Email has become the choice of communication replacing letters, memos and phone calls. While communicating via email has advantages such as communicating 24/7, tracking conversations and no trips to the post office there is also many disadvantages to using email in place of traditional modes of communication. These include information overload, constant communication and unlike a phone call that once you hang up it is over the email remains in your account waiting to be deleted or filed which leads to an overflowing inbox.

(Note: I have had folks with over 15,000 email items in their inbox! Now that is overflowing!)

There are several methods that can be used to help organize and clean out your inbox along with methods that can help keep you organized so your inbox does not grow out of control.

The first method that we are going to explore is using folders. A folder in Outlook is the equivalent of a folder in Windows – it is used house and organize files or in this case email.

Folders can be nested which allows you to create a folder within a folder which helps organizing even easier. Just be careful not to create too many folders or it may become difficult to locate items later.

To Create a Folder in Outlook 2003/2007:

1. From the File menu select New, then Folder

2. Type the name of the folder in the Name box

3. In the Folder contains box select Mail and Post Items

4. Select location for new folder

5. Click on OK

You can also right-click on Inbox in the left navigation and select new Folder

To Create a Folder in Outlook 2010:

1. Click on Folder tab

2. Click on New Folder

3. In the Folder contains box select Mail and Post Items

4. Select location for new folder

5. Click on OK

You can also right-click on Inbox in the left navigation and select new Folder

Once you have created your folder structure you can move current and new emails into the folders either by dragging and dropping the email (current email) or using rules to move new email into folders as it is received.

To Add Current Email to Folder:

Select the email that you want to move to a folder. Note: you can select multiple emails by holding the ctrl key while clicking on the email.

You can either move the folder by:

• Right-clicking on email and selecting Move to Folder or

• Drag the selected email into destination folder in left navigation

Next I will discuss using rules to help keep your email organized without your interaction. Stay tuned!