Handling a mailbox.
WHAT CAUSES MOST PROBLEMS
Treating the inbox as a task list, a filing system and a reading list simultaneously.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD
Decide on each message once: reply, file, defer or delete.
WHAT TO FILE
What you may need again.
WHAT TO DELETE
Everything else.
WHAT TO USE
Folders, sparingly, and search for everything else.
WHY SPARINGLY
Elaborate folder structures cost more to maintain than searching costs.
WHAT TO SET UP
Rules for predictable mail: notifications, newsletters, automated reports
WHAT TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM
Anything you do not read.
WHAT TO CHECK PERIODICALLY
Rules you did not create.
WHY
That is the classic sign of a compromised mailbox.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SETTINGS
The difference between keeping mail on the server and downloading it.
WHY THAT MATTERS
Downloading removes it from the server, so other devices never see it.
WHAT TO USE ON SEVERAL DEVICES
The option keeping mail on the server.
