managing your email inbox - armstrong...

Managing Your Email Inbox

Tracey L. Fisher Personal Computer and Software Instructor

Butler County Community College - Adult and Community Education

Exceeding Your Expectations….. http://users.zoominternet.net/~traceylf/bc3.htm

http://users.zoominternet.net/~traceylf/bc3.htm

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PURPOSE 4

TERMINOLOGY 5

WHY SHOULD YOU MANAGE YOUR MAIL FILE SIZE? 7

MAIL FILE SIZE 8

FOLDER SIZE 10

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REDUCING THE SIZE OF YOUR MAIL FILE 12 Delete Messages 12 Saving Attachments 12 Steps for Saving Attachments 12

PERSONAL FOLDERS 14 What is a Personal Folder? 14 Best Practices for Using Personal Folders 14

CREATING A PERSONAL FOLDER 15

UNDERSTANDING RULES 18 What is a Rule? 18

CREATING A RULE 19

CATEGORIZE EMAIL MESSAGES 22 Why categorize Email messages? 22

ASSIGN A CATEGORY TO A MESSAGE BEFORE SENDING 23

ASSIGN A CATEGORY TO A MESSAGE YOU RECEIVED 26

VIEWING MESSAGES BY CATEGORIES 27

ARCHIVING MESSAGES 29 What is Archiving? 29 Using the Archive Feature 29 Retrieving Archived Messages 30


AUTOARCHIVE 31

AutoArchive Properties of a Folder 33

ARCHIVE ITEMS MANUALLY 34

BACKING UP PERSONAL FOLDERS AND ARCHIVE FILES 35

SUGESTIONS FOR MANAGING EMAIL EFFECTIVELY 36

COLLABORATION TOOLS 37 What is a Collaboration Tool? 37 Microsoft NetMeeting 37 Instant Messaging 38

© Copyright 2001 Tracey L. Fisher, All Rights Reserved of 39


PURPOSE The focus of this handout is to bring awareness for the need of managing Email files. This handout provides recommendations for reducing the size of your Email file and discusses various methods for managing your Email effectively, such as archiving messages, saving attachments, creating and using rules, and categorizing incoming and outgoing messages. Part of managing your Email Inbox is being aware of alternative tools available for sharing data and communicating with others online. IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS HANDOUT WAS DEVELOPED USING MICROSOFT OUTLOOK EMAIL SOFTWARE APPLICATION. The topics discussed are applicable to any Email program; however, the steps to perform specific functions such as creating folders, saving attachments, checking the Email size, and creating rules may differ slightly in various versions of Outlook or other Email applications.



TERMINOLOGY Archiving Mail – The removal of selected items to another location for storage and occasional future access. AutoArchiving -- The automatic, periodic removal of items to another folder (or deletion of items) based on the amount of time the items have been in the folder. AutoArchive can be set for any folder and is particularly useful in Journal because journal entries are created automatically and can become numerous quickly. Category – A keyword or phrase that helps you keep track of messages so you can easily find, sort, filter, or group them. Collaboration Tool – An application used in conjunction with or as an alternative to Email – useful when working with members of a team or project. Deleted Items – A folder within an Email program that stores messages that have been deleted. Messages are not typically deleted until they are deleted from the Deleted Items folder. Email Quota – A size limit placed on your mail file to prevent it from growing too large. Inbox – A folder within an Email program that stores messages received. Instant Messaging – A real-time discussion medium, similar to Microsoft NetMeeting. Local Drive – The hard disk drive on your PC, typically called your C:\* drive. Mail File – The area on your computer (usually the C:\*) where your Email is stored. NetMeeting – You can combine data conferencing with real-time audio and video. You can share applications on your computers, exchange pictures, and communicate with text-based chat. Offline – Not connected to the Internet. Organize – Arranging mail messages in a style and format that works for you. Examples include color-coding income messages by sender, applying a category, creating rules and folders, or adding a flag to a message that reminds you of an action item you need to complete. Outbox – A folder that stores all Email messages waiting to be sent.



Personal Folder – A personal folder file is a file that is located on your computer hard disk (with a .pst extension). Personal folder files contain folders, messages, forms, and files. You work with a personal folder file as you would with any other file, and you can save, copy, and move a .pst file to another location on your hard disk, to a floppy disk, or to a CD. You can also designate a personal folder file as the delivery location for your incoming messages. Rule – Rules perform actions on incoming messages based on specific criteria. Sent Items – A folder within an Email program that stores messages sent.



WHY SHOULD YOU MANAGE YOUR MAIL FILE SIZE?

