Reduce Email In-Box Clutter

Using Your "Rules Wizard" Feature

Microsoft Outlook, a popular email software program used by many companies, contains many time-saving functions, once you know how to use them. (Though you may not be using Outlook, your program may still have similar functionalities.)

Using your Rules Wizard feature (under Tools) to filter and sort incoming mail is like having your own personal assistant opening your paper mail. The verbal instructions you might give to an assistant are similar to the rules you can create using the Rules Wizard. You might want to create rules to:

  • auto-file mail from specific senders to folders you have created
  • auto-file mail with specific keywords to folders you have created
  • notify you when an important message arrives
  • flag messages from anyone you designate
  • assign categories
  • move messages you send
  • and more!

Becoming familiar with how each of these rules works will help you to reach the time management goal of "handling each item only once". Or, if your rule automatically deletes certain items, never handling it at all!

Tip: Try to keep no more than 20 to 30 emails in your in-box. Any more than this wastes your time reviewing them and remembering why they are there in the first place!

Try this: Find a 30-minute block of time. Spend those 30 minutes familiarizing yourself with the rules feature of your email software program. Make sure you understand the function of the various rules and decide which ones will be most beneficial to you.

Important Note: ALWAYS test your rules to make sure they work according to your design. If a rule is set-up improperly, you might select out important emails unintentionally.

Useful Resource: Check out "Abby's Top 10 Strategies for Slaying the Email Dragon" eBook.

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This tip may be reprinted when the following byline is included:

Abby Marks Beale is founder of The Corporate Educator, a professional speaking and training company specializing in helping with busy people work smarter, faster and just plain better. Go to www.TheCorporateEducator.com.

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Rev It Up Reading is a subsidiary of The Corporate Educator. Since 1988, we have been teaching faster, more effective reading to busy professionals, educators and students in a wide variety of corporations, associations and schools. We offer speaking services, on-site and online training programs, teleclasses, books and audio recordings about how to manage any reading workload and how to read better and faster. ALL of our training is practical and immediately useful to your life and work.