How I manage My Email (80+ Emails / Day)

[@Nicole-is-global]

I don't like working in the evenings but you've made an excellent point about "doubling" the work because people are likely to respond to emails I've sent in the morning.

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's really about finding the right balance for you, Nicole. Delay your responses to as late in the day as possible (4 till 4:30pm's a good time) :-)

[@rono1rono]

I was shocked (in a good way) to see how simple your Gmail is structured! I must have FIFTY FOLDERS and three times the amount of customized filters, and that's no exagerration. You have me rethinking my Gmail. Thank you.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, simplfy, simplfy and simplfy some more. It makes everything so much faster and a lot less overwhelming.

[@debbieray7563]

I'm thinking of how to simplify my gmail too - I also have several folders! Overwhelming!

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@debbieray7563 Keep it simple, Debbie. My mantra - Eliminate not accumulate.

[@Jusangen]

Definitely going to try changing my filter. Haven’t heard of it before but it makes a lot of sense. I when interacting with my customers I want to be fair and reply to the ones who contacted me first, not necessarily the easiest ones first. So hopefully this will help with that AND procrastination. Thank you for sharing and keep it up!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Glad you like it, Aaron. Hope it works as intended for you.

[@InFocus_app]

Thank you for the video and discuss! Its important to keep your inbox empty

[@Carl_Pullein]

OOh, not sure it's important to keep it empty, but it is important to manage it so it doesn't become overwhelming. :-)

[@errolrobateau4891]

I completely agree with processing email in the morning and then I like to actually work in the afternoon. My problem is I get bogged down with answering ‘quick’ emails and that takes me down a rabbit hole.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yeah, I know that feeling. I just start at the top and work my way down.

[@dudoklasovity2093]

exactly my problem! i try to address the “low hanging fruit” (easy emails) first but they instantly come back with more complicated messages which creates a deadly spiral 🌀

[@naomiv7133]

Thank you action today was a big help

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome, Naomi.

[@scottspiro4876]

Hi Carl, great video as always. It would be great if you could develop a course around how best to use the Focus modes that Apple has developed across Mac OS, iPad OS and iOS. As you probably know, they've upgraded the functionality in the forthcoming OS releases, making the Focus features pervasive into Apple's 1st party apps as well. Huge productivity opportunities I think! (perhaps a new module in the Apple Productivity Course? )

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Scott, it's something i will be looking into with this year's update.

[@zubi_your_VA]

I'm email management VA in just $5/hour. Contact in my bio.

[@biagiolucci467]

Can’t wait for your take on macOS Ventura and iOS 16 new updates to Reminders, Notes, Mail and Free Form

[@Carl_Pullein]

My research has begun already :-) Excited about what can done with Free Form.

[@nathancraig1049]

We frequently have robust discussion in our office between apple and windows based systems. In looking to be more efficient, the apple ecosystem is very well integrated. The conversation always comes back to “there is no value in buying apple until you see the value in buying apple..”

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@nathancraig1049 That's a very good point, Nathan.

[@Jianfa88Tsai]

Max office job promotion and salary increase but most importantly reduce work errors or project delays to max out bosses profits so management can max charity donations. E.g. (This forwarded email has “8” attachments.) or (Please see 8 files attached). Need to mention number of attachments in email chain to avoid political attacks, where someone sabotage by taking out some attachments, or “forgot” to attach. Prevent tampering by selling tech email app solution where the email chain with text print in italics, (app auto calculate and auto insert text) X number of files attached.

[@robertbrewer1871]

I love the idea of once a day sorting, but I live in a ping pong world, with up to 10 - 12 exchanges going on over the course of a few hours working things out. I'm a manufacturer managing distributors, brokers, production, logistics, sales staff, etc. I also get 100+ emails a day just for business, spam is additionally over 100 but goes into "spamarrest", and that is quick to clear, select all and save one or two - maybe....i use outlook for email as it is a company exchange server, but use the integrated Apple system you teach, brilliant, but email is my achilles heel - the only thing out of control...

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Robert, I clear my inbox several times a day. I clear it between sessions of work. For instance, I did my main clearance this morning and then spent two hours writing. Once I finished writing, I went into my email and cleared it again. From time to time, there will be emails I need to respond to quickly, and I will do that in those situations. However, most of my emails can wait (and it's likely you will find the same), and it is those I save for my communications hour later in the day.

