Email question: how do you file stuff ?

[ed_pete]

For almost as long as I?ve used email at work I?ve always used Outlook. Outlook directs you store your emails in a hierarchical folder structure which I find increasingly frustrating and I?m thinking about changing to using categories instead.

My problem with folders is that classic one: as soon as you subdivide stuff it?s not easy to bring common mails backs together in a single view. I?m going to use a poor record collection analogy. Say you file stuff by genre, then by decade, then by solo artist or group then it?s easy to find The Damned (Punk/70?s/Group) but not so easy to find Madonna (Pop/80?s/Solo, Pop/90?s/Solo, Pop/00?s/Solo etc).

I do have two concerns about using categories. Firstly I have a lot of folders, over 90, and therefore if I assume that my folder structure is valid then I?ll need the same number of categories. Secondly the process of assigning categories is cumbersome in Outlook, adding stuff to folders is far easier.

How do you file stuff so that you can find it easily in future ?

Please don?t suggest that I ditch Outlook that isn?t an option as it?s the company?s de-facto email client.

[El Pibe]

does it support tagging at all, then you can whack it with as much metadata as will help the search function rather than relying on physical location with a logical path.

Systems like sharepoint put a metadata layer over a physical structure to remove reliance on that.

Once you get your head around a differnt way of working then the implementation (if done right) of your file structure underneath ceases to matter really

I see multiple categories can be applied in outlook. there are also third party plugins for tagging, which you can ask your it bods about?

[ed_pete]

Tagging is the same as categories so yes that's supported, as is the ability attach multiple tags or categories to the same mail. I'll take a look a the third-party route but it's not likely to fly in my corporate environment.

[randombloke]

Why not talk to your IT department? They would be able to advise you rather than us guessing here as there may be specific settings in place in your office.

You could investigate using .pst or .ost files.

Some industries have compliance issues with storing emails, for example law firms or accountancy practices. They use specific Document Management Systems such as Autonomy FileSite or Hummingbird DM to store emails out of Outlook.

Whatever you choose, be aware that if you have more than 3000 emails in a single folder in Outlook (Outlook deems your inbox as a single folder, and particularly keep an eye on your Sent Items) then Outlook starts to slow down and degrade. That's why it takes ages to load in the morning.

I spend much of my work life showing professionals how to save emails into Document Management Systems folders and they are universally bad at so doing.

[ed_pete]

Actually I work in the IT department but not on the desktop side. The technology isn't the issue really it was more of a question as to how people file stuff and the pro's and con's of a folder based approach versus a tag/category/label approach.

[Ant]

I use categories and archive folders for each calendar year. It's far from ideal but it's just about good enough. I think this just isn't outlook's strong point compared to e.g. gmail. But like you I'm stuck with it because of company policy so I have to balance managing the emails on the one hand and my expectations on the other. :)