Starting back after holidays I’m welcomed to a very full inbox… Sorting through these can take a lot of time so I’ve decided to clean house and find the important pieces quickly.

Here’s how you can do it too:

  1. Create a new Personal Folder (.pst) for all mail in 2008, or event better create multiple folders for each kind of mail you receive – i.e. internal communications, client communications, alerts, reports etc… Outlook lets to make a number of these. Ask your IT person if you need help with this.
  2. Archive last years mail into a 2007 file and only use these for reference use… Anything still open or needing action from last year should be left out of your archive for quick access.
  3. Create (or review) some Outlook rules, group similar subjects and common from/to addresses into an alert and automatically file these to help keep your inbox clear – Remember alerts are important these should not be ignored, using key word filters help separate; notice, warning and fail alerts easily enough. Coloured flags can also be used to flag important messages from Clients (each can have their own colour), or your “Boss” as a visual aid.
  4. Look for newsletters your no longer reading – the ones in the Round-to-it folder – and unsubscribe from them. If your not reading them now you probably don’t need them.

Hope you have a great and successful 2008.