Module 5 · 5.2
English
A system you can keep up
Module 5: Organising and finding · Reading time: 8 minutes
Learning objective: After this lesson you can choose and set up a simple way of working for your mailbox, so you can see what still needs doing and find email again without sorting every day.
Key concepts: Inbox as a work tray, four choices, flagging, unread, archive, fixed times, shared mailbox
Why a system
A full mailbox is rarely the problem. The problem is that you can no longer see what still needs doing. A question from a customer gets lost among newsletters, and an invoice you still have to pay sits on page four. A system solves this with a few fixed agreements with yourself. It doesn't have to be complicated. Above all, it has to be so simple that you're still doing it three months from now.
There is no single best method. People work differently, and a sole trader gets different email from a club or association. This lesson gives you the building blocks and the choices. You decide what fits.
The Inbox as a work tray
The core of almost every workable system: the Inbox is a work tray, not an archive. Whatever is in the Inbox still needs something from you. Whatever is finished leaves it. That way, one glance at the Inbox tells you straight away how much work is waiting.
To make this work, you make one of four decisions for each message:
- Gone. You don't need it. Delete it, or report it as spam if it is spam. A newsletter you never read: unsubscribe, so it won't come back either.
- Archive. It's done, but you want to keep it. One click on Archive (lesson 5.1) and it's out of sight, but you can find it again by searching (lesson 5.3).
- Do. Something needs to happen that takes more than a few minutes. Leave it where it is and give it a flag (the Flagged flag), so it stands out. If it takes less than a few minutes, do it right away and archive it afterwards.
- Waiting. You're waiting for a reply or a payment. You can flag it, or put it in a folder of its own called Waiting that you go through once a week.
The most important thing is not to click on without making a decision. Every message you open and leave without a choice is one you'll have to read again later.
Few folders and searching, or lots of folders
How many folders do you need? There are two schools of thought.
Lots of folders: a folder per customer, per project, per supplier. Advantage: you see everything from one customer together. Disadvantage: every message costs you a decision about where it goes, and an email about two customers fits in neither. After a year you often have forty folders, of which you use five.
Few folders and searching: one archive, possibly split by year, and searching for everything else. Advantage: archiving is one click, without thinking. Disadvantage: you need to be good at searching. Lesson 5.3 shows that this works very well in webmail: by sender, recipient, content, in all folders at once.
A middle way works best for many people: a few folders for things that really need to be kept separate (for example Facturen (invoices) for the bookkeeping), and one archive for everything else. Folders that a filter fills automatically (module 6) cost you no work, so you can have a few more of those.
Flagging, unread and filtering the list
A few tools in webmail make the system easier:
- Flagged. With Mark > As flagged, a message gets a flag and turns red in the list. The flag is stored on the server, so your email program and your phone see it too (there it is often called a star or a flag).
- Unread. With Mark > As unread, you set a message back to unread. Handy as a reminder, but unreliable as a system: a phone that briefly opens a message marks it as read again.
- Type in the search options. Under Type, choose for example Flagged or Unanswered. The list then shows only those messages. Unanswered is handy in the Inbox: these are the messages you haven't replied to yet. Note: webmail only knows whether you clicked Reply yourself. If you replied from your phone or called back, the message still counts as unanswered, unless your mail app also marks it as answered.
There is also a pitfall: automatically marking as read. If webmail is set to mark a message as read as soon as it appears in the preview pane, unread loses its meaning. Under Settings > Preferences > Mailbox View you choose after how many seconds a message counts as read (lesson 2.1).
Fixed times
If you react to every new email all day long, you won't get much other work done. A system works better with fixed times: for example in the morning, after lunch and at the end of the day. At each of those times you work through the Inbox using the four choices. Once a week you go through the flagged messages and the Waiting folder. How often you check depends on your work. An online shop with customer questions checks more often than a club. The point is that you choose, instead of letting every notification choose for you.
A shared mailbox
If several people work in one mailbox, such as info@, you need agreements, otherwise two people reply or nobody does. For example:
- Whoever picks up a message flags it straight away (everyone sees the flag, because it's stored on the server).
- After replying, the message goes to the archive, so the Inbox shows what is still open.
- Replies are sent from the same address and with the same signature (module 4).
- Each day, one person is responsible for getting the Inbox empty.
Also agree on what you don't do: nobody sets up an email program with POP on this mailbox, because then email disappears for the others (lesson 1.2).
In practice: how it works in webmail
You'll find Mark in the toolbar above the message; Archive appears as a button as soon as you've chosen an archive folder under Settings > Preferences > Special Folders. Type and the other filters are in the search options (the small arrow in the search box). The steps are in the Roundcube manual under Flagging, moving and deleting and under Archiving messages. Other webmail works in a similar way: Gmail has an Archive button and stars, Outlook.com an Archive button and flags.
Summary
- The Inbox is a work tray: whatever is in it still needs something from you.
- Make one decision for each message: gone, archive, do (flag) or waiting.
- Few folders plus good searching is less work than lots of folders; folders that a filter fills cost nothing.
- Flags and the answered status are stored on the server, so colleagues in a shared mailbox can see them too.
- Work through the Inbox at fixed times and make agreements if you share a mailbox.
Quiz
Exercise
Exercise D5.2: Your organising plan. Open your own mailbox in webmail. Count how many folders you have (Settings > Folders) and how many unread messages are in the Inbox. Then choose a system: few folders plus archive, lots of folders, or a middle way. Set it up: choose an archive folder under Special Folders if you don't have one yet, clean up folders you haven't used for a year (move the email to your archive first) and work through the Inbox once using the four choices. Then answer these questions for yourself: how many folders did you have, and how many do you have now? How many messages are still in the Inbox, and do they all really still need something from you? At which fixed times will you check your email from now on? And if you share a mailbox: which two agreements will you make with your colleagues?
Exercise D5.2: Your organising plan
You do this exercise yourself; no one checks it. Tick off what you've done and mark the exercise as done.
A workable system: your Inbox is your in-tray. For each message you decide: delete, archive, act on it (flag) or wait. A few folders plus good searching works better for most people than dozens of folders. Schedule a fixed time to go through your flags and your in-tray.
Your ticks and notes only stay in this browser; we don't send them anywhere. If you're signed in, we only save in My courses that you've done the exercise.
Further reading
Where steps in webmail are described, they apply to WebOké's webmail; other webmail works in a similar way.