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Best Email Organization Method?
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Date: April 24th, 2013 9:48 AM Author: spruce lodge One of my biggest flaws in biglaw is that I don't have a good method of organizing emails for various subjects and matters. It all just sits in Outlook Inbox and months later when someone asks me a question about something, it takes forever for me to find the needle in the haystack email, if I find it at all.
Do any of you have good systems for organizing your Outlook emails for specific matters you work on? Also, it seems cumbersome and distracting to move your emails around to certain folders as you receive them.
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Date: April 24th, 2013 9:50 AM Author: amethyst talented resort stock car I am general counsel for a company and so I really only have one client, so YMMV, but I have found that folders/subfolders are really the way to go.
I despise having more than 20 or 30 emails in my inbox. Shunting them off to folders also gives me a sense of accomplishment for having answered/resolved each message I move.
EDIT: Also, I organize my inbox by Sender. Shit tends to be not thematically grouped, and doing it this way is a good temp measure before I get them out of my inbox.
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:01 AM Author: spruce lodge I do lit, so I'm rarely juggling more than three clients at once, so your advice is probably applicable.
What are some examples of subjects that you break things down into for folders and subfolders? Also, when do you move the emails into the folders, as they arrive or at a later time? |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:06 AM Author: amethyst talented resort stock car Well, i'm thinking about it more now and with me, the subjects/folders are specific to things like regulatory issues, correspondence, research, etc...
I probably have about 200 subfolders, come to think of it. You might not need nearly that many. Still, I think it could work for you.
I move them after I resolve/answer them. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:36 PM Author: irradiated violent puppy i find it more a pain in the ass to create a ton of subfolders than its worth. it should be easy to find emails just by proper searches... (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067286) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 9:57 AM Author: soul-stirring orchid affirmative action my inbox currently has 11550 items :(
thankfully there is instant search |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:01 AM Author: Appetizing location pisswyrm i have over 12,000 (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23065897) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:18 AM Author: adventurous crackhouse internal respiration 37000 here. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23065990) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 9:59 AM Author: razzle drab kitchen potus Everyone under the age of 45 is expected to organize their Outlook mail by client. How hard is that? If you don't, you are disorganized and lazy.
At least at my biglaw firm, people judge associates who have 100k emails in their inbox with no organization. If you go out on maternity leave or die during the middle of a case, people might be given access to your Outlook to find shit. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:02 AM Author: spruce lodge See above, not so many clients, more appropriately by issues.
When do you move emails into your folders? It seems very disruptive to whatever you're working on to do it as they come in. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:05 AM Author: razzle drab kitchen potus Anything that needs a response/follow-up stays in my inbox. Stupid shit (firm wide emails) are deleted immediately. I immediately sort everything else, or sort at the end of my day when I enter my time.
It relieves stress when I come in the next morning to an empty email box. If things pile up in my inbox, I forget to do shit. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:07 AM Author: amethyst talented resort stock car Ditto this process/reasoning. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23065926) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 1:57 PM Author: anal skinny woman Same here. Folder for each deal, with subfolders for dili, credit agreement/indenture, security documents, signatures/deliverables. File anything away that doesn't need a response or that you're done with. Only leave in inbox stuff that you still need to address. Of course you never wake up with less than 25 new emails on a slow day, and 50-100 when busy, the next morning if you work on the west coast which is really difficult to get used to. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:07 AM Author: big turdskin private investor have one main folder called "cases" and then subfolders for everything you're working on. another main folder called "admin," etc. not too tough. i hate having more than a few e-mails in my inbox at a time. i have like 6 main folders. the cases folder has a few main subfolders and then subfolders from there for specific issues. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23065929) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:10 AM Author: razzle drab kitchen potus Agreed. I also have folders for admin, training, social (think happy hours and events for summer associates), recruiting, and business development (which contains subfolders) (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23065940) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:17 AM Author: Judgmental Passionate Background Story Generalized Bond This is what I do: (1) Organize by client, then by matter. Example: (A) Client (i) FCM issues (ii) BD issues (iii) Litigation issues (B) Partner (this may be for client development stuff) (i) Client updates (ii) Presentations (2) I have a routine every morning to clean out my inbox by organizing the emails I received the day before or early that morning.
(3) I save all of my important "sent items" by using the "save sent item" function. This way, I can save my reply to Client A as soon as I hit the send button.
(4) I create a "Misc." folder to place emails that I may use later. I don't have much in there at the moment. Its primary purpose is to get rid of the clutter in the inbox.
(5) Any spam type emails (e.g., firm-wide emails about a holiday party or department-wide emails about an inside joke) are deleted immediately after I read them (either when I am going to take a piss and I delete the emails from my phone or while at my desk).
