When was the last time you cleaned out your inbox? I don’t just mean looked at it, or briefly squinted at it whilst trying not to let yourself admit how full or overloaded it was. The chances are, if you’re like millions of other email users suffering from email overload and seriously reduced email productivity, you have scores of emails sitting meekly in your inbox waiting for you to decide their ultimate fate.
The problem is, that the list of emails in your inbox shouldn’t be there. Many of them are adverts and unimportant rubbish that could have been deleted a long time ago. Many more of your emails were useful at one time, but no longer serve any purpose. The fact that they are still sitting in your inbox is testimony to the fact that you have shunned the very idea of filing your messages. You have given up on being the proud owner of an organized inbox.
Studies have shown that users who keep their emails in the inbox, waste considerable amount of time more, then those users who file their emails. By not filing your emails, you’re basically shooting yourself in the foot.
The truth is, you are not alone. That in itself shouldn’t necessarily make you feel better, but the fact that there are so many people like you, who leave their emails in the inbox, has caused software manufacturers to devise a solution. Needless to say, the solution itself has been designed to be quick, simple and easy to use. After all, there’s no point having a tool to overcome email overload and to save time if it takes more time to learn how to use it than it manages to save.
One such solution is called MoveIT, and is an ingenious solution for email overload sufferers who are using Microsoft Outlook. It is an add-on, which means that it bolts on directly to the program, and needs very little setting up. By working with you to help you create a number of dynamic rules, it will then, at a single click of the mouse, instantly sort out all your selected emails into the appropriate folders. Unlike similar solutions, MoveIT only files those emails which you have selected, and not all the emails in your inbox.
This means that, rather than using the built in filters of Outlook that simply direct incoming email into designated folders, where they will be forgotten, you get a chance to see your emails as they come in. Only when you have actually seen them and/or acted on them, do you need them filed, and MoveIT will do that for you effortlessly.
For example, if you have sat at your computer ready to start work on Project X, you may begin by working your way through your inbox to review any messages relating to work and, specifically, this current project. However, you are likely to come across an email from your bank, an advert for an interesting product, a few jokes sent to you from your friends, and confirmation of an order having been dispatched. Very quickly you find yourself wandering away from the idea of work, and spending a considerable amount of time, simply wasting time.
By filing emails into a work folder, you could have a main folder for work related messages, and even a sub folder for messages which contain the keyword ‘Project X’. This means that when it comes to getting on with your work you can go straight to your Project X folder. The new messages you will have already seen, and all previous ones will be waiting for you. A good deal of time is saved, and you can then quickly identify the necessary responses, and increase your email productivity considerably.
Of course, when it comes to your own time, you can then enjoy all the new messages from your friends without being distracted by those pesky messages from work!
Any other ideas?
