March 31, 2008 at 9:28AM
I recently switched applications for my personal email, and have since been on a filtering rampage to improve the quality of the stuff that makes it to my inbox. My motivation was a change in email tools, but after just a couple weeks of creating filters (taking a grand total of 15 minutes over that time), my inbox is much better than before. Now’s your chance to do the same thing. I’m going to talk first about Gmail and then about Outlook–the principles are the same, and the result is a lot of saved time and easier focus.
The Problem: Email that doesn’t require action
When you get lots of email, it can be daunting to make it through it all. But you don’t need to act on a lot of that email, or at least not right now. Much of that email just clutters your inbox, distracts your attention, and takes time from your day. I’m not referring to spam–that’s a whole different topic (best solved through server-based solutions like Gmail, Postini, or MX Logic). I’m referring to newsletters, shipment notifications, friend requests, event invitations–anything that you might want to look at, but that you most likely can wait a few days for. Read on for how to keep this from your inbox…
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