Learn to take control of your email rather than it controlling you.

1. Taming the email monster
Welcome
Introduction
Author name
Information Services
Julie Adams, Information Services
June 2012

2. Session overview
• Why we need to manage mail better
• Some techniques to manage mail better
• Using some Outlook features to help
– Viewing and organising your mail
– Using flags and tasks
– Using folders and Personal Folders
– Searching within Outlook
– Outlook Rules
• Dealing with spam

3. Why we need to manage mail
• Everyone gets too much mail…
• Takes too long to deal with
• Takes up storage space on the server
• Makes your email account slower to load
• Makes it hard to find the things you do need!
• To stop email managing us!

4. What are
your main
email
monsters?

5. 4 ways to take control
Set up a simple and effective email
reference/filing system
Schedule uninterrupted time to
process and organise email
Process one item at a time, starting at
the top
Use the "Four Ds for Decision-
Making" model

6. Types of email information
Reference • not required to complete an action;
keep in case you need it later.
information
Action • information you must have to
information complete an action

7. 4 ways to take control
Set up a simple and effective email
reference system
Schedule uninterrupted time to
process and organise email
Process one item at a time, starting
at the top
Use the "Four Ds for Decision-
Making" model

8. Four D’s for decision making
The "Four D's for Decision Making" model
(4 D's) is a valuable tool for processing e-mail,
helping you to quickly decide what action to take
with each item and how to remove it from the
Inbox.

9. The Four D’s model
Do it
Delete it (2 minutes
or less)
Delegate
Defer it.
it

10. Delete...
• If the message is not about something you need to
action or know about...GET RID OT IT!
Or
• Move to a folder ”Stuff I daren‟t delete”!
(in the short term)

11. Deleting email:
Some questions to help you decide what to delete:
• Does the message relate to a meaningful objective/project you're
currently working on?
If not, delete it
• Does the message contain information you can find elsewhere?
If so, delete it
• Does the message contain information that you will refer to within
the next six months? If not, delete it.
If not, delete it
• Does the message contain information that you're required to keep?
If not, delete it.

12. Delegate...
• If it‟s not your job to deal with it - don‟t do it; forward it to
the right person if necessary.
• If you can delegate it, do so right away
– After you have forwarded the message, delete the
original or move it into your email reference system.

13. Do it...
• Ask yourself, "What action do I need to take?" and
"Can I do it in less than two minutes?“
If you can, just do it.
• If you can confirm or reject a meeting request
immediately, respond to it!

14. Defer...
• Some email will need more thought or take longer than 2
minutes to respond to – Defer, organise and plan
• Use Outlook features such as Categories, Folders, Flags
and Rules to help you organise messages.
• Turn it into an actionable task, or turn it into an
appointment.

15. Quotas
• There is a limit on the amount of email you can store
• The standard limit for staff is 250Mb
• The email server is set up so that:
• Warning sent when mailbox size reaches 280Mb
• You can no longer send when it reaches 300Mb
• You can no longer send or receive at 500Mb

16. What makes the mailbox big?
• Your main email folder is the Inbox.
• Other folders that contain email include
– Deleted Items
– Drafts
– Sent Items
– RSS feeds
• Check how much space is taken up each of these
• Watch out for attachments!

17. Reducing the size of your mailbox
• Delete all your unwanted email items.
• Empty your Sent Items folder
• Empty your Deleted Items folder –
– set it to prompt to do so on exiting Outlook.
• Save messages/attachments and delete from mailbox.
• Save only the last message in a „conversation‟

18. Checking your mailbox size
• Right-click on icon for “Mailbox – your name”
• Select Properties
• Click on button for Folder Size…
• Total size and sub-folder size is displayed
• Demo

19. Viewing messages
• Messages in each folder can be viewed in various ways
– By date received (default)
– By who it is from/sent to
– By size
– With attachments
• Selecting different views can help locate items or
decide which to get rid of
• Demo

20. Setting flags/reminders
• Outlook allows you to set ‘ flag’ as a reminder to take
action
• Click flag to right of message in active folder pane
– Set to ‘Follow up’
– ‘Mark as complete’ once taken action
• Can also set the colour for these
• Demo

21. Sent items
• Easily build up in size – messages saved there
automatically
• Delete forwarded docs - otherwise can end up with 2
copies
• Delete earlier versions of documents sent in drafts

22. Removing attachments from
messages
• Attachments can take up a lot of your quota
• Don’t use email as your main file store!
• Can keep an email message, but save the
attachment elsewhere or just remove it.
• Demo

23. Create folders
• Folders and sub-folders can be used to organise
messages
• Can be used for specific topics or for messages from
particular contacts
• Move messages to folders by:
– drag and drop
– Move Items dialogue box

24. Archiving messages
• Archive Folders can be used to store
messages, contacts etc
• Can use Auto archive settings or archive manually
• Not saved on Exchange server so don’t count towards
quota
• Can help make main email easier to organise

25. Creating Personal Folders
• Personal Folders are used for archiving
• By default located on your PCs hard drive, so only
accessed from there – so not backed up automatically
• Can be in another location e.g. H: drive
• All messages saved in one Outlook Data File (.pst)
• Demo

26. Searching for messages
• Several options for searching - helps if mail organised
first!
• Viewing by various headings may help
• Simple searches – but not always enough
• Advanced searches
– By person, by date, by location/folder, with attachments
• Search Folders
• Demo

27. Using rules to filter messages
• Rules can automatically filter mail into specific folders
– move messages from particular people to specified folder.
– move messages based on their subject
• Rules are applied to messages as they arrive
• Can get quite complex – especially if have a number set
up
• Demo

28. Dealing with spam
• Some messages filtered by IS
• Can set your own preferences:
– https://www.staffs.ac.uk/spamprefs-ext
– Add addresses to whitelist
• Check Probably Spam folder – some real messages
can slip through
• Also use Outlook Junk mail settings - add addresses
to list

29. Practice
• Select the activities which will be of most use
to you:
– Check your account quota
– Explore sorting/view options, flags and categories
– Set up custom search folders
– Create a rule for your email
– Explore archive settings and set up personal folders
– Look at Outlook Today
– Practice with Tasks

30. Any questions?