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Depending on your professional responsibilities, you may have to read and respond to hundreds of emails a day. Only you know how overwhelming, tedious and time-consuming it can be when there are many unread emails. Focusing on other important tasks becomes difficult with this clutter. What if you have to manage multiple email accounts? The number of unread emails multiplies. You keep switching tabs to track multiple conversations via emails. However, there are some tools available such as email sorting software or apps to organize email that can make your job easier. With such tools, you can easily take care of your inbox. You need to spend less time reading and responding to all the important emails.
Here are some tips for you:
Don’t Check all the Messages
A busy professional receives emails throughout the day. However, not all of those messages are important. When you are trying to finish an important task with a deadline, new emails in your inbox always distract you. However, you don’t have to read all the messages. Read important emails only. Set aside time for the remaining emails. Check your inbox after every 60 or 90 minutes. During these 60 or 90 minutes, pay attention to important conversations only. Organize your inbox once a week. You can use folders and labels to keep your inbox organized. Set aside time to send longer emails. Use email sorting software to organize your inbox in an efficient way and in less time. When you are not expecting important messages, don’t open your inbox in a different tab. Simply check for new messages only a few times a day.
Don’t Respond to All Messages
Not all emails in your inbox require an immediate response. First of all, identify emails that you have to reply to immediately and mark them as important. Open each important email one by one and write your response. If the email requires a longer response, set aside time to write down your reply. If you are using apps to organize email, you can create a folder for such emails. Having all important emails in one folder helps you respond without losing track.
Create Multiple Folders
Use email productivity tools to create different folders or sections. You can move emails in separate folders according to importance or urgency. Gmail and other email services come with features that allow you to filter out promotional emails and spam. Email sorting tools provide you with more useful features.
Use Labels Filters and Rules
You can direct messages to specific folders using rules and filters. This not only saves your time but also helps you focus on important emails. You can organize and track emails using labels. If you are not using email sorting tools, you can use tags to sort your messages.
Use Templates
Responses to some emails require similar content. You don’t have to write similar content again and again. Minimize your work by using templates. With a little editing, you can write a response to an email. There are some tools that help in writing emails quicker.
Unsubscribe
Get rid of unnecessary messages in your inbox by unsubscribing promotional emails and mailing lists. You have signed up for newsletters but you don’t read all of them. Also, unsubscribe from social media notifications. If you want social media alerts and newsletters in your inbox then you can create a separate account or use apps to organize email.
Mute Group Emails
If the sender adds you in CC and you don’t need to reply to these email threads or not need to be updated, you can avoid unnecessary notifications by muting that thread.
Always keep your inbox organized.
