[CorporateJay]

I say that 90% of my emails contain useful information but do not require a task for me to do. For that reason, I use my email like a reference guide similiar to this forum.

The threaded view helps to put together a forgotten conversation. I rely heavily on an indexed search to find an email. I archive email programmatically since my company server does have a size limitation.

I defer emails by using the follow-up feature in Lotus Notes. This is similiar to categorizing the email as "follow-up" and setting a priority and possibly a due date. I never mark a read email as "unread" to defer a task.

[CorporateJay]

I say that 90% of my emails contain useful information but do not require a task for me to do. For that reason, I use my email like a reference guide similiar to this forum.

The threaded view helps to put together a forgotten conversation. I rely heavily on an indexed search to find an email. I archive email programmatically since my company server does have a size limitation.

I defer emails by using the follow-up feature in Lotus Notes. This is similiar to categorizing the email as "follow-up" and setting a priority and possibly a due date. I never mark a read email as "unread" to defer a task.

[SteveHoward999]

Originally Posted by whydidnt

I'm the opposite of previous posters -- not a clean inbox guy. I keep everything in my inbox - about 3000 messages right now.

My total email archive is around 4 Gb. I have a couple of hundred folders, many of which have way more than 3000 emails. That represents around 5 years of emails.

I have periodic cleanouts where I get rid of emails with large attachments, separately archive dormant or dead client files etc. There is just no way I could keep anything straight without organising the email into folders!!!

[jerryd]

I'm a clean inbox guy, like many previous posters. I'm more likely to have 1400 folders than let my inbox get much above 10-20. I also use it for task reminders.

[Mark Kenepp]

Categories, Categories, Categories...

Then everything gets dumped into master folder where all my email resides (unless it is archived).

I would use multiple sub folders but as was mentioned earlier in this thread, too many of my emails would fall into multiple categories. Thus, I just assign multiple categories

I used to keep my inbox almost completely empty but I have been lazy as of late.

I am not a search guy, if I did not file an email appropriately so I can find it browsing through my list, I just don't bother looking for it.

I have been trying to use email less and less. I am tired of getting emails from the person in the office next to me. If I do, I do not reply, I get off my butt and go ask them what they want :bangin:

[fresh-popcorn]

I have all my e-mail accounts forwarded to my gmail account.
This is my central station as I call it that gets fed e-mail from multiple business domains I have, some other business related domains, and all of the other junk I have.
There is not enough time in the day to have to go into every single e-mail account I have and read through them all.
It is much easier.

When i get a very important e-mail I flag it with a star (gmail option)
gmail usually is good with filtering all of the junk/spam so most of the time I am left with semi- to important emails.

I also have a gmail notifier on my computers (work and home) and when i get web orders in they are sent directly to my phone via sms text message and also to my gmail box.
This way I can log to my commercial web admin and flag it processing.

The worse thing that can happen is that I don't get any notification that I have a pending order.

all in all I get close to 500 e-mails a day but most are subscription e-mails from companies I buy from.

[Lex]

A clean inbox is a sign of a sick mind. Sorry, gotta go move some spam to my inbox...

[looneytoone]

So, let me relate this back to Pocket PC. I used to be able to manage my home inbox well because I would move messages and delete messages on my Pocket PC with ease. Everytime I active sync'ed, all would be well. I have since moved to a company with Exchange and am able to keep the work inbox clean but can't synchronize folders with the home machine. I wish that I could have it both ways!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kiwi]

I have the inbox with about 4 sub categories.

Hence my inbox is about 500 emails. I delete/purge/file every other month

[Eriq Cook]

I categorize ALL emails. Between 20 email subfolders and around 70 email categories I can keep my sanity. I run 2 full time businesses and 3 PT so it's a must that I categorize everything as soon as they come in. I also have about 20 Outlook rules that automatically categorize certain messages and move them to a specified folder.

Because my hosted Exchange service only supports one email account/address, I setup all of my various email addresses to forward to my one Exchange email address, then I setup a rule in Outlook that automatically moves messages with [eriq@business.com] in the [Sent To] field to a specified subfolder to keep them organized by each business.

I also categorize all of my contacts, but I don't use subfolders because my Windows Mobile phone doesn't support contact subfolders. I have nearly 800 contacts in Outlook and keep them in the main Contact folder. But I categorize the contacts something like this:

Business - Clients: TEQ Media
Business - Clients: TEQ Computer
Business - Clients: TEQ Outlet
Business - Subcontractors: TEQ Computer
Business - Vendors:Technology
Family
Friends
References
Microsoft VoiceCommand

And so forth. I use the "Microsoft VoiceCommand" category and name contacts for the information I want to find. For example, when I make deposits at my bank, I created a contact named "Bank account for [CompanyName]", so I just pull out my phone and say "Show bank account for [Company]". I do this because it's impossible for me to remember every account number. I even have a contact named "Clubs and Lounges" where I copied a list of all local jazz clubs and lounges into the notes portion of the contact. So when I'm downtown and looking for something to do, I just say "Show Clubs and Lounges" and the contact (list) pops up.

I also have hotkeys programmed to automatically assign my most used contact categorizes by pressing ctrl F2 - F5.

Yes, I'm sick with organization on the computer. Maybe I should be a consultant :idea:

[Jon Westfall]

Originally Posted by Lex

A clean inbox is a sign of a sick mind. Sorry, gotta go move some spam to my inbox...

It just may be. I've TREID to allow my inbox to be more of a task list as some here have described it. But as much as I try to do it for 2 - 3 days, the stress of NOT having a clean inbox gets to me. Right before the panic attack I move everything to a folder and all is better. I think it's an obsession on being "on top" of things. Oh well, it hasn't interrupted my daily life too much... unless you count moving email from my inbox to a folder after a middle-of-the-night bathroom run being a bit extreme obsessive.