How to Manage Email

No matter what you use email for, you must manage it effectively or the sheer volume of it can overwhelm you. This means filtering spam, replying to email as it comes in and sending old emails to the trash. Follow these steps to organize the process.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Email account

1. Set your spam filters to weed out unwanted emails. You can have your email server filter the spam for you (Gmail, Yahoo! and Outlook all have email spam filters), or you could have your computer's antivirus or anti-spam filter handle it. Both methods can also be used in conjunction to create a more complete spam blocker.

2. Create separate folders within your email application to help manage email from different sources easily. For example, create a folder called "Work" for all business related emails, and create one called "Shopping" to store emails from your favorite online retailers. You can then drag and drop emails into those folders for later use.

3. Set your email server to automatically check for new emails at predetermined intervals. For instance, if you're constantly receiving emails, consider setting the automatic send/receipt function on Outlook to an interval that is fairly frequent without becoming a nuisance (5 minutes is relatively standard).

4. Incorporate all of your emails from various accounts into a single application, like Outlook Express or Outlook. This will make it easier to manage your email without having to spend time opening each account separately. You will be able to save usernames and passwords in the same place.

Tips & Warnings

• Use multiple email accounts whenever you want to separate business from pleasure. For example, have a cute and fun email address for your friends, but choose something simple and professional for business emails and contacts.
• Be aware of the existence of spam and the threat it poses to your computer. Spam not only clutters your inbox with advertisements, but some spam messages also contain spyware and viruses that can ruin your computer.
• Don't open emails with attachments that you were not expecting. Some viruses exist that can make emails look legitimate (like those coming from friends and family) but they contain malicious content that can upload to your computer.