Taking Control of Your E-mail Tools

Some Statistics
Over 300 billion electronic messages are sent each day The typical corporate user send/receives 105 e-mails daily, requiring 20 MB of storage per user per day An average worker spends 25% of the work day on e-mail, 14% in meetings and 9% on the phone
Source: The Radicati Group, 2011

Introducing the 4 Ds
Use a strategic approach to managing ANY task: Delete If it doesnt need to be done, eliminate it Delay If it doesnt need to be done now, defer it for later Delegate If it doesnt need to be done by you, either assign it to another or ask for help Diminish If it must be done now, and by you, use tools and shortcuts to make it easier to do
- Adapted from Never Check E-mail in the Morning, Julie Morgenstern

Managing Your E-mail

Managing Time (Reading)
Managing Messages (Organizing) Managing Content (Writing)

Managing Time
Goal:
Reduce the amount of time spent on e-mail by controlling how and when you read e-mail

Managing Time
Turn off auto-send/receive, alerts, instant messaging Schedule periodic e-mail checks Preview to screen, delete, and sort (Reading Pane?)

Process e-mail in batches by priority

Clean house when necessary

Managing Time
Clean house 1. Schedule a good time to clean your inbox 2. Create a Temporary folder and a Reply Later Folder 3. Dump all messages older than 1 day/1 week 4. Open each remaining message and quickly respond: reply immediately, delete, file for reference, forward/delegate, or move to Reply Later 5. Return to Temporary and Reply Later regularly as needed

Managing Messages
Goal:
Organize messages into groups that make it easier for you to find, read, reply, forward, delete or store

Managing Messages
Filter, Filter, Filter
Use filters to block messages that dont need

attention Create filters as you go Create Rules to automatically handle specific kinds of messages Use to sort, auto-reply, flag, prioritize and categorize

Tools: Filters
Junk E-mail 1. Access the Filter dialog box 1. To add a Sender to Junk ERemoving Filters
mail defaults, right click the 2a. To remove all Filters, click message select Junk EClear All mail Add Sender to 2b. To remove individual Filters, Blocked Senders List delete the Filter criteria that 2. Click OK you no longer wish to apply 3. Other changes to Junk Email filter can be made from the Actions menu, with Junk E-mail Junk E-mail Options...

Managing Messages
Use Sort, Find and Folders to deal with messages

individually Group and organize contacts w/ distinct names (Watch out for auto-complete) Mark/prioritize messages sent only to you (vs. group FYI messages) Flag a reminder to reply w/ Follow up

Folders vs. Categories

Folders
Identifies a group of

Categories
Tags documents with

messages that share something in common A folder can hold many documents, but a document can only be in one folder Folders can only be searched one at a time Signifies Location

descriptors that can be used to find similar documents A document can fall into many categories Categories can be searched across the system Signifies Description

Managing Content
Goal: Spend less time writing e-mail while improving reader understanding & reception

Managing Content
Write less or not at all Use short message to summarize and request action w/ details in attachment Consider calling or meeting Use Delivery Options to schedule sending

and/or expiring a message and to mark priority Set up automatic replies with templates

Managing Content
Practice good business writing
Single topic for each e-mail Precise, direct language for clarity Short, well-organized paragraphs for ease of

reading Clear request for action when appropriate Proofread for clarity and effectiveness