Blog Home

Not use email folders? Are we kidding? We assure you we aren't.

If you read our post from last week, you'll see that most often the reason we choose to use email folders is in an attempt to organize our cluttered inboxes. Today, we'd like to tell you why folders aren't the best way to organize your email.

A folder is an absolute must-have for organizing things that can be labeled in a “mutually exclusive” way. Simply put, folders work well for items that can be put in a single bucket and NOT in any other.

Email messages however, are seldom mutually exclusive. For example, an email that gets stored in the “boss” folder may fit better in a “topic” folder. Most emails from team members, could fit into any number of folders depending on current tasks or work priorities.

Bottom line? Not only do we spend time spent organizing our messages into folders but we also waste time later, trying to figure out which folder an email is in. And this is precisely why you shouldn't use folders!

So how do we expect you to cope then? Watch this space and next week, we'll tell you how you can reduce your reliance on folders and still stay organized.

What other issues do you face with your email folders? Let us know in the comments below.