I think it is important to delete irrelevant email and file the rest- I think that while keeping all email sounds like a good idea – it is easier to use search tools to find things if they have been pre-sorted and filed. I file probably about two thirds of the email I receive.

One trick I learned from the book “Getting Things Done” www.davidco.com is to read an email – work out what tasks need to be done in response to the email – then file the email and add the task or tasks to a task list. This technique is very useful if you receive an email which requires three or four actions which can be done now – and another action that will be done in few days time. It prevents that email staying in your in box and demanding your attention every day. If you haven’t read “getting things done” I can recommend it.

However – I still find it very hard to cope with the volume.

Also, becasue a lot of my emails have audio files attached, I have to archive every month to a seperate .pst file. I keep 3 months worth in my inbox – and at the end of the fourth month, I archive the oldest month. I keep all the .pst files open in Outlook for easy access. Works well.

Apart from that, using rules and folders is essential for alerts, newsletters and the like. I don’t use colours though. (Mainly cos I don’t want to keep having to scroll back in time to remind myself of things that doing. If I can’t action an email as I read it, I drag it into a folder named “!!!Requires Action”, which sits as the top of my folers list, and re-mark it as unread. From there, these emails can be dragged back into the appropriate inbox folder one completed.

Oh, and for really important stuff that I need to keep for reference, you still can’t beat a hard copy kept in my ‘bible’ folder!

Best tip I’ve heard is to set a rule to delete anything you’re only CCed on. If it’s important, then they should have sent it directly to you.