Keeping Track of Unread E-mail – Part I

We all organize our e-mail differently, because we all work differently and have different needs. BUT! A common complaint is “My Inbox is overflowing!” and a common request is “Organize me!” This post introduces you to using rules to organize e-mail into folders rather than letting it all flow into your Inbox.

I’d like to suggest if you organize your e-mail into folders and sub-folders (especially if you use rules to move incoming e-mail into folders) you create search folders that show you your unread personal e-mail, unread business e-mail, and unread subscriptions and newsletters.

Here’s an example … looking at the screen capture below, we see that right now I have 15 messages in my Inbox, none of which are unread. I have custom Search folders that examine Client-Contact folders, and I can see there is no unread mail there. Likewise, other custom search folders display the embarrassing truth that I have 681 unread newsletters (I’m a newsletter junkie and way behind on spring cleaning) and 7 unread personal e-mails. Because I rely heavily on rules to keep my Inbox clear, these custom search folders ensure I don’t miss any new client or new contact e-mails. Stay tuned for Part II of this post where we learn how to create these custom search folders!