Tuesday's Outlook Tip: Declutter your Inbox with ONLY 5 Folders...REALLY!!!

I know...I know....you're thinking "NO WAY, Kari doesn't understand. I literally have more than 7000 emails in my inbox and probably 250 folders." Oh but I do know. I've seen it all. Admins I've worked with that say things like - I know I have too many items in my inbox (15,000) no lie, executives that say, I don't like to file things because then I can't find them. Also true.  So stay with me....

Is one of your New Year's resolutions or goals to get organized? Mine is. Almost every year - this tip will help you get your email organized once and for all with a system that you can actually keep up.

Let me set this up and tell me if you can relate to either of these scenarios....

Scenario 1 - You can't ever find the messages you're looking for fast enough

You know you just saw that messages, you can't find it, you can't remember what folder you filed it in, you're clicking through folders, sorting and re-sor...

How many items are in your Inbox?

Truth be told - part of why I'm excited about this new Outlook Tip series I'm doing right now is - I need it. Do you have more than you should have? 

Experts say - your inbox should really have less than 100 items in it - and those 100 items should only be things you are either 1 - waiting on a response , 2 - actively working on, 3 - pending a reply that can't be done in a few minutes or more time to read 4 - following up on something delegated. If they don't belong in one of these categories - get them out of your inbox. Where?? That's for next week.

I'm guilty too - just like you - I let my inbox get away from me - but if you adopt some of these tips and the folder system (which I'll explain next week )- I promise it will be SO MUCH EASIER to get caught back up and get your inbox to a more manageable size.

The 4 D’s

During the time you have set aside to read your emails, you should process your messages by using the Four D's. Every NEW messages ...