To prevent corruption of personal mail file and loss of data

To reduce search time when locating messages in your mail file

To increase performance and reliability of mail servers

To organize and store important data in a central location, such as My Documents

To have the confidence to locate data quickly



MAIL FILE SIZE

When checking the size of your Outlook mailbox, the combined total of the following folders make up the mail file size: Inbox, including subfolders Deleted Items Sent Items Contacts Drafts Calendar Tasks Journal Outbox

Click Outlook Today in the Folder List or Outlook Bar (turn on from View on the Menu bar)

Right Click and select Properties from the shortcut menu

Click the Folder Size button

The Folder Size window details:

Folder Name Folder Size Total Size (if folder contains subfolders)



FOLDER SIZE

Right click the folder you want to determine the size

Click Properties on the shortcut menu

Click Folder Size

The Folder Size window details: Folder Name, Folder Size, and Total Size

Right click on the folder and select Properties Click the Folder Size… button



The Folder Size window displays the total folder size as well as the size for each subfolder. Click Close



RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REDUCING THE SIZE OF YOUR MAIL FILE Delete Messages

Develop a process that works for you whereby you review your mail file on a regular basis and delete messages that are not necessary or no longer needed. Consider whether you need to save particular Emails Remember to delete duplicate copies of messages – If you send a message and somebody

replies with history to the message, you should now delete the original sent message. Review all of your folders Click on the Size Column to sort your messages by size. Then use the size field to target the

largest files. Delete messages containing large pictures, video, or sound files.

Do you have folders relating to past events? Is this information still needed?

You can delete an entire folder and its contents at the same time.

Remember to delete items in the Deleted Items folder. Saving Attachments

Concentrate on large attachments such as pictures, videos, and sound or movie files. Remember that even smaller attachments such as Word and Excel files still take up a lot of space.

Steps for Saving Attachments

Open the attachment by double-clicking.

Select, Save

Browse to the location on either your local hard drive (c:\ - the best location would be your My Document or My Pictures folder) to save the file.



Double-click the attachment

Click the Save button.

Browse to the location to save the file by clicking the drop-down arrow in the Save in box. Click Save © Copyright 2001 Tracey L. Fisher, All Rights Reserved of 39


PERSONAL FOLDERS What is a Personal Folder?

A personal folder is a file that is located on your computer hard disk and has a .pst extension. Personal folder files contain folders, messages, forms, and files. You work with a personal folder file as you would with any other folder, and you can save, copy, and move a .pst file to another location on your hard disk, to a floppy disk, or to a CD. You can also designate a personal folder file as the delivery location for your incoming messages.

Best Practices for Using Personal Folders

Create and use multiple personal folders – by category, event, family member, project, month, etc.

Subfolders within personal folders are not recommended

Develop a process where you automatically move messages greater than 30 days old into the appropriate personal folder

Personal folders are created on the local hard drive (typically C or D)

When backing up data, remember to search for all *.pst files and make a backup of each.

It is recommended maximum size of a personal folder is 500 MB.

Once a file sizes reaches this size, the risk of corruption increases resulting in potential data loss.



CREATING A PERSONAL FOLDER

Click on the Inbox Folder

From the Menu Bar, select Tools, Services

From the Services Tab verify personal folder service has been added – ‘Personal Folder’ should be listed in the Services white window if you have an existing personal folder.

If the personal folder service is not listed or if you want to create multiple personal folders, click the

Add button and select Personal Folders from the list of available services. Click OK You can have multiple personal folders

From the Create/Open Personal File Folder window, name the Personal folder in the File Name

text box. Click OK Make note of the full path and file extension of your personal folder for referencing when

backing up.

Click OK in the Create Microsoft Personal Folders Window It is not recommended that a password be set for personal folders. If a password is forgotten,

the data cannot be retrieved.

Click OK to close the Services Window

Your personal folder is now created. In the folder list you will only see the name Personal Folder – not the name you gave the file when creating the personal folder.

You can now drag and drop messages from the inbox, sent or deleted items into the personal

folder. From the Menu Bar, click Tools, Services



Click Add Select Personal Folders from list of available services. Click OK



UNDERSTANDING RULES What is a Rule?

Rules help you manage your Email messages by performing actions on messages that match a specific set of conditions. After you create a rule, Microsoft Outlook applies the rule when a message arrives in your Inbox or when you send a message. For example, you can automatically: Forward to your sister all messages sent by your mother when they arrive in your Inbox. Assign a category to all messages as they arrive in your Inbox.

Rules fall into two general categories:

Notification – rules that alert you in some way when you receive a particular message. You can create a rule that automatically sends an Email message to your mobile phone

when you receive a message from a family member. You can create a rule that automatically notifies the sender of a message that you are out

of the office or on vacation. Organization – rules perform one or more actions on a message.

You can create a rule that moves certain messages to a folder or flags them for follow-up on a particular day.