[@daviddruce7787]

I really dislike email, here we are in the 2020’s & still messing around with this old tech. It’s to small on your phone to do anything with & really not easy when your mobile. We do a lot of business with China & they live on WeChat for everything. I’ve been weaning my clients & friends towards using Signal as it’s the worlds most secure messaging platform. We can send & receive contracts securely & the desktop is awesome. Thank you Carl as always for your wonderful work😃

[@Carl_Pullein]

There's probably a move back towards email because it is slower. I personally prefer email because, over the years, I've developed a system to manage it. I find messaging apps invasive-- there's a feeling a message must be replied to quickly, when most of the time it does not.

[@nathancraig1049]

I was waiting to see how the WAITING FOR folder would be used :) do you still use this for the bigger tasks?

[@Carl_Pullein]

These days, the only thing I use waiting for is for online shopping. I've got to the point where I am confident about the reliability of the people i work with.

[@SteveDunn]

@@Carl_Pullein I do the same Carl....all my Amazon/food delivery/Events I've booked for later in the year go in the WAITING FOR folder.

[@jact9799]

New to this series and I love it! What are your thoughts about "group into conversation" for emails?

[@Carl_Pullein]

That's how my mail is grouped. (I thought all email apps did that today)

[@CreativFarmGal]

I do that, thus all related emails are together. That was a game changer when I discovered it!

[@jmiller5607]

I do something similar, (except I am doing the 2 minute rule, and it is a huge time suck, I might stop). If you archive emails you want to read, do you have to mentally remember that they exist to pull them back up? Also, I am decent about inbox zero, but terrible about the Action folder. Any thoughts? I am not interested in working so many hours of the day like you do also, so email is often a distraction from my true work and leverage points. And then I will let the inbox zero slip, or just ignore the Action folder. And the cycle repeats...

[@Carl_Pullein]

I found I rarely ever need to go looking for those emails. If I do, I will remember something a keyword, date or the send's name.

[@kellyc2815]

Hi Carl! Thanks for the video, will definitely try to sort my emails from oldest to newest. I was wondering: 1. I have one folder for each client, do you manage to to organise email from many different clients using this system? 2. What do you do with an email in the action folder once the task is completed?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Kelly, I don't have any client folders in email. I archive anything from clients and if I need to reference anything from a client email, I will add it to the client's note in my notes app. (I can also link the original email to the note as well).

[@kellyc2815]

@@Carl_Pullein thanks for replying! That's not a bad idea 💡, i think OneNote (Microsoft) can do something similar. Recently I also discovered Viva Insights which is also interesting as the app can make recommendations to improve productivity.

[@bardak81]

Hi Carl, where is a reference for a Gmail Setup? Thanks a lot!

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's a Gmail account running through Outlook. (Truth is, I don't like the Gmail interface)

[@luizm.4249]

Great. Thanks Carl

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome.

[@Rajgitaa]

Hi Carl. I know this is old, so I hope you get this. I'm trying out your system. Is the goal while going through Action This Day folder, to clean that out too, or it going to be like another Inbox?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Roger, the goal is to clear it each day. You may not always do that, but as long as you reverse the order (oldest at the top), you will remain pretty much on top of your email.

[@Mike-zz5kz]

Interesting. I always wonder how other people manage their inboxes. My system is more complicated, but there are some similarities. Like you, I purposefully delay sending emails to avoid email ping-pong. Question - what happens to the emails which you receive after you have done your morning folder sorting. Do you not look at them at all until the next morning or will you sort your emails more than once throughout the day? Also, can you do a video on your Journal. What sort of things do you write in there? Yes, I am very nosy.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Mike, I will process those in between sessions of work. I don't really have any hard and set rules for it.

[@cliffordbaynon]

Is there any particular reason for the label ‘action this day’ instead of a shorter version of ‘action today’ ? Thank you for a fantastic video!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yes. Two reasons. The first is it celebrates Winston Churchill's bright red stickers with the words "ACTION THIS DAY" on them. And secondly, there is a sense of urgency with this phrase. If you use the word "Actionable" it doesn't give a sense of urgency.

[@cliffordbaynon]

@@Carl_Pullein Love it! Thanks for the reply

[@faisal.malallah]

Hi Carl, thanks for the awesome videos. The method you described works well when the actionable emails are emails that just require replies in the same day. What about emails that would have attachments that must be reviewed or edited and would take extra time. Some of these require long time and will not be done in the same day; what do you do about these? and where do you store these emails?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hmmm No email requires replying to on the same day (my rule) If someone wants a reply on the same day there are better communication channels. This is something I inform all my clients and collaborators. If I have something that will require more than one day to review, I will email the person who sent it explaining there will be a delay in my response and then create a task in my task manager to review the document. However, in the last five years that has never happened. I am regularly asked to proofread medical papers for my former English students here, and while they may be 35 - 40 pages long, I have always returned the papers within 48 hours. (my response time rule).

