In the world of email there are options.
If you are new to computers you may not understand certain differences in how things are done. That can be said about email as well. In the cyber world there are two types of email; webmail and email clients. Just as there are differences between apples and oranges there are differences between webmail and email clients. Here you will learn the differences to better choose the email type that fits your needs.
The first thing to understand is the difference between webmail and email clients. An email client is software installed on your computer that is used to access the email server your service uses. Webmail however is a server that you log into over the internet.
The email client downloads your emails onto your computer the same way you download any other file from the internet. With webmail, the emails are left on your providers’ servers and that is where they stay unless you delete them.
Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail are the biggest names in webmail services. By logging into their site you can access your email and send new messages. This is convenient for people who are constantly on the move because your email can be accessed from any internet connection. In a world where mobile computing is replacing desktop computers, this is an advantage.
Outlook, Incredimail, and Thunderbird are email clients that are installed on the computer and used to access email. When you check your email on these clients your emails are downloaded to your computer and stored there until you delete them. These email clients are used more in business than personal computing. This is due to the security and archiving of the emails.
Now when you are deciding which is best for you, you must look at how you utilize email. If you use it socially, from many different coffee shops or hotspots, and want to access it from different computers, then webmail is the answer. This will allow you to see emails no matter how or where you login from. Since your emails are stored on your services servers, they will be there no matter where you are.
If you only access emails from home, want to have archival options, and want to know that your emails are not sitting on someone elses servers, then perhaps an email client is right for you. There are however down sides to using an email client.
For instance if you experience computer problems, a crash, or are trying to access a previously viewed email from another computer, you won’t be able to access it. Also all the emails you download take up space on your computer’s hard drive. This will eventually lead to a lack of disk space and you will have to weed through and clear out some emails.
The majority of email users are switching from the conventional email clients to webmail for convenience. If you are undecided on which method suits your needs, take a look at what you use your email for and which method would closely match what you need.
Author Terry Southerland is a career counselor who writes for thebestdegrees.org, a site providing lists of online degree programs as well as rankings and reviews for many fields, such as online business administration degrees.
Let’s remember the two minute rule. Take the number of items you have in your inbox and multiply that number by 2. That’s the maximum number of minutes this project should take you. Then, set aside uninterrupted time to start working on your inbox.
This practice is actually a great way to help you get acclimated to the new way you will handle your inbox. If you have a very large amount of items, it may be useful to break this project into a few different time slots. BUT… Don’t stop the project until your inbox is totally clear!
I have thousands and thousands of e-mails not only in my inbox, but in many folders….
It is difficult to give you rules on when you should purge your e-mails. But the first thing is to spend time getting all of those e-mails out of your inbox, and into action folders or into reference folders.
The second thing I suggest you do is to go into your folders, sort your mail by date, and start with the oldest, and just start purging. Another way to sort is to sort by those with attachments, because some attachments can be quite large, and can impact the performance of your system.
Another suggestion is to save the attachment on an e-mail to your hard drive, the first time you view it, and make sure that the e-mail references the path where the item is saved.
Finally, every time you are in a folder, take a quick look at what is “hanging” in the folder. You might be able to easily delete the out of date items in a few quick seconds.
How many items do you regularly carry in your inbox?
Well, if it is more than what recently arrived, chances are that you are using that inbox and its contents to remind you to do tasks related to those emails.
As Dr Phil would say, “How’s THAT workin’ for ya?”
Keeping hundreds of messages in your inbox is like having hundreds of papers strewn all over the top of your desk, in no files, in no piles, just sitting there waiting for you to root through them do decide what to work on next.
Using your inbox as a to do list is choosing the most dysfunctional, disorganized, and productivity sapping way to try to get things done. Why? Here are three reasons:
1. It essentially requires that you review each item each day to choose your next task, then do the same the next day, and the next. You’re repeating the same process every day.
2. Scrolling up and down, opening and closing messages, reading and rereading the same message is just plain wastefully unproductive.
3. It also is an instant source of morning stress, opening that inbox and viewing everything you’re NOT going to get done that day.
Our solution? Sort all items requiring your action to folders you’ve created for that purpose. Call them Action A and Action B – A for the important stuff, and B for the not so important stuff.Drag and drop the message there, and set a reminder for the date you want/need to view it to work it. Your reminder system then becomes the trigger for you to work that items rather than viewing it every day waiting for its importance to rise to the top.
As if we don’t have enough emails charging into our inboxes already! Now we have Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. notifications haphazardly gracing that inbox, intterupting us, and adding more messages to an already crowded space.
