Digital spring cleaning How to tidy up Outlook and keep it clean
As dirty as the windows in your home are at the end of winter, your digital inboxes are just as full. Time to tidy up and clean. We'll show you the most efficient methods for Outlook.
It often starts harmlessly. The computer is booted up, the first cup of coffee steams on the desk - then you click on the e-mail program. Suddenly, dozens of unread messages open up between old inquiries, half-finished replies and forgotten to-dos. What was meant to be a quick glance at the inbox turns into a spiral of overwhelm.
In fact, many professionals find their flood of emails stressful. An unstructured inbox not only affects productivity, but also well-being. However, chaos can be tamed with a simple system.
Tidy up large areas
If you are hopelessly overwhelmed, it helps to clear out large areas first. As a rule, very old emails, for example, can be deleted or archived without thinking. The easiest way to do this is to use the mailbox cleanup offered by Outlook. To do this, go to File in the top left-hand corner of your mailbox and then to Tools under Mailbox settings.
Here you can now filter out items that are older than three months, for example, with just a few clicks. Alternatively, you can also display emails with large attachments. This is particularly useful if your mailbox is slowly reaching its limit in terms of data.
Process instead of skim
Once the roughest part has been removed, it's time for the finishing touches. Many users open emails several times without processing them. This takes time and causes mental stress. Experts therefore recommend a consistent five-step method:
The five-step method for processing emails
- Delete if the email is irrelevant.
- Reply if the response takes less than two minutes.
- Delegate if the task can be passed on.
- Archive if no action is required.
- Transfer to the task list if further processing is required (see step 3).
There is a little trick for longer conversations, which sometimes cause a bit of chaos because only individual emails can be deleted or moved. To avoid this, you can click on the recycle bin on the right and select "Clean up conversation". However, this option is no longer available in the latest version of Outlook.
Create emails as tasks
Many emails contain specific to-dos - but these often get stuck in the inbox and are overlooked. Outlook users can simply drag and drop such emails into the task list and assign them a deadline. The big advantage: you can see at a glance which tasks are open without having to search through your inbox.
