Do you go through a yearly ritual of cleaning out your inboxes because you’ve exceeded your allotted mailbox space, or you find rooting through that collection of missives to be so daunting that you’d rather just mass delete everything and start all over, only to have to go through the very same ritual in 365 days?

This isn’t just a problem for you, it’s a problem for your IT staff. Even if you use a third-party host to run your email service, allowing that email account to collect and keep large amounts of data puts a strain on your storage limits. It’s not just about clutter.

Jack Wallen, writing for TechRepublic Premium, presents six tips for cleaning out your personal and professional inboxes so you don’t have to deal with the yearly purge.

Featured text from the guide:

2. USE FOLDERS OR TAGS/CATEGORIES

Three of my four accounts are IMAP, which are hosted on my own domain. On those accounts, I use folders to keep my email organized. Here’s how: if I receive an important email, I read it and act on it. If I feel the need to keep that email, I move it to a folder specific to the sender, company or subject. If it’s not necessary to keep the email, I delete it.

After a while, I’ll go through those folders and get rid of emails that I no longer need (otherwise, the folders get cluttered). By using folders, I keep my inbox clear of communications I might need later but don’t want clogging up my inbox.

As for the last account, I use Gmail, which makes use of a powerful label system. When an email comes in that I’m certain I’ll need to recall at a later date, I’ll tag it so I can quickly retrieve it later.
Although the tagging system doesn’t work nearly as well as folders for clearing out clutter, it’s a solid solution for finding emails in that mess of an inbox.

Bring a sense of order to your inbox with our eight-page PDF. Previously priced at $49, this is now available for download at just $9. Alternatively, enjoy complimentary access with a Premium annual subscription. Click here to find out more.

TIME SAVED: Crafting this content required 16 hours of dedicated writing, editing and research.