business
HOW TO STAY ORGANIZED WITH YOUR EMAILS by Grace Wong
It’s that dreaded feeling of turning on your phone or logging into your computer and seeing the inevitable: a full inbox. Emails from colleagues who need answers now, supervisors who need answers yesterday, assorted ads, spam and your friend’s photos from her trip to Las Vegas (well, pre‐ pandemic, in any event). What can you with this onslaught of incoming email so that it’s not overwhelming? Try these steps to get your inbox organized and keep it that way. 1) Organizing as a daily task. Make organizing your inbox a part of your routine, like lunch, a coffee break or a daily report to your boss. It’s something you schedule into your day, not something you squeeze in at the last minute. This can be accomplished by: a. Start by purging anything you no longer need. Delete anything that’s not relevant anymore (as long as you’re sure you won’t need it later). And hit “report spam” on any spam.
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b. Archive emails you’re not ready to delete just yet. If you’re finished with an email but you’re not sure if you’ll need it later, hit “archive” or move it to an archive folder specifically for that purpose. Chances are pretty good you won’t need it later, but it’ll save you a ton of time searching for stuff if you do. c. Delete newsletters and other “for free reading” emails if they’ve been sitting in your inbox for more than a week. It’s tempting to hold on to these because the topic interests you, but odds are if you haven’t read it within seven days, you likely won’t. d. Unsubscribe from promotional emails you don’t need or want anymore. Only subscribe to emails you truly want to see in your inbox everyday. If you’re deleting without reading, maybe it’s time to change your subscription preferences. And if you’ve subscribed to get a 10% off coupon, get the coupon, then unsubscribe. e. If you need to forward an email to someone, do it
