Managing Your E-mail

Dr. Roger Von HolzenCenter for Information Technology in Education

Issues

1. There’s too much information coming at me too fast.2. I get too many interruptions.3. I don’t have the discipline to be organized.4. I have to keep everything.5. It takes too much time to get productive.6. I can’t find what I need when I need it.7. Organization cramps my freedom and creativity.8. I’m not good with technology.9. There’s not enough time in the day.10. I’m not organized by nature.*

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Collection System

Physical locations used to capture actions, reminders, meeting notes, and where other people drop off tasks or information for you

At office and at home*

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Collection System

Five basic collecting points you should have:A paper inbox A paper note pad and/or digital note padVoice mailOutlook calendarE-mail*

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Four D’s for Decision Making

1. Do it if it takes less than two minutes.2. Delegate it—if you can delegate a task by e-mail or

over the phone, go ahead and get it done right away.3. Defer it to one of your categories in the Task list or

copy and paste it to a specific time on your calendar. 4. Delete it.*

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Determining What to Delete or Throw Out

Does this e-mail/document relate to an objective or project I’m currently working on?Can I find this information somewhere else, such as on a web site or from a colleague?Will I refer back to this information in the next three months?Am I required to keep it? Is it a legal, HR or financial issue?*

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Reference System

Enables you to track information that does not require action, but that you want to keep to access laterStore this type of information in:

Contacts Outlook personal foldersMy Documents foldersFiling cabinet folders*

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Contact Reference System

Keep directions in ContactsTrack conversations by typing notes directly into the Contacts Notes box

The next time you talk to the person, their comments from the previous call are available in the Contacts Notes box*

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Outlook Personal Folders

Establishing a Personal Folder hierarchy based on your objectives supports a very clear focus.Enables you to be more discerning about the information you keep and the information you delete.If an e-mail doesn’t relate to one of your objectives or categories delete it.Create a simple “Held Items” folder (an electronic “junk drawer”) to store unrelated messages such as account passwords, airline ticket information, etc. The same process should hold for storing paper documents in your file cabinet or My Documents.*

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Sent Messages

Store e-mail messages as Sent Items by forwarding them to yourself.Move your Sent messages to a Sent folder in your Personal Folders section.You could set up folders by quarters (Q1-10, Q2-10) or by single year (2010).You can use the search function to locate old messages.Saves disk space in your e-mail account.*

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To Create a Personal Folders Section1. On the Tools menu, click Options. 2. Click Mail Setup, and then click Data Files. 3. Click Add and select Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst)4. Click OK5. Click OK6. You can either change the name or leave the “Personal Folders”

title as is. You can also use the Outlook folder default location or select a different folder location.

Information Systems and CITE recommend that you do not use the Outlook default folder location. Select a more easily accessible and intuitive folder location such as My Documents on your hard-drive or within your network storage folder. (See Creating a .PST File to Backup Your Outlook 2007 Email Messages.)

7. Click OK and then click Close8. Click OK9. Right click on the Personal Folders title in the All Mail Items frame

and select “New Folder.” 10. Type in the name of the new folder.

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To get the icons at the lower left, click on the black option icon and select “Show Fewer Buttons.”

Stored “Sent” messages

Electronic “junk drawer”

Current projects

Calendar Items

There’s a 75% greater chance of a task being completed if it’s scheduled on your calendar rather than tracked on your Task list or in your head.To move an e-mail message to your Outlook Calendar, right click and drag the message to the Calendar icon and then release the click.Select either:

Copy Here as Appointment with TextCopy Here as Appointment with AttachmentMove Here as Appointment with Attachment

Set the start date and time and length of meeting.Click on the “Save and Close” button.*

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Control Panel—Dashboard

Set up Outlook to automatically open up a Control Panel that shows your calendar and your Task list. To create the Control Panel:

Click Calendar and make sure the vertical Navigation Pane is open at the left side of the Outlook window. If it’s not visible, click View, and click Navigation Pane, Normal.Click View again, and click To-Do Bar, Normal.Click View again, and click To-Do Bar, Date Navigator.Repeat the previous step for Appointments and Task ListAlso on the View menu you can select Work Week to see an entire week of the calendar.

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Control Panel—Dashboard

To make the Control Panel your default view when you open Outlook, follow these steps:

On the menu bar in Outlook, choose Tools, Options.On the Other tab of the Options dialog box, click Advanced Options.In the General section of the Advanced Options dialog box, click Browse next to Startup In This Folder.In the Select Folder dialog box, click Calendar, and click OK.

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Managing Your Calendar

When you accept interruptions, you’re sending a message that says, “It’s OK to interrupt me.”Solution—book two hours a day of uninterrupted time in your calendar to get work done at work.

If interrupted, ask people to come back later.*

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Dealing with E-mail

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Managing E-mail

Don’t avoid making a decision and leave e-mail messages where they are, only to be re-opened and re-read multiple times. When you open an e-mail you must make a decision about what to do with it and where to put it, dramatically reducing your e-mail volume.

Delete messages you know you’ll never get to.Do not use your Inbox as a Reference Information Storage location.

Move messages to your Personal Folders. Don’t use the Archive Folder (it’s located on your hard drive and the messages are difficult to retrieve).*

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Managing E-mail

Don’t respond immediately to e-mail messages you receive.

Responding right away throughout the day is ineffective and unrealistic.

Maintain set times to go through your e-mail.Schedule uninterrupted time each day to process and organize your e-mail.

Turn off your e-mail ding.*

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Managing E-mail

Send less e-mail.Write clear e-mails so they don’t come back with questions.Unsubscribe from newsletters and subscriptions.Use the telephone when appropriate.Things NOT to do:

clearing out all unread messagescarelessly forwarding e-mail messages—privacy and confidentiality issues may arise*

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