CREATING A RULE

From the Menu Bar, click Tools, Rules Wizard to open the Rules Wizard

Click New

Select the type of rule you want to create and Click Next © Copyright 2001 Tracey L. Fisher, All Rights Reserved of 39


Select a folder from the list of available folders or create a new folder. Click OK

Add any exceptions to the rule, Edit the value. Click Next



Name the Rule and Click Finish

The rule you created now displays in the list of rules. Reorder if you desire. Click OK



CATEGORIZE EMAIL MESSAGES Why categorize Email messages?

Assigning a category or keyword to a mail message helps you to keep track of messages sent to or received from specific individuals. You can easily find, sort, filter, or group messages when categories are assigned. Examples:

Assign a category of Recipe to all messages you send or receive that contain a recipe. Assign a category of Project Freedom for all messages you send or receive that pertain to

the Project Freedom team for which you are a member. Assign a category of Jeff’s Family to all messages you send or receive from Jeff and his

family. Categories can be assigned to Email messages before they are sent and after they are

received



ASSIGN A CATEGORY TO A MESSAGE BEFORE SENDING

Create the new mail message. Click the Options button

Click the Categories button

Click check box next to the desired category or Click the Master Category List… button to add a new category to the list



Type name of new category in the empty field box and click the Add button. Click OK

The new category now displays in the list. Click OK



The selected category displays in the Category Field Box. Click Close



ASSIGN A CATEGORY TO A MESSAGE YOU RECEIVED

Right click on a message. Select Categories

In the Categories dialog box, assign a category by clicking the check box next to the category. You can assign more than one category to a message. Click OK



VIEWING MESSAGES BY CATEGORIES

From the Menu Bar, click View, Customize Current View

Click the Group by.. button

Click the drop-down arrow in the Group Items by box and select Categories. Click OK to close the Group By Window. Then click OK to close the View Summary Window



Click the Expand button (+) to view all Emails messages in a category



ARCHIVING MESSAGES What is Archiving?

The removal of selected items to another location for storage and occasional future access. Using the Archive Feature

The archiving process creates a duplicate of any subfolder structure you may have created.

Transfer older messages or appointments to a storage file. Items are considered old they reach the age you specify.

With AutoArchive, you can either delete or move old items.

Outlook can archive all types of items, but it can only locate files that are stored in an Email folder,

such as an Excel spreadsheet or Word document attached to an Email message.

Archiving can be set up to run automatically or manually.

Archiving creates an archive.pst file. You can accept the default location or browse to a desired folder. You may also use a different name such as Project X Archive.pst.

As with personal folders, the archive file name is for storage location. In the Outlook folder list

Archived Folder is displayed – not the file name.

As with personal folders, it is recommended to manage Archive file sizes to a maximum of 500 MB.



Retrieving Archived Messages

Archiving creates a folder called Archived Folders and places it above the Inbox in the folder list. You can drag and drop a copy of the folder to the Outlook Shortcut Bar for easy access.

To retrieve messages, open the Archived Folders and navigate through subfolders to find desired

message.

On the Outlook Bar, click Archive Folders, the Archived Folders now display on the Right



AUTOARCHIVE

From the Tools menu, click Options

Click the Other tab

Click AutoArchive

To set AutoArchive to turn on when you start Outlook, select the AutoArchive every check box

To specify how often the AutoArchive process will run, enter a number in the days box

To be notified before the items are archived, select the Prompt before AutoArchive check box.

In the Default archive file box, type a file name for the archived items to be transferred to, or click Browse to select from a list. Make note of the archive file location for reference when backing up data.

From the Menu Bar, select Tools, Options

Click the Other tab then click the AutoArchive… button



Make note of the archive file location. Click OK



AutoArchive Properties of a Folder

Right click the folder you want to AutoArchive

Click the Properties on the shortcut menu

Click the AutoArchive tab

To enable automatic archiving of this folder, select the Clean out items older than check box.

To specify when items should be automatically transferred to your archive file, enter a number in the months box.

To specify a file for the archived items to be transferred to, click Move old items to.

In the Move old items to box, type a file name for the archived items, or click Browse to select

from a list. Right click on the folder and select Properties

Select the AutoArchive tab and click the check box for Clean out Items older than x time period (months/days/years). Select the Archive Folder to move the items to.



ARCHIVE ITEMS MANUALLY

On the File menu, click Archive

To archive all folders, click Archive all folders according to their AutoArchive settings.

To archive one folder only, click Archive this folder and all subfolders, and then click the folder that contains the items you want to archive.

In the Archive file box, type a file name for the archived items to be transferred to, or click Browse

to select from a list.

