Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Take Control of Your Inbox
Does your Inbox contain hundreds of messages? Thousands? Tens of thousands? If so, you
may find it nearly impossible to tell which messages you've dealt with and which still require
action, and finding a particular message in that long list may be a daunting challenge. You
need to take control of your Inbox!
Although everyone's different, I'd like to offer some suggestions in this chapter that will help
you manage the flow of incoming messages. I don't particularly care whether you do things
my
way, but please think carefully about the types of messages you receive and come up with
a plan to deal with them that works for you.
I begin this chapter with a series of pointers that apply equally to Mavericks (and other
desktop platforms) and iOS. Then I discuss specific approaches for each platform in
Develop
Take Responsibility
The first step to taking control of your Inbox is recognizing that you, and only you, bear the
responsibility for making your own email manageable. If you feel overwhelmed by email, don't
point the finger at email as a medium—or at Apple Mail, your email provider, or your corres-
pondents. You can make email work for you, but as with a diet or fitness program, it requires
time, effort, and perhaps discomfort on your way to success. No app, service, or technique can
do all that for you magically, even though such things can certainly help a bit.
As I said in my TidBITS article
It's Not Email That's Broken, It's You
, email as such isn't the
problem, but rather the bad habits many people have gotten into when it comes to dealing
with email. Perhaps your mother, like my mother, was fond of saying, “This room isn't going
to clean itself up!” By the same token, I can assure you that elves will not appear overnight and
answer all your delinquent email, file it away for you, and leave you with an empty Inbox. If
you want to feel in control of your Inbox, that's going to require some reflection, experiment-
ation, and changes in habit.
So, although I can't solve this problem for you, I can offer some tips and suggestions that, I
hope, will point you in the right direction. That's what the remainder of this chapter is about.
Consolidate Your Accounts
Since you're reading this topic, I assume you have at least one email account. Maybe you
have two (personal and work)—or maybe, like me, you have more than a dozen. My excuse is
