Do you get dozens of emails a day? Is your anxiety increasing and your inbox in disarray because of them?

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Streamline your inbox to reduce email overload with these tips.

1. Break Them Into Categories

Define the main categories that reflect your needs:

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  • Want to organize personal emails?

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  • Want to organize work emails?

Within each main category, create subfolders for more specific organization.

Flat icon where human is working at their laptop and a clock is over the left shoulder. For examples, under “Personal” subfolders, you might have:

  • Insurance

  • Retirement

  • Receipts

  • Work Related

  • Taxes

  • Community

  • Church

Icon of human working at laptop with a briefcase above the left shoulder and a clock above the right shoulder. For example, under "Work" subfolders, you might have:

  • Clients

  • Reports

  • Meetings

  • Projects

  • In Review

  • Progress

  • Completed

Sorting emails into folders will help you keep your primary inbox clean. This means you only see brand new messages each time you open your mailbox.

2. Tag Them

Use labels or tags for additional organization, if your email service supports it.

By adding tags, you can easily send emails based on the exact audience and measured results. You can also locate or filter them for future organizing strategies.

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Common Tagging Categories

  • Projects: Tag emails related to specific projects (e.g., "Project A", "Client X").

  • Urgency: Use tags like "Urgent", "Follow Up", or "Later" to indicate the priority of responses.

  • Status: Tags such as "Pending", "Completed", or "In Review" can track the progress of tasks.

  • People: Tag emails by sender or recipient names (e.g., "Team", "Manager", "Client").

  • Topics: Use tags for specific subjects (e.g., "Invoices", "Reports", "Meetings").

  • Color-coding: This type of tag allows for cross-referencing emails across different folders.

Quiz

Your manager is constantly emailing receipts, which you automatically receive because of your department role. How can you organize the overload? Select all that apply:

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