Paper Tiger Blog

By Meggin McIntosh, “The Ph.D. of Productivity”™ and Paper Tiger Expert

Do you use folders in your email system? If you do, then you’ll want to read this article to find out how to use them more effectively. If you don’t, then you’ll want to read this article to find out ways of setting up folders – and why you would want to do so.

It’s surprising to me the number of people who have never set up folders in their email. When they open up their email, they see the Inbox, the Outbox, and Sent, Deleted, and Junk. These are the ubiquitous folders that common programs like Outlook, GroupWise, or Eudora give you. They are fairly standard and many professionals never explore the power of having anything beyond those five folders.

Before we get into how to structure your folders, here’s how to create a folder (in essentially all the typical email programs):

1. Right-click on the Inbox folder. One of the choices that pops up says, “New Folder.”
2. Type in the name of the folder (more about that later in the article).
3. If you should decide you want to have subfolders, then you just right click on whatever the ‘parent’ folder would be and go through the same process.

In terms of structuring your folders, let’s get a visual image first. Imagine your file cabinet. When you open it up, you might see 10 folders in there. That’s all fine, but if you started stuffing each individual folder with several folders and then stuffing those particular folders with even more folders, before long, you would have quite a bit of trouble finding anything you were looking for.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what some people do with their email folders. They create too many folders and then they embed several “levels” of folders within those folders. You are far better off to create some rather broad categories of folders and then to create one and NO MORE THAN TWO levels beneath that ‘parent folder.’ Here are some general suggestions for folders to have:

1. Action Folder. My ACTION folder is named “ASAR,” which means “As Soon As Reasonable.” I do not call it ASAP. I move things into ASAR if I can’t do them or don’t delegate them and they are emails on which I need to take action. My goal is to never have more than a screen-full of items in that folder. I’m constantly clearing that folder out and dealing with whatever is in there.
2. Waiting For. The ‘waiting for’ category is where you put any email on which you are waiting for a response. Essentially the only time I cc myself on an email is when I want to be reminded that I have sent out an email and in some way, I am waiting for a response. As soon as that email comes in (i.e., the one I have sent), then I move it to the Waiting For folder in my email. It’s wise to check this folder every day or two to see whether you need to follow up. Some emails can sit in this folder for weeks; others can only wait a day or two until you make a phone call or send a follow-up email.
3. Projects. All of us have projects – that’s life, we have projects. With projects you can have 40 sub-folders, so that when you click on “Projects” all those sub-folders open, but be careful about embedding things too far down. If you think about some of the emails you currently have in your inbox that are related to projects, then you’ll know that they belong either in the general ‘projects’ folder or, more likely, in the project sub-folders. These particular emails are not actions you need to take, because that would be in your ASAR; they are just information related to a project or something you want to have for later reference. But it all goes with the project and you can put it in your folders if you created them.
4. Listservs and Ads. You can call yours whatever you want, but this is where you put all the emails you receive from various companies and associations. None of these is time critical. You want to avoid having sub-folders under this category and you’ll want to do your best not to have more than a screen-full of those, because you’re delusional if you think you’ll ever read these when a large number of them amass.
5. Reference. This folder is exactly what it sounds like. When you get emails that are not really related to projects, but they’re related to something else you do, you want to keep these for future reference. Certainly, one possibility is that you print them out and put them in a file cabinet. But in most cases, you just need to be able to access the information someday (although realistically, probably not) and so keeping it in the Reference folder will do the trick. You may decide to create subfolders within this category, but be careful about creating too many.

Using the folder option is a smart way to categorize your emails. Use the suggestions in this article to get started and/or to refine the way you use folders.

And, if you’d like to access many more ideas that will let you keep moving forward on your goals for more peaceful productivity, then join others (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (and see what is available for download at no cost at the following websites):

**Top Ten Productivity Tips (http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com)

**Keys to Keeping Chaos at Bay (http://www.KeepingChaosatBay.com)

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meggin_McIntosh

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One Response to “Email – Set Up Folders For Increased Productivity”

1. Ike Martin says:

   May 28, 2010 at 4:19 pm

   some good ideas here,Thanks