Good mailbox maintenance consists of:
1. Deleting messages you don't need (use your TRASH CAN!)
2. Organizing the things you are keeping for easy access
3. Backing up your email database
The most efficient way to get rid of messages you no longer need is to delete them as soon as you have read or responded to them.
If you think you may need to refer to a message, keep it - but regularly evaluate the messages in your various mailboxes or folders and delete those items you really don't need.
Some email applications limit the amount of email you can store, while others are only limited by the amount of space on your hard drive. But like postal mail, there are things that should be kept for later reference, and others that should be tossed.
Deleting email is usually accomplished by using the DELETE MESSAGE command or by moving the message you don't want into a deleted folder or trash can.
Make sure you inspect all the places you store mail: In boxes, out boxes, project folders, and so forth. If a project is terminated and the information in that mailbox is no longer needed, you might even consider deleting the entire mailbox.
When you delete a message, it generally goes into a mailbox called Trash.
The message will stay in the Trash until you or the software empties the Trash. If you want to rescue it before the Trash has been emptied, you can. Once the Trash has been emptied, the message is gone.
Email software handles emptying the trash in several different ways:
Choose the method which best reflects how you use email.
You should empty the Trash regularly (or even daily) if:
However, if you often puts things in the Trash and then realize later you need them, you might consider developing a system that lets you put messages in a "holding" folder until you decide if you need to keep them or can put them in the Trash.
Once you have deleted all the email you don't need, you should consider organizing what is left. The better it is organized, the easier it will be to locate it when you need it.
You can create additional mailboxes or folders as needed to organize your mail.
If you are working on a project and need to keep track of the messages you send as well as those you receive, you need to move both the sent mail and the received mail into the proper folder. You need to set up your email program to keep a copy of each message you send in your Out box.
It is always a good idea to back up any important computer data. This is true for email as well.
If you or your System Administrator regularly backup your entire hard drive, then your email is being backed up also. However, some backups are done only on data files. In this case, make sure the folder or directory where your email is stored is included in your data files.
Some programs will compress (archive) old email for you. Use this feature if it is offered. It will save space on your hard drive. However, compressing the messages doesn't mean a backup has been made.
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