OUTLOOK EXPRESS

Here are a few suggestions for organizing your incoming email with this email client.

The best way I have learned to handle incoming mail is to leave each message in the inbox until I have dealt with it. Now, when I open my inbox everything in it is either something I need to read, answer, delete or move. Deleting and moving are simple. I can read and delete, or move to another folder and read later. Anything that needs to be answered stays right where it is so that I see it every time I open my inbox and the only way it will ever go away is when I answer it. This method works very well for me and I don't have very much old mail nagging at me. However, what works for me may not be the best solution for you. I will offer my suggestions and point out the things I have learned along the way, and hope that some of it is useful to you and your unique situation, and that it will save you a little time.

1. ORGANIZE YOUR EMAIL IN FOLDERS

Think about the different groups of email you receive and then set up a folder for each group. To do this:

1. Go to View, then Layout and click on Folder List.
   
2. While you're in there, customize the tool bar. I like "Move To" to be within easy reach.
   
3. Now you can either go to File - New - Folder, or you can right-click on the Inbox icon and choose New Folder. There are other ways to accomplish this step as well which I won't go into here.
   
4. Type in the name and click on the folder you want to put the new folder in, or leave it in Inbox. For Genealogy for example, I have a folder in the Inbox called Family Tree. Inside Family Tree are several more folders each titled with a family name. A plus sign will appear beside each folder that contains other folders. When you press the plus sign, it will show you the list of folders.
   

2. ARRANGE TO HAVE EMAIL DELIVERED TO THE PROPER FOLDER

Use your tools to direct the incoming mail. Here's how:

1. Click on Tools - Message Rules - Mail.
   
2. Select the New Rules tab and click on New.
   
3. You now have four boxes with which to choose criteria from and build your rules.
   
4. An example is when you want any messages that have Sex in the subject line to be automatically deleted so you don't even have to deal with them. From the boxes you would select:
   

3. FEAR NOT THE DELETE BUTTON

You will never, ever have the time to read everything that is sent your way. Letting mail pile up is just another way of pressuring yourself into becoming a perfectionist. That is not a good thing. Perfectionism is a disease that eats away at your time and musts be guarded against. Who needs that aggravation?

If you delete something and then decide you need the information, there are steps you can take.

1. Look in your deleted file and see if it's still there.
   
2. Go back to the website it came from and get another copy.
   
3. Use a search engine to find it online.
   
4. Ask your friends/people on message boards if they have a copy or know where to obtain it.
   
5. Phone your local library and ask what information they have.
   

4. BAN THE SPAMMERS

When you receive mail from someone you don't know, and especially if there is an attachment with it, just highlight it without opening, go up to Message and choose Block Sender. That message and any others that are sent to you in the future from that person will be deleted. If you find out that you have accidentally blocked someone you know then go to Tools - Message Rules - Block Senders List; highlight the sender and press Remove.

If you  are sure that you haven't received an email by accident and that it isn't a nice person's livelihood that will be affected, go ahead and forward the message to spam@corp.webtv.net They will be shut down. Once reported, they are deemed guilty and there is no opportunity to prove themselves innocent!

5. TAKE OUT THE TRASH

Personally, I think that once there are 100 deleted items in the Deleted Mail  folder it's time to dump it. Edit - Empty Deleted Items Folder. It doesn't take long to fill up again. It's easy to scan through them to double check, if you sort by "From", "Subject" or "Received".

Periodically check through any folders you haven't used for a long time to see if you really want to have them sitting there using up space on your hard drive. You can always save copies on disk for future reference.

To delete a batch of emails from any folder, just highlight one and then holding the shift key down, click on the last one in the batch. The whole selection will disappear at the touch of a delete