Join My Email List
On average, how many emails do you get in a day? It is a staggering amount between legitimate offers from stores you frequent, spam and junk email, business related ones, and those coveted communications from friends/family to name just a few of the categories. It’s no wonder everyone is overwhelmed by email. Here are three ways to gain control over your ever exploding inbox once and for all.
- Filter and sort – One can set up ‘rules’ for email such that it is sorted as it comes in. How to do this depends on the email program you use.
- Gmail – You can create rules to filter your emails, or you can automatically label and sort messages.
- Outlook – If you are using a non-Mac version, look for help on creating rules or to sort email.
- Outlook – Mac users – For creating rules it is slightly different.
- Apple Mail – If you need help, go to organizing your inbox with folders or organize your mailbox if you use an iPhone or iPad.
- Schedule outgoing emails – Do you need to send an email later, but you would like to write and schedule it now, lest your recipient knows the real time you composed the email? You are in luck if you use Gmail, Outlook for Mac, Outlook 365, and iOS.
- Postpone a reply using autoresponder – If you are out of the office, whether it be for a vacation, a few hours, or a few weeks, set up an auto response so people who email you will know that you will not be replying and what to do if they need help immediately. By the way, you still do receive the emails so you can peak for any emergency messages. In that others will have received your auto response, you can choose to ignore their email guilt-free.
Remember ultimately, you are the only one who control your email. Just because someone sends you an email does not mean that you need to answer immediately. 24-48 hours is considered an acceptable response time in most cases unless there is a work-related emergency or project deadline. It is also perfectly reasonable to send a quick response stating that you received that email and that you will respond more fully within a couple of days. Consider writing a boiler plate response to that effect now that you can easily pull up and copy for future use. In the end, do not let others dictate your life via your inbox.
Photo: Pixabay