How To Organize Your Email
Monday, March 16, 2009
Do you despair over your email? Many of us store everything in one great big Inbox, but that's not very efficient. You can use a combination of folders, rules, and spam filters to pare your email down to manageable size.
Folders let you sort email any way you like. You might want to create one folder for business and another for personal correspondence. Create subfolders for each person and voila! organized email.
Rules redirect messages to folders, keeping your Inbox clear for the most important emails. I subscribe to many mailing lists, but don't have time to read them every day. I use my email program's Rules option to direct these messages into subfolders. I can see when these subfolders have new unread messages, but I don't have to weed through them until I'm ready.
Spam filters, like puppies, behave best when trained. Check your email program or provider's Help for your settings. Once your spam filter knows what you consider spam, it'll do its best to redirect to a Junk or Spam folder. You'll still get the occasional spam sneaking through, but if you keep marking as spam your filter will continue to improve.
Next month I'll answer a frequently asked question: What Is Java? If you have any computer questions click Comments below this article, and don't forget to subscribe to the email version of Tech Tips for bonus tips and product reviews.
Posted byTriona Guidry at 10:05 AM