Help - how to manage emails

[1winterblues]

I am not very organised, and over the years I have managed to progress and now manage my team, but my emails are my biggest weakness.

I can't seem to get on top of them ever, have about 2000 unread in my inbox

Every filing system I set up goes out the window in a couple of days. I'm constantly worried I have missed something at work. I work in an email heavy culture and often get about 100 emails a day.

Please share with me your hints and tips to get an organised inbox
TIA

I wouldn't bother to deal with any of those 2,000 that are more than a week old . They will chase you if they need a response.

I would file all 2,000 away in an unread file if you need to refer to them later.

I would set up a very simple filing system based around topics/ projects relevant to your work. No more than 5-6.
Then corporate ones for HR, finance, team management. Again as relevant. And that is it.

Too many and you will have a system too complicated to use and you'll never find anything. Group stuff under topics and use search and sort to find them.

Then you need 10 mins every day to go through your filing. Block it out and do it. Every time you respond to one- file it. End of week filing.

If you read and can't follow up immediately either a. Make it unread again or b. Flag it red. I also often drop an email into my calendar and use that as a prompt.

I over see a big, busy team. I have about 15 emails in my inbox right now.

Check them 3 times a day, stick a flag on them if they need action, take it off when done.

I don’t personally delete - you will never win and it’s busy work, I don’t file either - the search function works fine.

You might have a work w whoever makes decisions about email culture..

A WORD with.,

I feel you! My pet hate is being copied into email trails / replies. What really helped me is to sort your inbox by subject twice a day or so, and just keep the most recent one.

If things are superrrrr bad, perhaps think about adding an auto-response to your emails stating if you are CC'd into an email it'll be automatically filed. Being CC'd into crap is my biggest pet peeve!!!

Good luck! X

I agree with @DirtyDancing just file the ones you've not read. And definitely set some to auto delete or file. We used to get a daily reminder about locking the building and closing the windows. I set a rule for it to auto delete. I knew the building would be closing up at five. I didn't need an email to tell me that every day.

I went on a time management course which suggested two methods for dealing with emails:

1. Batch processing. Put aside 15 mins twice a day to review your inbox. Don't look at it in between these times.

1. Set up a rule that sends any email you're cc'ed into to a separate inbox and auto responds to say that as you are cc'ed in you assume there is no action for you and you will review these once a week.

On outlook you can thread the conversation so that you get a row you can expand with all the previous emails underneath - that way if you get lots of replies on an email trail it’s all neat and you can see the latest one / delete the rest easily

Have a simple folder structure you can move read emails straight into (or set up rules if they’re not things you need to read right away)

4 Ds is the best for me - do it (straight away), delegate it, delete it, diarise it (if needs some time to work on - paste it into a meeting invite in your diary and schedule the time to action it)

I file very few emails. Things like user notices for our main database fair enough. Things that are personal to me like notice of approved annual leave. Everything else is either deleted or filed under "actioned". I don't browse for anything, I use the search functionality then it doesn't matter where it is stored. In my old job I had a rule in place that if I was in "cc" it went in a separate file and they only got read about twice a week. If you want my input, address me directly. Block out an hour a day, no meetings, to work on clearing it down to a more manageable level, and block out a regular amount of time to do all the little actions that inevitably crop up. I used to put Action Hours in my diary and use the time to do all the "when you have a moment" requests that crop up in email. Items for the action hour get colour coded or put in a folder called Action Hour. Clear out the folder as you do the action.

I don’t like inboxes and I am not sure they are great for the modern business. I hate people who copy in a whole list of people and those who mark everything as urgent.
For a team a central resource a ticket system such as Zendesk is a good solution
For quick questions with colleagues Teams or Slack or similar
If it’s a discussion have a short meeting
Documents you need to circulate or comment on, share in OneDrive or Google Drive or a PDF for comment.
I read emails in blocks and try to only read them once, I use the delete key if it’s not relevant. If I need to action I try to do it then and there, if I can’t flag and use categories so I know why it’s still there. If I may need the email to refer back to I archive by client.

Sort by title. Mark all read. Move all but the most recent to whichever file is appropriate.

If you really are cc'd into tons, write some functions. I have a load which mark read and move to folder "xyz". Typically Reports, Admin, Meetings, IT etc.. To be really brutal, have one function which runs every 15 minutes or so to mark read and file anything which you are cc or bcc only i.e. not in the To.. box.

As pp have said, clearly flag those which need actions, put date and time for follow ups and mark complete when it is.

Replying with "great work everyone - please take me out of this chain unless you need my input"

I have never filed an email in 15 years. I read and either respond or flag it for later if I can't deal with it then for whatever reason. If it's a thread, I skim read the most recent and then just mark them all as read.

@draramallama

Embracing my ruthless side. If it doesn't need action from me it gets deleted or filed as soon as I've looked at it.

The only ones I leave in my inbox are the ones that need me to do something. If they're urgent or have a specific deadline I set a flag. Once they're dealt with I file them.