[@Swissy_Chris]

Hey Carl, do we do anything with the “Waiting For” Folder? I don’t recall clearly if you explained how to use that folder in the video

[@Carl_Pullein]

My advice on Waiting For folders is to try not to use them. They become folders stuffed with incomplete tasks and old emails that were never removed once a response was received. Instead, if you're waiting for something, it likely means a task is incomplete; therefore, the task moved forward to another date with a note detailing the email you sent and when.

[@Swissy_Chris]

@@Carl_Pullein Thanks for the clarification Carl! Much appreciated

[@darius1b]

Thanks for this Carl. Do you use the Todoist/Gmail integration to prioritise, label and organise emails?

[@Carl_Pullein]

No No No. That would be duplicating. I know all actionable emails are in my Action This Day folder, so they don't need to be in Todoist as well.

[@darius-b]

​@@Carl_Pullein I rarely use Todoist for emails too. But in Gmail I do take advantage of filters, labels and 'stars' to automatically process incoming emails so that when I have a time block to process one project's emails, they are already batched up. This helps to avoid the inefficiencies of too much context switching.

[@Maizeak]

do you know of any way to link outlook mail in apple reminders? id use apple mail but I use the categories in outlook

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah the holy grail of compatibility. Sadly, no. I've never found a way to do that.

[@Maizeak]

@@Carl_Pullein if you turn the the email into a task in to do, you can copy the link from there, not perfect but works. How useful personally do you find linking emails?

[@SteveDunn]

Great stuff Carl - you mentioned that a client always goes to Action This Day - what's your take on rules (where it bypasses the Inbox and goes straight to the Action folder if it's a client)? Also, what's your view on asynchronous comms like Twist? The Doist people are really shouting about this as a means to remove overwhelm with meetings/emails and stay focused on the "actual" work.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I don't apply rules for clients as sometimes I need to act quickly (can't log into their account etc) However, for administrative emails I only need to see at the end of the day, I have rules set up for those.

[@nancymogy7850]

Is there a way to add a (do now) folder where I can add emails from ALL accounts? Or does this only work for one email

[@Carl_Pullein]

That depends on what email application you're using.

[@mrsharps]

I understand why you would not use your real email address for this, but this demo seemed a little too simplistic. How would this work for long group threads? Or urgent emails from your boss. Or, in general, how would this apply if you worked in a company where quicker replies are expected (like within 2 hrs. )?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I have done that-worked in a company where “some” people used email as instant messages. It doesn’t take very long to train these people (including bosses). Sometimes we need to have a conversation with our peers and bosses about how best to communicate with us. What do they want? fast email responses or results? I focused on getting results for my boss. Never got reprimanded or fired because I was focused on results rather than impressing with the speed of my email responses. (can’t say the same for those who focused on impressing the boss though-saw a lot of those people get fired in my time)

[@analyst1981]

When do you review the messages that are archived? How do you use that folder?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Rarely. I would only need to find them if there was a reason. So the reason would be my trigger. (but that is rare)

[@luboskolouch]

What do you think about creating reminders for sent email (for which you need an answer)? Or another way, how do you link projects - tasks (reminders) - emails?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I'm lucky; I trust the people I work with to reply. If I am working with someone outside of my organisation, the ball's in their court. If I get am email with information related to a project, I will copy the relevant parts and put them into the project folder.

[@luboskolouch]

@@Carl_Pullein Yes, unfortunately I need to push them :). What I miss is an easy way for this scenario: a project has several tasks. I send out emails and create reminders from them. It is a duplication but unfortunately Apple does not automatically create reminders/tasks from flagged emails, like MS/Outlook does. Then I get an email back from somebody. I have no easy way how to link it back to the open tasks and/or projects. I need to manually search for the “linked” (in facts not linked) reminders and projects (that I manage in Notes same as you do).

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@luboskolouch If you have a lot of those, I would create a spreadsheet to track replies. You can add links to files in a field in Numbers (and Excel I believe)

[@toranshaw4029]

How do you deal with inboxes that have gone out of control, where there are hundreds of messages? In one of my old Gmail accounts, that I'd like to start using again, there are thousands of them that have been received.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah it's time for some Inbox bankruptcy time :-) You have a choice hard or soft bankruptcy. Hard = delete them all (you're not looking at them anyway) - soft = create a folder and call it old inbox and move all those emails there. Then over the next few weeks process them.

[@toranshaw4029]

@@Carl_Pullein ta for that Carl, decided on the soft option as there are a few receipts and such that I should keep. I’ve now cleared the inbox down to 0, so hopefully I can keep on top of it this time… I’m doing so in the new Gmail, thus far! 😀🤞

[@mattido123]

I like the way you're managing email, but it seems to be more geared toward one account. How would you handle multiple email accounts, i.e. work and personal?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Matt, I have four accounts in my email app (Apple Mail). They all come into a unified inbox and are dealt with in the same way. I don't try to separate personal from professional.

