10 ways to get a grip on your e-mail

I save v.few emails. Mostly cut & paste what I need then transfer it to a Word/Excel/Ppoint doc (as appropriate) with a f/note when & where it came from, just in case). Also, in Subject: I put
“from Larraine, re xyz”. Many hv commented that it helps them prioritize.

Annie

I read your article on signs you are going to get fired. I had a very very bad experience last year. I was a senior executive for a company and some of the signs that I saw were:

- The company was sold and as soon as it was they brought in a consultant to “help”

- I went from being the company hero to being the goat when business got tight and all of sudden everything that was wrong with the company was may fault.

This was completely in line with people who had held my job before. When things got tough my boss needed some one to blame to save their position and as history proved, it was the person in my position

- Finally when a a staff member of mine quit over me not promoting them, I was bad mouthed at the exit meeting. They then built case against me by twisting things that I said to make it easy to fire me.

A month later my boss was fired, but I still had to get a lawyer to get them to pay me my back compensation.

On top of all this when they were recruting me 2 years previous they never told me the company was up for sale!

I am back on my feet now, but it certainly was a learning experience.

I had a job a few years ago that actually made me physically sick. I developed stomach problems, cornial ulcers and other physical ailments. I worked at a bank that allowed racial, sexual and age discrimination. It was blatent and the top brass would not address it. I eventually left to keep my sanity. I saw them repeatedly fire older employees as they approached retirement. By them being fired at the right moment they would not be fully vested in their pensions. One little old lady actually took a major paycut and was reduced to part time status just to get away from my manager. Shortly after I left there were several lawsuits filed by coworkers. To date each one of those lawsuites were won. It’s very sad to know that major corporations still allow such blatant disregard for the law and common decency.

The use of folders is key, but it will only work if you use your folders correctly - so many people just cannot logically divide their inbox! If you are unsure of the most efficient method for your job ask your colleagues, one of them is bound to have figured it out. Inboxes with 9000+ emails are not going to be efficient!

This article completely misses one key point. Like the memos of yesteryear, email is also used to cover one’s behind in highly political situations. In fact, I have no choice but to use a secret tracking device to PROVE that someone received the mail and where they forwarded it too. I look forward to more email controls where backstabbing and forwarding can be avoided in the no one can print or forward your email without your permission. I use software today that prevents that. Email makes communication easy. It also is useful to protect yourself from the demons of the corporate world who would use every opportunity against you to crush you. Caveat Sender is the new Et Tu Brutus.

I utilize RULES so only saved contacts are sorted into Folders. When I want to work on a particular subject,I open that folder. I do a lot of Consumer Surveys at home and this cuts down on Spammers that have stolen my email off another post.

Mr. Berg from Sebring, FL discusses Annie’s contention that “thank you” e-mails are unnecessary. I find it ironic that he mentions the “growing class-less-ness” of our world and goes on to call Annie “crass” and “self-absorbed” based on a single comment she makes. Classless indeed.

To his point, though, thank you messages can be important and valuable, but not via e-mail. If a person’s thoughts truly have value, typing out eight letters and hitting “send” doesn’t convey it. All a reply “thank you” does is clog up someone’s inbox. If you really want to convey appreciation, either hand write them a note or get out of your chair and thank them in person.

Most people only scratch the surface of Outlook features. Here are the ones I find helpful:

- use “Organize…” to color code your incoming emails (you can then ignore emails where you’re not on the “To” line and quickly review to those where you are the ONLY one on the “To” line)

- there is actually a way to organize your email by thread, which will sort the threads in reverse chrono order based on the latest email in the thread. It takes a bit of digging, but check under “views” and “arrange by conversation”… Unfortunately, I now find it impossible to go back to reading, old school, reverse chrono-only order such as on my BlackBerry

- don’t organize into folders - keep it all in your Inbox (I’ve literally got 9000+ emails from the past 3 months in my Inbox)

- use Google Search Outlook plug-in

- use auto-archive feature to automatically trim your now monster-sized Inbox every 2-3 months

- use “Search” folders to provide you with a sub-view of your email that you need to see often - e.g., from a specific person, within a date range, etc. Saves you from having to always use the ‘Advanced Find’ feature to look for emails from your boss that you haven’t read…

- enjoy junk mail - it’s the easiest email you’ll have to deal with all day

So who wants to help me with the 10,000 unread emails in my In box? Everybody thinks their message is too important for me to delete, yet they know I don’t have time to review my email. If you’ve sent me an important email, you better leave a voicemail telling me the date, time, and subject if you want me to find it. Or just stop sending me email.

