Keeping
Your Email Box Organized & Ready for Business
Copyright © Stone
Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-2508
Learning how to get
the most organization from your email software is very likely the most
important skill you can learn to conduct a successful online home
business.
There are three
primary email applications on the market that folks use to manage their
incoming POP3 email. Those three are:
· Microsoft
Outlook Express
· Eudora
· Netscape Mail
In order to get the most from your email software, there are three key
processes that you should learn. These processes are concerned with
data organization, saving time and email database management.
SET UP EMAIL FOLDERS
Organization is key
to any emails that you intend to save. Having 2000 emails in one folder
is a sure-fire road map to confusion and lost communications and
information.
You are the best
judge as to how to organize your email into topics that provide an easy
method of retrieval of the information when you need it most.
Fortunately, the
primary email browsers make it easy to organize your information. By
allowing you to create folders within your email software, you can file
specific emails into folders dedicated to the topic of the email.
To create new
folders:
OUTLOOK EXPRESS:
1. Click File - Folders - New --- alternatively, you may also right
click an item in the Folder window --- and then type in the name of
your new folder. Highlight the folder above where you would like your
new folder to be placed, and then click OK.
EUDORA: Click on
Mailbox - New --- or right click on Eudora in the folders window
and then click on New. When the window opens, type in the name of your
new mailbox and click OK. If you want to create a folder to place other
mailboxes into, click the checkbox before clicking OK.
NETSCAPE MAIL:
Click File - New Folder. Then from the drop-down menu, select the
folder that you wish to be the folder directly above your new folder,
before clicking OK.
FILTERING EMAIL
Email filters are a
tool to help you save time and frustration. Have you ever lost an
incoming email under the deluge of email coming into your mailbox? With
filters, you can direct the important email or not-so-important email
into certain pre-ordained folders.
As part of the war
against spam, most ISP's use filters every day in an attempt to keep
the spam out of your mailbox. In fact, I even use filters to sort my
incoming mail trying to catch the spam my ISP missed.
Don’t be fooled into
thinking you need some special software to filter your email. Setting
up filters is actually quite easy.
To setup email
filters:
OUTLOOK EXPRESS:
Click on Tools - Message Rules - Mail. A wizard will open to help you
create your new email filters. Just follow the instructions provided to
direct mail based on certain criteria into certain folders.
EUDORA: Click
on Special - Make Filter. Once again, just follow the instructions in
the Filter wizard.
NETSCAPE MAIL:
Click on Edit - Mail Filters. Then click on New in the wizard. Once you
click on New, you will be taken to a new wizard window. Follow the
instructions here, then when you are done, click on OK. This will
return you to the first window where you will set up the sorting order
of your filter.
CLEANING AND COMPRESSING YOUR MAIL DATA
This is an important
part of your email management. When you no longer need an email, it
should be deleted. When you first delete an email, your software will
send the email to the Trash Bin. Your email is not actually deleted
until you first empty your trash bin.
Emptying your trash
bin compresses the mailboxes from where the email was originally filed.
This is absolutely paramount to the protection of your email data. If
you go too long between compressing your email data, then your email
data could become corrupted and you might need assistance in recovering
your email data.
Even after you have
emptied your trash, Compressing Folders is a recommended step to
prevent other data corruption. Once you understand that an email does
not actually move from one folder to another until the folder is
compressed, then you can better appreciate this advice.
As an example, when
Email A comes into your main Inbox, the data connected to Email A
appears in two files. One file contains the header and body of the
email. The other file contains only the email header information.
When an email is
moved from one folder to the other, only the header information is
actually moved. The body information will not be deleted from the
original folder until which time the original folder is compressed.
This explains the
purpose of emptying the trash AND compressing folders. If the email was
simply moved from the Inbox to another folder, then emptying the trash
is not enough. The original placement of the email is not actually
removed from the file that contains the body information until the
message has been designated for compression.
To empty your trash:
OUTLOOK EXPRESS:
Click on Edit - Empty 'Deleted Items' Folder. To compress the remaining
folders, click on Tools - Options, then click on the tab for
Maintenance. Then click the button that says, "Clean Up Now". Once the
compression is completed, click OK.
EUDORA: Click
Special - Empty Trash. To compress the remaining items that need
compression, then click on Special - Compact Mailboxes.
NETSCAPE MAIL:
Click on File - Empty Trash Folder. To compress the mailboxes, click on
File - Compress Folders.
I cannot stress
enough how important it is that you utilize the tools for emptying the
trash and compressing the mail folders. Protecting your email data on a
regular basis is good practice for avoiding disaster in your mailbox.
So many of us rely
upon our email software to keep our online business running smoothly.
Once you master the tools provided in your email software, your online
business will run smoothly also.
Let me share one
important lesson I l've learned about computer software. One should
never be afraid to try new things. Learning how to get the most out of
your software relies upon your willingness to dig in and learn how to
use it.
Once you learn how
to use your software to its full potential, then your life will be
greatly simplified and your effectiveness will be dramatically
improved.
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