[@mattido123]

@@Carl_Pullein so, where would you create the WAITING and TODAY folders? I am using Gmail, iCloud and have an Exchange account as well.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@mattido123 I have everything in Apple Mail, so all I do is drag and drop mails into my main account's action this day folder. I haven't been able to do this with Outlook or Gmail, sadly.

[@markgransbury8377]

Hi how do you use your Waiting for folder?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Mainly for things I have ordered online. I try to avoid using it as much as possible, as it can quickly become a dumping ground.

[@ballweerakasetsin3530]

May I ask what the email client you used in this video? I think the UI is simple and clean.

[@SteveDunn]

Looks like Outlook for Mac without the Ribbon Bar etc.

[@ballweerakasetsin3530]

@@SteveDunn Thank you for your kind reply Steve :)

[@Carl_Pullein]

I can confirm, it is Outlook on Mac OS.

[@Abdullah-zl9ub]

Which email client your currently using ? And why?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Apple Mail. It's simple, works and I've been using it for 21 years.

[@Abdullah-zl9ub]

@@Carl_Pullein

[@urianinhauser9476]

Do you process your inbox once again when you come later in the day to act on the e-mails you separated in the morning?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ooh, it's not that structured. I generally clear my inbox between sessions of work rather than having fixed times to do it.

[@elemair9210]

But what do you do if you receive 100 emails every day that REQUIRE AN ACTION FROM YOU ? And if all those actions takes you from 10 min to 3 days to complete?

[@Carl_Pullein]

It hasn't happened in over ten years, so I doubt it will ever happen. If it did, though, I would need to increase the time I allocate for responding to my actionable emails. (What other option do I have?)

[@elemair9210]

@@Carl_Pullein it's been happening to me in all my jobs so far. What happens is I spend so much time treating the emails that I don't have time for other tasks and I drown. I'm looking for a solution online but found nothing yet...

[@Vital_Things]

I tried this but I am getting 300+ email daily. Just to maintain takes time and sometimes it is becoming a mess. The challenge for me is to find the emails from different folders. So, I am basically using the search button all the day 😮.. Still thanks anyway, but not working for me

[@Carl_Pullein]

Interesting. What's your solution? There are only three folders: trash, archive, and Action This Day. Action This Day is cleared every day, so there is nothing to search for there. It sounds like it's not so much a method or systems problem as a volume problem. I recommend fixing that area (rules, filters, and junking) first.

[@luboskolouch]

In Apple mail on iPad it is not possible to sort by oldest email first…

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yeah, that's true. Hope that feature comes in the new OS.

[@johnbayley85]

Yes, don't reply to emails too early, wouldn't want to waste peoples time by actually getting back to them in a timely manner...

[@peenweinerstein9968]

Toxic email culture. If it’s important pick up a phone

[@CreativFarmGal]

😅

[@mollymcguire4166]

7

[@jamesbedukodjograham5508]

Email must be kept at 200 mails.😊

[@ggom603]

Highly recommend Superhuman Carl - they label it the fastest email experience and I can't argue much. The use of their shortcuts make it so you don't even have to use the mouse or trackpad when going through emails. Check it out if you haven't already

[@Carl_Pullein]

I did have a look at Superhuman a few weeks ago. It has way too many features for me. I like a lot fewer features so I can focus on replying to my mail (not managing it)

[@ravenlenoir7440]

When you clear out the action this day folder where does it go?

What if I use 2-3 accounts? The folders makes this method complicated a little so I use Smart Mailboxes in Apple Mail. Inbox -> Smart Mailbox flag -> Archive. So I see all of my account's email in Smart Mailboxes. The sad thing iOS didn't use Smart Mailboxes.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I drag all actionable mail into my main account. Apple Mail allows you to shift mails from one email address to another. And... It will still reply from the original email address.

[@michaelfinz]

@@Carl_Pullein How would you handle that with Gmail?

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@michaelfinz I'd do it the same way, but instead of starting at the top of the list, Start at the bottom.

[@johnmac4843]

Hi Carl, Good Day, I pray you can help this old Pensioner of 75 years old. Australia. I use gmail windows 10. I have Bulk emails I have to send to a Solicitor in Thailand. Solicitor has a Gmail Account - how many emails can I attach to a new email to send to Solicitor at one time on my laptop. John Mc

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi John, I don't know. The best way to find out is to test it. For example, try ten, then twenty, and so on. Good luck.