Tell your friends not to send you every sappy e-mail on the planet. Don’t reply or forward them. Anything not work related should be forwarded to your personal box and reviewed at your leisure. No matter how funny or cute or inspriational, don’t participate in the chain and you won’t be part of the chain. My friends know that we are friends and I explain that I don’t have time to “send this back to the one who sent it” to prove that. Most of them understand and either don’t send those messages or are not offended when I don’t reply.

Avoid signing up for newsletters and don’t visit sites that will begin sending advertisements. Look for the check box that asks for permission to send advertisements or other mail from that site and uncheck it. This could save you hundreds of e-mails a week.

I’d like to see a standardized way to use the subject line as a message. One great place I worked, people would write “Conference Call at 3 pm nnto”, and “nnto” meant “No Need To Open.” Worked great, but I find that in other workplaces, people don’t understand the “nnto”.

My Lotus Notes email strategies are as follows:

1. Delete corporate spam (mass project email distributions for projects in which I am not actively involved).

2. Go to the bottom of a Notes Chain first. Scan the other notes just to ensure that the chain didn’t splinter along the way.

3. For subject line emails, use (EOM) (”end of message”

4. Re-highlight important emails by hitting “insert.” Place open note on background desktop so the tab is showing.

5. Do not use the email alert.

6. Follow the three note rule- after three notes, make the phone call, if not sooner.

7. Never, never write something that you would not want your boss or their boss to see. If you do, delete it before you hit “send.”

8. If you are confused about an issue from an email, pick up the phone.

9. Golden rule. Follow it.

Email,
If the subject line has a forward or fwd in it, i delete it, never bother to open it.

Best thing I ever did to help with e-mail interruptions was to change my Outlook settings so that it only checks for new e-mails every 3 hours.

excellent article, thx! my tips:

1. i use “optional” or “mandatory” in the beginning of my subject line
2. i file anything away that’s done.. the inbox is just for “live” emails

Thanks for your article. I agree fully that e-mail must be better managed. Following are guidelines I send to my undergraduate students:

Guidelines for professional correspondence by e-mail:

Use a specific subject in the subject line (e.g., “EDUC 205”), neither vague ones (e.g., “quick question” or “hello”), nor a blank line. This helps recipients decide whether or when to read your message.

Always use a salutation in a first message to someone. Use a recipient’s first name only when you are already well acquainted. For frequent messages, a salutation can be eliminated.

Keep the message short, and sweet (i.e., avoid negativity, a.k.a. “flaming’). Don’t complain. Don’t explain. Write whatever you want to vent, but send only what needs to be sent. If your message is important, and especially if the hour is late, get some sleep, then review and revise it before you send it.

· In sending or forwarding any message use the famous Four-Way Test:

o Is it the TRUTH?

o Is it FAIR to all concerned?

o Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

o Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Check spelling twice. Check the subject line, too. Minor errors make major problems in professional correspondence.

Use complimentary closing only for first-time messages. A simple “Thanks” will always suffice.

When sending to infrequent recipients, sign your full name. If you include your address information, make sure it’s single-spaced in the default font and color, so that it’s easy to read and copy. Do the same for epigrams.

Dear Annie,
I could not DISAGREE more with you when you state that THANK YOU messages are a time waster.
In this world of growing class-less-ness, a simple Thank You sends a message that a person and their assistance has value, and is appreciated. Are you so crass to not thank the person who holds the door open for you when it was not necessary?
If you are so self absorbed to considered a thank you as a time waster, then I am delighted that I have never had the misfortune of working with you or the need to fire you for lack of common courtesy.
JBSuccessassociates@Yahoo.com

If you use your search functions properly, you shouldn’t have a problem finding the emails you need, even if you save them all!

Make use of the junk mail filter. Block (certain) e-mail addresses or “subject lines” from outside the office. I made the mistake of giving a few special friends my work e-Mail address–BIG mistake. I started receiving every “chain letter” e-Mail possible. (Don’t these people work?) Now, with a few exceptions, those e-Mails don’t show up in my main mailbox and I can check them out when I have the time. If one of those personal e-Mails requires but doesn’t get a response from me, my friends will call.

