The Rules on Email

While most of us look forward to having a few days off work, we dread coming back to a pile-up of email in our inbox. There are emails form the boss, colleagues, friends and mailing list, not to mention the ever- increasing amount of spam. And it all sits haphazardly in our inbox, tossed together like a salad in a big bowl. Sorting messages and managing email volume is a challenge for every office worker and business. Left uncontrolled, it can affect productivity and morale. So, how do you sort the good from bad, the important form the trivial, and successfully manage the email deluge?

Filter

Do you regularly receive important emails form your boss or colleagues? Set up filters in your email program to automatically move these into folders where you can access the messages quickly. Similarly, if you are working on a particular project, for example, the Jones account, create a sub- folder and place all related files there. Messages can be flagged in different colours if you need to come back to them later.

Spam

While we cant completely eradicate unsolicited emails, or spam, from our inboxes, we can minimise it by setting up rules in our email program based on certain phrases contained in the email, such as ‘Viagra; You can choose to automatically delete them or place them in junk folder for you to check manually.

Unsubscribe

How many list are you on? Do newsletters flood in without you having time to read them? Often, we subscribe to lists that we remaining for years; we become accustomed to seeing the message that make us fell like we are part of a special group. If you find you regularly don’t have time to read the newsletter you are subscribed to, it is to get your name off the list.

The unsubscribe exception

Thanks to the spam act 2003, Australian companies are required to remove toy from mailing list if you request. However, most spam originates form other countries where no such laws apply. Never unsubscribe form unsolicited email by clicking unsubscribe link within the email itself. All you are doing is validating your email address to the spammers- a sure-fire way to guarantee more.

Private

Avoid giving your primary email address to any website that request one. This includes services you have signed up for (such as a daily newsletter or shopping purchase) or websites where you must register to read or leave comments. This is the best way to ensure you receive spam for the life of your inbox. Instead, open a; disposable’ email account with Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo and forward the mail to your primary email account. That way, you can cancel the address when the spam gets out of control.

Be strict

Use the inbox for what it was intended. It was not intended to store ;to do; list, calendar appointments, and names and addresses. Outlook has a task list, calendar and contacts functions for these uses. Keep the inbox strictly for messages.

Remove temptation

If you cannot do any substantial stretch of work without instinctively looking in the corner of your screen for that little yellow envelop that tells you mail has arrived, close your email program. Make not to check email two or three times a day only, rather than having it run all day in the background.

Etiquette

Some companies give their employees only very limited-seized email inboxes, meaning they must be cleared up every few days to avoid reaching capacity and bouncing messages back to sender. Nothing fills up your inbox like a large attachment. If you are sent large fillies such as photos, pdfs and brochures, let the recipient know this is poor email etiquette and that a link to material should be provided so people can download the files if they choose.

Speak to me

Do you really need to send an email? Before adding to a colleagues inbox overload, consider whether picking up the phone or simply dropping by their desk would achieve the same outcome. Often, face-to-face interaction can resolve trivial issues that can become long and drawn-out over email.

The empty inbox

Some experts suggest the very radical idea of keeping the inbox completely empty. The idea is to consider the inbox only as temporary storage for incoming mail; everything should be deleted or field appropriately once read and therefore the only things requiring your immediate attention are hopefully the few emails in the inbox. This prevents important emails from being buried amongst hundreds of other messages. A bulging inbox can also be stressful to look at and take longer to search through. An empty inbox, on the other hand, is indeed a sight to behold and take pleasure in.

[Source: Business Express, March 2007]