How to filter out unnecessary emails

Email overload need not turn you to drink

Image via Flickr

Parking my scooter outside 'The Havelock Tavern' in Masbro Road in London recently, I noticed man standing outside the pub smoking while reading and replying to emails on his Blackberry. As I locked up my bike, I overheard him complaining to himself about the amount of unnecessary emails he was copied into in his business.
At that point, I spoke up and asked him about his business. "I'm buying another pub around the corner. I own this one and I am adding another one. I get all these emails from the solicitors, agents and builders which I am just copied into and which are, quite frankly, about things I pay them to be worried about".

I said I had the same problem with email. I get several hundred emails a week into which I am copied or 'CC'd'. And I filter them so that I either flag these emails in my inbox or move them to a special folder. If the emails are important enough then people will get in touch with me to say so. If not, then it was not that important anyway.
He said that that was "a bloody good idea" and how can he do the same. It's quite easy. You just set up a rule in your email software (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, or Mozilla's Thunderbird) and tell it to move or mark any emails on which you are 'CC'd'. It saves a lot of time.
And that's the reality. We spend an awfully large amount of time reading things we are not interested in or in which we have no concern. Email is good thing as long as you learn to filter it. Also, you must learn not to copy people into emails which you think they might be interested in. Don't waste everyone's time.

Here are some other great articles and videos about filtering emails:

Filtering Emails Using Smart Rules « HappyFox Blog
www.happyfox.com7/13/12
Filtering Emails Using Smart Rules. - Mohan Ramkumar on 13 Jul 2012. We have already talked about Smart Rules and how better you could boost the productivity of your team with it, step by step. Without the need for any human intervention, ...
HOWTO create an Outlook rule to filter email you've been Bcc'd on ...
blog.gnu-designs.com5/22/12
Yes, you can create an Outlook rule to filter off emails to another folder (or delete them) if you've been a Bcc recipient of an email. These are commonly.
Creating Rules in Outlook to Filter Messages
Tired of trying to figure out which emails are the most important? Organize your inbox today! take a look at this short screencast on how to create filters and folders in Microsoft Outlook.

How To Create Rules and Filters in Gmail - Beginner - Novice - Newbie
Simple rules and filter will help to organize your emails in your gmail account.