There is a solution out there beyond Gmail. Taglocity for Outlook pretty much solves the email overload problem for Outlook users. It makes innovative use of Tags to quickly categorize lots of information which in turn makes it much easier to find later. You don’t need folders anymore because each Tag is like a virtual folder.

This may be a no brainer but using email filters in your favorite email client to separate them into folders. I found that it made my life much more manageable.

Start with broad categories such as work, personal, etc. And if needs be make subcategories… but the point is to keep the number of categories low. Whatever is left in the inbox becomes much easier to pick through.

Does anyone remember how to use the telephone? Email is a great invention and a wonderful tool at work, but you wouldn’t want to eat sliced bread at every meal. There are occasions when the telephone is much quicker and more effective, especially for cases where you have to bounce ideas back and forth. Problem is, a lot of people seem to be under the impression that the telephone is going the way of the dodo, and will neither call nor answer, even setting their phone permanently set to go straight into voiemail.
Tip: Before writing an email, if you’re going to require a response, start a debate or if you want to be 100% sure that the recipient gets the message, quickly ask yourself if email is really going to be faster than the phone. You might not have a net savings of time, but in some cases you’ll communicate more effectively.

My genious son got rid of all my junk email by replying that I was ‘dead’ which was swapped by all interrelated databases. I only send emails to those of which I have a need.

I was interested in this article, but, as I feared, there was absolutely nothing new or innovative in it that I hadn’t read before regarding electronic correspondence. I’d also add that article completely disregards the topic of sending / saving personal e-mails in a professional environment. As an IT professional, I can vouch for the thousands of personal e-mails our office staff sends and receives. Bottom line — no new information; overlooked some critical topics.

Libral use of block sender.

I use to have my Outlook set up such that a little window would pop up every time a new email arrived. This pretty much guaranteed I paid full attention to every email that arrived.

Once I turned that setting off, I noticed that I checked emails in bulk and more efficiently deleted ones I didn’t need to see. I was also better able to focus on my work as my eyes weren’t distracted every few moments by the popul.

Read email atleast thrice a day. Delete, or reply and remove to folder on the same day you receive.

Do do not use email as a reminder for future action.

If my msg is short, I put it all on the Subject Line, with ‘nm’ (no message), like if someone’s asking when the copier in Rm. 286 is getting fixed, my subject will be: Xerox repairman coming tomorrow 10:00 for Rm 286 copier. nm
That way, they don’t even have to open it; they scan the subject and delete.

I agree, delete e-mails that have no meaning for a response. You don’t need to answer them but you do still have to delete them, so a little time wasted. Tell your boss to stop sending, by blast mail, stuff you get from 3 other sources already. If he’s just lazy, it may not do any good. Tell your friends to use your personal account address and not work. You can check those when you have time and they won’t clutter your work in-box.

Here are another 3 golden rules:

1. Delete all cc email unread.
2. Delete unread if there are more then 5 names in the distribution list. Others will tell you about the content.
3. Answer only if there is an explicit question in the mail.

Using Google Desktop to search my mails has saved me hours and hours of time. It’s free, quick to download and seamlessly integrates into Outlook (can’t speak for mail clients, though).

I use it several times a week, at least, and it does an amazing job of trawling at speed through my thousands of mails and picking out just what I need. It’s not always perfect but at least makes me less concerned about how well I’ve filed something.

Great advice on the whole. But take “structure” a step further. For example, instead of “That was an interesting meeting yesterday,” (so what?), get to the point: “Your comments on quality control at the meeting yesterday were great but didn’t go far enough…”

Think of going back to the days before email, when everything was done by phone and typewritten office memos! Those days aren’t so long ago. Email isn’t perfect, but it’s much better than the alternative.

Gmail. Forget folders and searching for the 3rd e-mail in a whole series of replys to figure out what is going on. Until the rest of the e-mail software world catches up to this innovative client, the suggestions posed are a mere plugging of small holes during a flood.

I’d just need to point out the irony of an article titled “10 Ways to Get a Grip on Your Email” which is followed 2 lines later by a link that says “sign up for the Ask Annie e-mail newsletter.”

good humor.