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Efficient Email Folder Structure
When archiving email it's important that you know exactly where everything should be and not where your email program wants to hide it. This blog describes how I archive my emails which may help you archive yours. I have over 10 years worth of emails so are happy to share the folder structure that works for me and my team
In my email program my folders look like this:
Inbox [Lots of messages come in daily and get replied to and moved into the folders below if they are important. Ideally the Inbox should have no more than 20 emails in it or you will lose track of things. Takes around 30 minutes to deal with 20 - 40 emails each morning and the rest at downtimes during the day such as after smoko or between set tasks]
Personal [My personal emails. Staff don't get personal emails to their SP accounts]
- band
- house
- Etc ...
SP Business [Private business stuff ]
- contracts
- invoices from suppliers
- standard operating procedures in dev
- accountant
- lawyer
- building
- Etc ...
SP People [This contains private staff information such as employment contracts and key people that I work with]
- Brynn
- Etc ...
SP Overdue Invoices [After the 20th of each month I follow-up overdue invoices and the emails are automatically copied to this folder because they have the subject "IMPORTANT NOTICE: Attached Spinning Planet invoices are overdue. My process is- Week 1: Nice email
- Week 2: I need a reply from you email and I will call if you I don't hear from you (most pay here)
- Week 3: Call
- Week 4: TXT that services will be shut down if payment isn't made and they need to make contact immediately
- 2008-08 [Keep an eye on aging debtors by moving unpaid invoices into dated folders. Some clients are given more lee-way because we have long-term relationships with them adn it is better to get paid something than nothing]
- Etc ...
[All of the stuff below here is viewable by staff via our support@spinningplanet.co.nz IMAP email account]
SP Clients [All our important emails to clients.]
- DEF Company
- Etc ...
SP Clients (Sleeping) [Clients who left or didn't buy our service so we have a history and can follow-up long-term.]
- ABC Company
- Etc ...
SP Follow-ups [These have folders of client in negotiation and in process of which the majority are contacted every Monday which is a scheduled task for all of us. The email subject always contains "[SP Follow-up]" so it is automatically moved into this folder and can be sorted. Probably our most important folder because it keeps us all on track and ensures that we communicate with clients and keep on top of projects]
- Brynn
- Etc ...
SP Invoices [All invoices are CC'd here by our billing system]
- SP Invoices (NZ)
- SP Invoices (US)
SP Partners [Partners that resell our services and provide referrals. ]
- _Partner Resources
- Evolve Marketing
- Etc ...
SP Resources [Collections of relevant info such as sample emails, Quotes, blog feeds, new technologies, etc.]
SP Suppliers [Important emails with all our suppliers]
- InspireNet
- Etc ...
SP Wayback [Folders containing inactive clients, staff and partner emails. Shared with staff]
- SP Staff
- Paul Swain
- Etc ...
We use a similar folder structure to store client files as well. We've been trialling Customer Relationship Management systems for the last 12 months and will eventually move to one but for now the above system works well for us.
Hope this information was helpful.
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