In the Archive items older than box, enter a date. Items before this date will be archived. From the Menu Bar, select File, Archive…

Click the Archive this folder and all subfolders option button. Enter date for Archive Items Older than: Select Archive folder



BACKING UP PERSONAL FOLDERS AND ARCHIVE FILES

Backing up personal folders and archive files is the responsibility of each computer user on most corporate networks because these files reside on the local hard drive. If your hard drive crashes and you have not backed up your personal or archive folders, you

will lose all the data and it cannot be retrieved.

Search for *.pst files

Windows XP and 2000 – Windows Explore, Right Click on Start Button, Select Explore, Click the Search button Search for files or folders named – enter *.pst and Click Search Now.

Windows NT, click Start, Find

Find What – enter *.pst

Windows 98 and 95 – Windows Explore, Right Click on Start Button, Select Explore, select Tools, Search/Find from the Menu Bar Find What – enter *.pst

Copy and Paste all *.pst files to desired back-up location, such as a CD



SUGESTIONS FOR MANAGING EMAIL EFFECTIVELY

People in the To: list are those for whom the message is directly intended and for whom a response may be required.

People included in the cc: list are just copied for information and should not reply. For every

person you include in the cc: list, think, ‘will this person really benefit from reading this?’ If not, remove them.

Do not use ‘Reply to All’ unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. Think, ‘does everyone on this

distribution list really need to see my reply?’ If not, then don’t send it to them. Just use ‘Reply’. Never use ‘Reply to All’ when replying to a reply.

All mail should have a subject heading which reflects the content of the message.

All attachments should be described in the text of the Email. Many people regularly access mail

over dial-up connections, and hence may not appreciate being sent large files (presentations, video clips, etc.) Think before attaching large files - Is there another way I could share this information?

When possible, use Network Shared Directories to access files as opposed to sending large Email

attachments.



COLLABORATION TOOLS What is a Collaboration Tool?

The term “Collaboration Tool” has become commonly used to refer to an application(s) that helps people meet online and share information across a department, team, or project regardless of where the members are located. The use of Collaboration tools eliminates having to manage and follow the trail of Email messages. Collaboration Tools are an easy way to stay connected to family and friends scattered around the world.

The following briefly describes on-line collaboration tools that are part of your Windows Operating software or available to download, free of charge, from www.microsoft.com. Collaboration tools allow you to make use of your internet connection and permit you to meet and talk with family and friends while online in real-time.

Microsoft NetMeeting

You can combine data conferencing with real-time audio and video. You can share applications on your computers, exchange pictures, and communicate with text-based chat. All you need is a Web Camera and microphone and you can visit with a friend in another state

or country as though they were sitting in the room next to you!

You can communicate with anyone, anywhere, using your PC. With audio conferencing, you can call other PC users and hold conversations over the Internet.

You can communicate with several people at once. Share computer files with a number of

people at the same time, using NetMeeting's built-in data-conferencing services.

Chat lets you conduct real-time conversations via text, with as many people as you like.

File transfer lets you send one or more files in the background during a NetMeeting conference.

NetMeeting's Program Sharing feature gives you the flexibly to share multiple programs during a conference and retain greater control over the way they're used.

Remote Desktop Sharing lets you operate a computer from a remote location.

For additional information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/


http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/


Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging is a program that lets you communicate in real time with other people who use Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger.

Instant Messaging is becoming a widely used communication tool in the corporate world as it is an easy way to communicate in real-time while reducing costs associated when the same communication occurs using Email: Many Email messages in the workplace are sent to ask simple questions or to make lunch

plans. There is a cost associated to these messages: Network storage, bandwidth, storage space, and people resources. Using an Instant Messaging program can have a dramatic impact on these costs for companies.

With Windows Messenger you can:

Create a contact list of your friends, family, and coworkers who also use Messenger.

See when your contacts are online and available.

Send text messages back and forth with your contacts.

Call a phone almost anywhere in the world for a very low rate—and use your microphone or

headset to talk. Call a contact's computer for free and see each other while you talk.

Send pictures, music, or documents to your contacts.

Link directly to the e-mail inbox of your default e-mail program.

Invite someone to play a game, look at a program on your computer, or use a whiteboard

together. Use Remote Assistance to have someone help you with your computer.

In addition, if you install a free Add-in, you can:

Get notified when new e-mail arrives in your Hotmail inbox and link directly there.

Send a text message to a contact's mobile device.

Set up an account so you can receive text messages on your mobile device.

Access your favorite chat rooms.



For additional information, visit http://search.microsoft.com/search/results.aspx?st=b&qu=instant+messaging&view=en-us

Other Instant Messaging programs include:

AOL IM, www.aol.com Yahoo IM, www.yahoo.com

To communicate with friends, you both must be using the same Instant Messaging software.

If a friend is using AOL IM, you must also be using the AOL IM program.


http://search.microsoft.com/search/results.aspx?st=b&qu=instant+messaging&view=en-us

http://www.aol.com/

http://www.yahoo.com/