<title> Smart Mailboxes: Master Email Fast and Easy</title>

Smart Mailboxes: Master Email Fast and Easy

You can create “smart” mailboxes in email programs like Apple’s Mail to stay on top of important or vital emails. What you do is create a smart mailbox for every important person or subject either beforehand or as it happens. Waiting for an important email from a new client? Create a smart mailbox for them.

Smart mailboxes help you filter out the less useful information while keeping you focused on the things that matter. Granted if there are emails that you’re likely never going to read it’s probably a good idea to just unsubscribe to kill clutter (unless you’re a pack rat or data analyst kind of guy).

To set one up you should look for a Create New Smart Mailbox command in a Mailbox menu or something similar in your email program of choice. I create a smart mailbox folder for major areas of responsibility like FoodCycles and then create sub smart mailboxes under that area of responsibility. As with any system be sure to check it often — a system you don’t use means you need to fix it so you will.

Some Programs That Have Smart Mailbox Power

Apple Mail (Mac OS X only)
Mozilla Thunderbird (Open Source – Available for Any System)

Do you have a favourite email client that has smart mailbox features that isn’t here? Let us know! (I like complete lists)

Resources

Some handy Mail.app Smart Mailboxes | 43 Folders
Five Essential Smart Mailboxes For Apple Mail [Mac]
Top 12 Free Email Programs for Windows

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Sunny Lam is a “change agent” consultant at sunnylam.ca who a co-founding co-coordinator and semi-city farmer (guardian) at FoodCycles city farm (http://foodcycles.org). Sunny is also a crazy coffee drinking fanatic who chooses local roasted, organic and/or fair trade whenever possible — his current record daily high is 6 cups.