Here’s a tip that you might find useful:
Create folders for each social media account. Or perhaps just one folder for all your social media stuff. Whatever works best for you…
Then, create an automated rule that sends any email notification directly to that folder. In other words, you might create a rule that says all messages coming from Facebook are dropped directly into your newly created Facebook folder. This emliminates another flash or ding of an interrupting email. It also eliminates your having to read, or drag and drop them to the folder. It is done automatically.
Then, view all the contents of that folder at a time that works for you. Simple – that’s all there is to it.
The benefit of this is that you’ll avoid multiple sporadic interruptions throughout the day. It also sets you up to “group like tasks” which is a time management technique that truly works.Then, when you’re in the mood to check in on your FB friends, YOU decide when you’ll view the notifications, not the other way around.
We have all groaned at the email sent to several people and the resultant exploding number of responding “reply all” emails.
Trying to solve a problem via a community of emails can be a real challenge, to say the least. Argualbly, email is most likely NOT the best way to approach brainstorming or problem solving with several people. But… once it’s out there, here’s a tip that can be quite useful.
Apply the TWO AROUND rule.
This means that once it has gone back and forth 2 times, it ain’t gonna get solved by email. This means pick up the phone or call a quick meeting.
The biggest challenge is to notice that it’s gone around twice. Stand back, be the one to pull in the reigns, and call the meeting or pick up the phone.
Your problem will get solved sooner, and with less emotion. Sounds like a plan, heh?
As you go up the corporate ladder, the number of email messages received seems to increase exponentially.
While its understandable that the air becomes more rare, and there are fewer people in each hierarchical level, we have to question whether some of these emails going to the boss are truly valuable to him or her. Of course, the boss needs to know what’s going on in the organization. Of course he or she needs to be briefed on problems and their resolution. But are individual emails the best way?
With senior level execs getting 150-200 e-messages a day, do you really believe that all of them will be read thoroughly? Do you believe that by merely sending a copy of that message, he or she will “get what’s going on? Or – let’s get real now – are you covertly trying to get in good with the boss. Or even worse, are you delegating upward?
Here are a few thoughts…
If you’re trying to keep that great boss informed by simply adding him or her as a copy, consider alternatives. How about a daily digest? How about an executive summary? Or how about forwarding your sent mail with a quick summary at the top?
If you’re trying to get on the boss’s good side, think again. You might be seen as a pest, a brown-noser, or suckup. At minimum, be cautious about becoming a nuisance. The more emails you copy to the boss, the fewer will be read. Kinda like the boy who cried wolf.
And if you’re copying the boss as a way of abdicating responsibility, stop. Bosses want people to to be accountable, to take responsibility. Your including them as a cc doesn’t delegate to them – at best, it annoys them.
And if you’re not sure what the boss wants or needs, here’s a novel approach – ASK!!!
Time is precious. Involve the higher ups in the most efficient effective way. If you are considerate of their time, it’ll circle back to you.
First, KUDOS! It is extremely important that you do have a high priority of not offending others. I think we have all been around reformed smokers or people who’ve lost a lot of weight, and how uncomfortable some of those discussions are for those who still smoke or still have pounds to lose. That being said, here are a few tips that might help:
- First, DON’T do it by email! If you do, you run the risk of misinterpretation.
- Bring it up in conversations, casually, and lunch, etc… When people know what your challenges or pet peeves are, sometimes they will work to honor them.
- At a team meeting, discuss your ideas on how to improve everyone’s productivity. Sell them on how it can help them!
- Add a tip of the week to your e-mail signature line.
- Print out and share Egan’s 10 E-mandments of a productive e-mail culture. Visit http://EganEmailSolutions.com/emandments.html
As if we don’t have enough emails charging into our inboxes already! Now we have Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. notifications haphazardly gracing that inbox, interrupting us, and adding more messages to an already crowded space.
Here’s a tip that you might find useful:
Create folders for each social media account. Or perhaps just one folder for all your social media stuff. Whatever works best for you…
Then, create an automated rule that sends any email notification directly to that folder. In other words, you might create a rule that says all messages coming from Facebook are dropped directly into your newly created Facebook folder. This eliminates another flash or ding of an interrupting email. It also eliminates your having to read, or drag and drop them to the folder. It is done automatically.
Then, view all the contents of that folder at a time that works for you.
Simple – that’s all there is to it.
The benefit of this is that you’ll avoid multiple sporadic interruptions throughout the day. It also sets you up to “group like tasks” which is a time management technique that truly works. Then, when you’re in the mood to check in on your FB friends, YOU decide when you’ll view the notifications, not the other way around.
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