8 Top Tips for Organizing Your Email

Technology has done wonders for communication! What used to take days or even hours to communicate now only takes seconds. It’s no wonder that email has taken over as the main source of communication in the office. The convenience of email has resulted in more efficiency and productivity. Or has it? Therein lies the problem – if you aren’t using email in an efficient and productive manner, you are going to quickly find yourself feeling overwhelmed.

That’s where this Professional Organizer in NYC comes in! Here are 8 top tips to help you manage your email and get back to being productive…

1. Don’t use your inbox as a to-do list. It’s too easy for tasks to get lost in the shuffle. Instead, take your tasks from each email and add them to a project management system, calendar, or even a paper planner.
2. Create canned responses. For responses you send often, don’t recreate the wheel each time. Create one standard response and save it in your email drafts, a Word document, or wherever is easiest for your to access.
3. Keep your emails short and to the point. Be as thorough and detailed as necessary, but if an email doesn’t require a lot of detail, don’t add it! Keep it simple whenever possible.
4. If a message can be responded to within 2 minutes, do it! Flag emails that need more research or require a lengthier response and process those emails at another time. But get rid of those emails that don’t require lots of time immediately so they don’t clutter up your inbox.
5. Protect your email address. If you want to receive less email, then be more critical of where you share your email address. Don’t sign up for newsletters or other mailing lists unless you are really interested in the product or services being offered.
6. Unsubscribe. Speaking of email lists, if you already have signed up and don’t have time to utilize the content of those emails, unsubscribe. No use cluttering up your inbox if you will never read them!
7. Create a schedule. Decide when you will process emails. It can be at the end of your workday, or if your job is particularly email heavy, maybe a few times a day. But schedule that time in so you aren’t spending valuable work time digging out your inbox.
8. Create an email filing system. When you are finished processing emails, they need somewhere to go! Get them out of the inbox and move them into labeled folders. Think about email folders like your physical file folders – create categories and sub-categories so you are easily able to locate an email when needed.

You can apply these top tips immediately and get your inbox under control! This Professional Organizer in NYC knows that with these tips, you’ll have technology on your side and will be efficient and productive in your office space.