Having set times to just focus on emails rather than dipping in and out every time one pops up is more effective too.

This is exactly how I work too!

What features does your system have? I use tasks feature to keep track of the ones I need to action and then I immediately file everything. So the inbox is kept empty but the actions are in a list.

It's a constant battle though!

1. Setaside time for emails.
2. Set up filters for stuff that comes regularly. For me thats newsletters, bookings, mails from recruitment, jobagents etc. I can see there is something in the folder and I look when it is convienient for me.
3. View by conversation rather than individual messages.

Create rules so you never miss an email from your boss.

Same for emails from your direct reports.

Unsubscribe from all third party emails.

Leave the rest in the inbox. Don't waste time moving emails between folders.

This made me feel more relaxed about my inbox:

'Still filing your emails? Science says it's a waste of time

Inbox slobs who just leave messages where they land are 10% more productive'

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/11/still-filing-your-emails-science-says-its-a-waste-of-time

I don't think I am 10% more productive, tbf, but it's nothing to do with my inbox.

I think the only folders you really need are:
"Done/for info" for anything completed, or that doesn't need action but that you might need to look at again - spam/automated rubbish can just be deleted but everything else should go in here. You can have sub-folders in it for different projects/topics if you like that sort of thing
"Waiting" for anything that isn't complete but is "parked", or where you're waiting for someone else. This can be an email from someone else saying "let's revisit this next month" (in which case you stick a reminder on it to pop back up next month) or an email request you've sent someone - bcc yourself and put your copy in this folder so you don't forget to chase it up

I just have those two, and I use my inbox as my "action/to do" folder. I am always trying to get to inbox zero but am satisfied with being able to see the whole inbox on one screen with white space at the bottom, rather than having to scroll up and down in it!

+1 for using conversation view, and if you use Gmail there are some other great features too - I use Snooze a lot.

support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-conversation-clean-up-to-delete-redundant-messages-70179d54-fa57-48ce-95fd-416d72e5ccd4
Try this above for deleting unnecessary emails, as you said you have multiple emails in a chain
As for the emails you're cc'd in, set a rule that they go to a separate folder and don't clog your main Inbox - support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/manage-email-messages-by-using-rules-c24f5dea-9465-4df4-ad17-a50704d66c59
Hope these help!!

@winter12345

Do people really delete work emails?! I keep everything 😬

Yes, I can't see any need to delete any of it. Just archive en masse, and get it out of sight where it can be dredged up by a search if necessary. Deciding what to archive and what to delete just seems to create an unnecessary tier of decision making.

With rules Siphon off all emails that you are only a cc on into a separate folder. Agree with yourself an amount of time per day-30mins or per week-3 hours that you will review this folder.
If you are only cc it doesnt need the same priority as a direct mail or priority task.
It you miss one people will mail directly or call to bring the matter to your attention.

Just highlight and delete any emails older than a month without a thought as to what they say. It’s probably irrelevant now. If it’s important you’ll get a reminder sent.

Then go through everything you have left in your inbox more carefully. Delete anything you don’t need. Flag anything you need to respond to or action. Anything you want to keep for future reference put in a folder called important stuff or something.

Then keep on top of it as it comes in:
Delete stuff you don’t need right away.
Flag things you need to action or respond to.
File away anything important you might need to refer to.

Ruthlessness is the key. Nothing gets to sit in my inbox for more than a few hours. I go through it first thing, lunch time and at the end of the day. Other than that I work in other communication channels such as slack, which are far better for team comms.

I agree with pp, take everything in your in box up until say, Monday this week, and shove it in a folder. You can find it later if you need it.

Then, deal with what you have left.

Go through what you have and set up some auto filters based on the contents.

Meeting invites can be auto filtered, depending on how you work. I have my calendar open all day because I rely on it, so i see meeting invites appear directly in there. As a result, all my meeting invite emails are automatically filed. I go through my calendar a couple of times a day and accept/ decline appointments.

I get email notifications for stuff for which I also get notifications for elsewhere, such as on our helpdesk system, where they show up on my dashboard. They get auto filed too.

My personal stuff, annual leave approvals etc, all get auto filed and then deleted. It's all on our hr online record so keeping it is a duplication.

Junk mail gets blocked, unsubscribed and deleted, automatically where possible, if not I do it manually.

Any client questions get forwarded to a central help desk. I do that as soon as I see the email, then file it under done.

Anything for action that I can't do there and then, I add as a task to my calendar, and then I get reminded to deal with it, with a link to the email.

Anything where I'm in it because I'm copied in for info, gets read and filed.

Anything irrelevant to me gets binned.

I get maybe 3-4 emails a day which genuinely need action, and probably a hundred to two hundred plus a day which can be completely ignored.

Sort them by title.
If it's about the state of the staffroom or birthday drinks delete.
Set up folders for
*Anything personnel related.

• Anything relating to work processes *Client interactions

Then see what you have left.
Can you delete them?