that you can do. First, use an email provider with a good spam filter. Most will allow you to set the level of vigilance that is right for you. Next, when some spam does slip through flag it as such rather than just deleting it. This will prevent more garbage of a similar nature from finding its way to you. Last, try not to reply to spam, even out of frustration, as this will only confirm to the spammer that there is someone active at your address who will be around to receive even more junk.
Manage your subscriptions. Many emails that appear to be junk mail are actually advertisements or newsletters from organizations or businesses with which you have recently interacted. If you find that you are no longer interested in their products or news most will have a link in the email that you can click on to unsubscribe. This should help stem the flow of useless emails to your inbox.