Please give me your shared email box efficiency tips! I have a new boss and part of my job is helping to manage his email box, which at the moment is very inefficient. I need help developing a system that I can put in place that will be easy for him (technophobe) to understand and follow.
Right now, he has an inbox with a few subfolders. One is marked as needing him to take action; one is marked as not needing him to take action but he should read as an FYI and a couple of dedicated folders to emails from specific companies that aren't urgent but that he still wants to get and he can read whenever he wants.
He gets a lot of client emails and is also cc'd in on a lot of emails that are FYI. He also gets a lot of spam.
He has a tendency to reply to emails and delete them (before anyone else has seen them and captured them for our file), sometimes delete emails without responding, etc. So I basically keep an eye on his inbox, his sent emails and his deleted emails. I would like to figure out a way to get to him only get the emails that he needs to see or reply to AFTER I have seen them (so I can file them before he deletes). I then need some kind of method for following up and tracking emails he replies to so that everything is kept documented. Ideally I'd like to be able to have a good enough system where I don't have to be checking his deleted box or even his sent box (if possible). I'd also like to forward to colleagues emails that he doesn't need to see or deal with.
I also need rules for him to follow. Such as, when he replies to an email, he must always delete it. Or, if he reads something and is done with it, he deletes it. Or tell him he must never delete anything, ever. Right now it's hard to tell where he's at with something unless I check his outbox or ask him.
I am thinking of using a couple of different folders and also possibly putting some rules on so that certain things are routed to certain folders. Ideally, I would like all emails to bypass him altogether unless I or the other person in charge forwards it to him. That way I can know it's been captured for our file and that it needs to be tracked. Other emails can then either be deleted or forwarded to another person to deal with. He pretty much will always have his screen on his inbox as a default, though I think he's willing to check other folders if that's part of the system.
He will be willing to follow a system if I can put one together that is relatively simple for him to follow. In the past, a lot of different things have been tried but they've all been dropped for one reason or another. I know they were flagging and color coding some emails for awhile.
We are using Outlook, which is new to me, so I'm still learning it a little bit. I've always used Lotus Notes in the past.
Thanks for your help.
Right now, he has an inbox with a few subfolders. One is marked as needing him to take action; one is marked as not needing him to take action but he should read as an FYI and a couple of dedicated folders to emails from specific companies that aren't urgent but that he still wants to get and he can read whenever he wants.
He gets a lot of client emails and is also cc'd in on a lot of emails that are FYI. He also gets a lot of spam.
He has a tendency to reply to emails and delete them (before anyone else has seen them and captured them for our file), sometimes delete emails without responding, etc. So I basically keep an eye on his inbox, his sent emails and his deleted emails. I would like to figure out a way to get to him only get the emails that he needs to see or reply to AFTER I have seen them (so I can file them before he deletes). I then need some kind of method for following up and tracking emails he replies to so that everything is kept documented. Ideally I'd like to be able to have a good enough system where I don't have to be checking his deleted box or even his sent box (if possible). I'd also like to forward to colleagues emails that he doesn't need to see or deal with.
I also need rules for him to follow. Such as, when he replies to an email, he must always delete it. Or, if he reads something and is done with it, he deletes it. Or tell him he must never delete anything, ever. Right now it's hard to tell where he's at with something unless I check his outbox or ask him.
I am thinking of using a couple of different folders and also possibly putting some rules on so that certain things are routed to certain folders. Ideally, I would like all emails to bypass him altogether unless I or the other person in charge forwards it to him. That way I can know it's been captured for our file and that it needs to be tracked. Other emails can then either be deleted or forwarded to another person to deal with. He pretty much will always have his screen on his inbox as a default, though I think he's willing to check other folders if that's part of the system.
He will be willing to follow a system if I can put one together that is relatively simple for him to follow. In the past, a lot of different things have been tried but they've all been dropped for one reason or another. I know they were flagging and color coding some emails for awhile.
We are using Outlook, which is new to me, so I'm still learning it a little bit. I've always used Lotus Notes in the past.
Thanks for your help.