How do you categorize your work email in Outlook??

[steppinthrax]

I have like 40 outlook folders arrange by various projects. It's getting crazy because I'm having trouble organizing stuff (projects are fusing together, you don't know what is what. So I'm thinking of creating a folder for each person's name.

What are some ways to quickly organize emails? If you create categories by names you can easily set rules

 

[Saint Nick]

I don't, I just let them pile up and become a confusing mess.

 

[steppinthrax]

I don't, I just let them pile up and become a confusing mess.

I have to spend once a week to organize like 100 emails, it's time consuming. When my inbox is unorganized I get stressed.

 

[CPA]

I don't, I just let them pile up and become a confusing mess.

This.

I currently have 37,000+ items in my Inbox and 35,000+ in one of my archived inboxes.

 

[highland145]

This.

I currently have 37,000+ items in my Inbox and 35,000+ in one of my archived inboxes.

Hope those aren't from people that needed their taxes done by April 15..


...2006

 

[bpatters69]

I support customers in a sales capacity so I have created a seperate pst file and each customer has their own folder. Within each customer folder, I then create a folder for just about everything, ie daily correspondance, sales opportunities, billing, contracts, etc. The system works for me but because there is so much correspondance (I keep everything like a pack rat), I have to create other pst files for other types of email correspondance, ie HR, Company Announcements, etc.

 

[chorb]

I set up a new folder that is set it up to look like gmail.

All emails (inbox or sent) get shown under a topic heading so I can quickly see the entire past conversation regarding that topic.

 

[AreaCode707]

Inbox:
- Read (done dealing with it)
- Unread (needs to be dealt with)

Archives:
- Clients
--- Active Client 1
--- Active Client 2
--- Active Client 2
--- Inactive Client Folder
---------- Inactive Client 1
---------- Inactive Client 2

- Internal
--- Internal shit I get copied on that isn't especially relevant (distribution list messages, company announcements)
--- Internal shit I get copied on that is relevant (training materials, product releases)
--- Work-life stuff that is personally relevant (time off notifications, employee referral confirmations)

I only sort my email about once a month. I sort by recipient and mass drag and anything where I can identify the categorization by recipient (distribution lists mostly) I drag and drop to the right folder. I go to my inbox and search by client names and mass drag and drop the results into the right folder. I then sort by sender and anything where I can identify the topic by sender gets dragged into the right folder. That typically leaves me with a few hundred messages of miscellaneous topic/origin. I sort by subject and drag and drop individual topic threads into the right folder if I can ID them, and dump the rest of the leftovers into a slush folder. Takes about twenty minutes.

Search All is a wonderful feature in Outlook. I don't need my stuff to be very categorized. Most of the time I can do a mass search using keywords and senders and attachment settings and find whatever I want.

 

[hanoverphist]

-City
--Project
---Phase

 

[Gooberlx2]

Yeah, I just let them pile up and use the search function + threaded views

 

[Drako]

By client, and then by project.

 

[Blackjack200]

Between the 3 boxes I'm responsible for monitoring, I have probably a hundred fifty odd folders. It's total madness trying to sort.

 

[sdifox]

---Personal
---Not Important

 

[trmiv]

Inbox
-Tickets
-Server Monitoring Alerts
-APC Alerts
-Website monitoring Alerts

 

[Mide]

Inbox
-Done
-Username/Client/Company Name

 

[joesmoke]

-to be left in inbox
-to be immediately deleted

 

[amdhunter]

I store everything in my deleted items folder.

 

[rudeguy]

I don't read my work email.

Right click, mark all as read, done with email!

 

[Kadarin]

I don't, I use Mail.app!

However, I have stuff go to me, then a separate folder for my direct group, then the larger group, then all the crap I don't care about. I also archive items that I need that are job-specific (i.e. how to do <x>).

 

[eldorado99]

I support customers in a sales capacity so I have created a seperate pst file and each customer has their own folder. Within each customer folder, I then create a folder for just about everything, ie daily correspondance, sales opportunities, billing, contracts, etc. The system works for me but because there is so much correspondance (I keep everything like a pack rat), I have to create other pst files for other types of email correspondance, ie HR, Company Announcements, etc.

Beware, when your .pst files get gigantic they may eventually blow up. We discourage people from using them where we work for that reason.

 

[AreaCode707]

Beware, when your .pst files get gigantic they may eventually blow up. We discourage people from using them where we work for that reason.

Yep, and when they blow up they take Outlook with them. A corrupt PST file can prevent Outlook from opening.

 

[Fritzo]

Dump Outlook.
Get Google Apps.
Use Labels.
Done.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

A whole bunch of Search Folders

 

[AreaCode707]

Dump Outlook.
Get Google Apps.
Use Labels.
Done.

Because we all have control over our company software policies.

When Google released Chrome, my employer blocked the download and sent an email saying anyone that subverted the policy would be fired. Google was a... competitor, of sorts.

 

[shortylickens]

Outlook?