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Keeping Your Email Box Organized & Ready for Business
Author:
Stone Evans
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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This
article is written by a guest writer. The views and opinions expressed
within this article are those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect those of Detechnify.com, its' agents, empoyees, webmaster
or relatives.
You
can get details of the guest writer at the end of the article.
About
the author:
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Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you
can find everything you'll ever need to start, run and grow a
home based business at: http://www.Home-Business.com
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