What do I do next to manage email overload efficiently

As we are bombarded with hundreds of daily emails, there are certain actions we do to stay organized, track messages and stay on top of tasks at hand. This is continuously becoming more difficult to keep up with, as emails keep piling up, new projects arrive, and time isn’t always on our side. So we must ask ourselves, ‘what should I do next to manage email overload efficiently?’

What do I do next?

Knowmail’s Next Best Actions provide a helping hand with frequent and timely actions to save tremendous time and still stay on top of required tasks as well as reduce unnecessary noise in your inbox and stay productive in the workplace.

Which folder do I move an email to

As to stay organized in Outlook, we must use folders per project, client, department, sub-tasks, etc. The more organized we are, the more efficient we potentially can become, yet we are also making it more complex to maintain organization with the several folders, sub-folders and more.

Knowmail’s move feature aims at saving you immense time while keeping you organized. Our AI engine works in the background, understanding your email use, and with it, provides a high-level suggestion of which folder the email should be moved to. Furthermore, in case it didn’t hit the nail on its head, a quick menu is provided, with additional appropriate recommendations, and you may also select “other folder” and pick one manually.

Our early users have praised this feature as a huge time-saver they use every single day, as with hundreds of emails every day…every few seconds count and organization goes a long way.

Remove an email to a later (more appropriate) time

As emails arrive from different individuals, we are continually distracted with new messages which may or may not be critical or a requirement right now. Knowmail’s Later feature allows you to remove non-critical (or items not needed at this time) from your inbox until your desired appropriate time.

This option is granted for each message in your inbox, and with a simple menu, you may select a message to be moved out of your inbox and come back: tomorrow, the end of the day, next week, or select a specific time of your wish.

By tagging a message for later, it will not be visible in your inbox anymore, so there is a decreased amount of email overload, and what is remaining are items that require your attention. Don’t fret, none of later tagged messages are deleted and are always available within the respective “Later” view, and they will return into your inbox view at the time you specified.

Mute yourself out of an email thread

Sometimes there is an email thread that involves a number of participants, ending up with an ongoing email ping-pong that keeps interrupting your workflow. In many of these cases, not all participants are needed for every single message, as different departments and individuals are conversing on various items. In such cases, the ongoing arrival of a new message in this thread is a huge distraction and Knowmail has got an easy way to reduce such distractions with the mute feature.

With this feature, a simple click on Mute for any respective message will remove this thread from your inbox and will return it once you are specified by name. This means that unless you are required for feedback, insight, or response (and aren’t mentioned by name), the email will not interrupt you.
As with the ‘later’ option, such messages are never deleted unless you specify so and are available for view at any time within the respective Mute view.

Mark a message as done

When you received a message, opened it, read through it and are completed with it, simply mark it as ‘Done’. This will remove the message from your inbox, so unnecessary items you are finished with will not add to the noise in your inbox.

These messages, while marked as done, are also not deleted unless selected so, and will be available within the respective ‘Done’ view.

Managing email efficiency with quick and automated actions

Knowmail understands your time is valuable, thus the next-best-actions are provided within each individual message for quick actions which will save you time, keep you organized and decrease your inbox noise. By utilizing these tools within your ongoing email communications, you will clean up your inbox, keep only necessary items within your glance, and reduce distractions immensely.

Originally published at www.knowmail.me on January 27, 2016.

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