I will soon start a new job where I expect to receive significantly more emails than I do currently. So far, I haven’t had a system in place, except for marking emails as unread until I respond and occasionally using flags.

I would like to change that practice, now that I have a clean slate. But how do I start managing my inbox?

I use Mac Mail and would like to continue using it. I know how to set up rules and create smart mailboxes etc., but I can’t really see the potential.

Thank you!

  • Wheeljack@nerdbin.social
    2·
    1 year ago

    At it’s core, whatever system you implement is going to have four buckets:

    • I need to see and deal with this immediately
    • I need to see this immediately, but can deal with it later
    • I need to see this at some point
    • This is a complete waste of my time

    When you set up filters/rules, it’s typically safer to err in putting something in a higher priority bucket.

    Past that, it really depends on the email you receive. For mine, an easy differentiator is if I’m a direct recipient, just a CC, or if I’m getting it as a member of a group mailbox. I get a lot of automated notifications, and those are easy to sort based on source and subject line.