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Keeping Your Email Box Organized
& Ready for Business
by 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.
About The Author
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
articles@home-business.com |
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