How to clean up your email inbox

Image credit with thanks to my brave parallel partners in heroic dumpter-diving at http://uniter.ca/view/787/

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Find backlogs you’ll never get toSearch by sender name * to see all emails

from that sender as a defined group:

* Note: Isaac sends good info, which is why he’s still one of my inbound approved senders.

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Find backlogs you’ll never get toSearch by sender name * to see all emails

from that sender as a defined group:

* Note: Isaac sends good info, which is why he’s still one of my inbound approved senders.

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Search by keyword* to see all emails related to a topic you will be able to identify as no longer necessary:

* Note: We all have some topics that we get many emails on that are apt to get dated. If you miss deleting a few as they come in, this will clean up extra emails in a jiffy!

More on identifying backlogs

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Open “Drafts” folder Go through any drafts* that may remain

hanging.

*Note: I sometimes use drafts as a way to save a URL as a note to self. Not necessarily the best use of drafts but can be handy if not working from your own computer.

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Use a “cut-off” dateDecide upon a date beyond which emails will

have content that is no longer relevant or important and go through these quickly, deleting rapidly any that are not starred for retention.

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Hit “delete” for the absurdDelete without opening anything that looks

ridiculous and time consuming. (Next time, marketers will just have to come up with a better subject line.)

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Use a “cut-off” dateDecide upon a date beyond which emails will

have content that is no longer relevant or important and go through these quickly, deleting rapidly any that are not starred for retention.

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Going forwardSet aside a designated time for processing your new daily emails.

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Going forwardWhen you click on a link, reply, or forward

an email: delete the message that you have just read right then. Because...You will still have it in TRASH for a little while. If it’s something you are forwarding , you will

have it attached to your outgoing message in the OUT box.

(Make sure your email is set up this way.)

Look for the UNSUSCRIBE link in the footer. If they don’t have one, feel free to mark

email as SPAM.

* HINT: If it REALLY matters, you will find a way to rediscover and RE-subscribe. You won’t miss these emails. (People with carefully built lists will HATE me for saying this.)

Use UNSUBSCRIBE relentlessly!

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Creative Commons License ~ Hampton Marketing 2012

Think about minimizing your incoming EMAIL so managing it is easier!