Rob Ballou

Email Tips #1, #2, #3, and #4

1. Delete "thank you" and "finished!" messages. Seriously. Unless you have an action tied to that message (like emailing a client, marking off a task, etc.) you don't need the message any more. And you won't need it next month when you're trying to find that message with some important information.
2. Keep only a month at close hand. If you are using IMAP and you are archiving your email, you probably only need to keep a month's worth of email on the server. The rest can be archived on a primary machine (your work machine if it is a work account, home if it is at home). This makes browsing these folders faster. Make sure to also cleanup your sent message folder too! (This could be problematic if you are on the road a lot, but maybe think of creating a GMail account which just archives all of your messages for those times that you need them all and you don't have your primary machine).
3. Use search rather than folders. GMail made this famous, but you don't need to segment all of your emails into individual client folders (especially if folks are emailing you with client "codes" or nicknames in the subject!). I usually need to find an email based on the subject or the sender and sometimes I need to search the entire message, but only rarely.
4. Delete your own messages using a filter. If you have one or more group email aliases that you use and your email address is on these lists, create a filter which deletes your messages to that group. You don't need to read the email you just sent, do you?

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