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3 ways to better manage your email inbox

Your email inbox is most likely one of your main connections to the world but, if it goes unattended for just one day, it can quickly become overwhelming. Missing emails can mean overlooking important details or missing out on opportunities. Luckily, there are several tricks that can help prevent your inbox from becoming untamable. Here are three of them:

  1. Set up foldersSetting up folders, tags or labels in your inbox allows your email client to sort out emails automatically. You can typically set filters according to email address, so emails from your Aunt Hilda will go into their own folder and won’t clutter your inbox.

    This helps you determine which emails must be read immediately and which ones can be left until later. This convenient feature is available in most email clients and services.

  2. Enable conversation viewEnabling conversation (or “threaded”) view in your email client limits the number of visible emails in your inbox. Emails that are related to one conversation will all be found under one “email” instead of taking up several spots in your inbox.

    So now, when you archive or erase an email that has a conversation attached to it, all of those emails will be archived along with it. This keeps your email looking cleaner and makes your inbox less overwhelming.

  3. If it will take less than 5 minutes to address, deal with it right away Any time an email will take five minutes or less to address, it’s counterproductive to put it off. If it must be done, it will have to either be done now or later, so why not do it now? As you continue this habit, these basic emails will start taking even less time and it will become like second nature to address emails as they arrive.

These are just a few easy ways that can help make your inbox more manageable. There are many more tricks that are just as easy and can make a huge difference in your everyday email habits.

For more tips on email management check out this Business Insider article.

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