Attention: All Associates

Launching a major project at work, completing a complex task on time, finding a solution to an ongoing problem—somehow none of those accomplishments feel quite as rewarding as that rare moment when your email inbox is empty.
 
Good news: achieving a zero inbox doesn’t have to be a rare occurrence! Over the next few weeks, IT will be sharing some of the often-overlooked Outlook 365 features to offer tips to help you better organize your emails in favor of focusing on more important work tasks.
 
Move Complex and Non-Critical Emails into a To-Do Folder
In Outlook 365, you can create a structure of folders for organizing emails. Many people use folders for archiving emails, but folders are also a great way to categorize incoming emails as tasks to get them out of your inbox view. You can use these folders to do email triage, organize the messy inbox, and overcome email overload.
 
To do this, create three new folders under your inbox folder. The first is a "To-Do" folder, and the second and third are subfolders called "Follow-Up" and "Someday." When new emails arrive, move them to the appropriate folder:

Inbox – The only emails that stay in your inbox are those that you should answer immediately. They’re either urgent or can be handled quickly (in three minutes or less).

To-Do – Drag non-urgent emails and emails that will require more than a three-minute response into your to-do folder. You’ll follow up on these items later but moving them immediately keeps your inbox empty while you process the emails.

Follow-Up – Move emails to this folder that are put on hold. Things like replies you're waiting to get or tasks that you've delegated.

Someday – Some emails don’t require a response. Instead, they’re things you’d like read/review one day when you have time. Drag those into the someday folder to review at some point in the future when work slows down, and you need something to do. This might be the equivalent of an Archive folder, but you can use it for items that you'll need to quickly access in the next few weeks.
 
After processing your email, schedule a daily time on your calendar to review and handle the items in your to-do folder.