(6) If someone sends an email and the subject line is empty or is not accurate (for the information the email contains), then I change the subject line as soon as possible. This will help you when you do an inbox search for a particular item or email. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:22 AM Author: contagious striped hyena (Guy with adderall Rx) (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066020) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:25 AM Author: Judgmental Passionate Background Story Generalized Bond It does seem very time consuming, but the morning routine is about 2-3 minutes. The more difficult part is when all parties start replying to an email with a different subject line.
On second thought, this behavior does come off as very aspie or adderall induced behavior; however, it has made my life much easier. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:27 AM Author: Alcoholic aqua trust fund toilet seat crrrrrrrr (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066041) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:36 AM Author: Ivory milk (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066066) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:38 PM Author: irradiated violent puppy (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067306) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:45 PM Author: big turdskin private investor highly cr fellow aspie bro (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067362) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:53 PM Author: Alcoholic aqua trust fund toilet seat how do you change an email's subject line? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067409) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 3:23 PM Author: Judgmental Passionate Background Story Generalized Bond For Outlook, you go to "Other Actions" and then "Edit Message." Then you can edit the subject line or the body of the email. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067693) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:54 PM Author: Alcoholic aqua trust fund toilet seat HOLY SHIT. you can change a received email's subject line???? my mind is fucking blown. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067421) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 4:33 PM Author: odious pistol Yeah I have a less anal version of cc special's system already but the changing the subject line thing is amazing. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23068162) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:36 AM Author: Ivory milk My office e-mail only has a limit of 100MB storage capacity. So I can't keep too many e-mails w/ attachments.
I break up my e-mails by month/year. Every month I move all the e-mails into a folder setup for that respective period.
It saves space b/c my I can move them onto my desktop HD and out of my e-mail HD space.
I also have separate folders for Sentencing/Trial calendars and other specific, yet regularly occurring e-mails. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 11:32 AM Author: Nighttime athletic conference coldplay fan How do you move emails on and off your hd? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066229) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 12:53 PM Author: Ivory milk I called IT and they set up something through Outlook that allows me to move e-mails from the server onto my individual harddrive.
I can still retrieve the e-mails, but they are saved onto my HD, so I can only access them when I'm sitting at my computer.
I'm good. . .unless my HD dies or I change offices, in which case I'M FUCKT. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:33 PM Author: lavender church mediation 'Personal' folder(s), you have to fiddle around with some semi-advanced functions in outlook (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23070923) |
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Date: April 25th, 2013 1:58 PM Author: Ivory milk (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23075169) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 11:38 AM Author: Floppy slap-happy deer antler Get a good fucking search engine. Sorting shit is like Yahoo! circa 1997 or Microsoft Windows sub-sub-sub folders. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 11:51 AM Author: spruce lodge We use Microsoft Outlook and it seems pretty TTT. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066287) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 12:54 PM Author: Ivory milk I have to remember which month the e-mail is from, otherwise the search will take FOR-FUCKING-EVER (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066612) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:39 PM Author: irradiated violent puppy cr. there's no reason to sort. it's just time wasted. you should be able to find anything you want with searches. the only possible reason to sort is so OTHERS can access your e-mail and find what they are looking for. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067315) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 12:02 PM Author: Sticky Fantasy-prone Electric Furnace I have a few rules set up to auto-move certain people or topics. You can't really use it for urgent stuff though because you won't get the pop-up on your desktop and your phone won't buzz. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066332) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 1:05 PM Author: Khaki clown sorting is a waste of time. maybe 80% of the case-related emails i'd be sorting through are ones that i'm likely never going to need again, like back and forths between the joint defense group over setting up a conference call or drafts of an already-filed brief being emailed around. why should i waste my time and effort filing all this shit when it's unlikely that i'm going to need to reference most of this shit?
when there are important emails that i know i'm going to need months later, like the email where the client sent over some key documents at the beginning of the case, i'll flag that particular email. and i have a good memory so i'll be able to find it quickly anyway. |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 1:10 PM Author: multi-colored charcoal menage travel guidebook TCR. I tag important emails important (kinda pointless since I tag way too many like that), but I spend ZERO time sorting. On occasion with an important email I will print the email, have it scanned, and dumped into the database with the rest of the clients important docs, but that happens maybe once a month. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066710) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 1:12 PM Author: Khaki clown yep, it's amazing how many inefficient asskissers in biglaw waste time doing stupid shit they don't get compensated for. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23066722) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:41 PM Author: irradiated violent puppy cr. i just red flag e-mails that are key so they appear in my task bar. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067327) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:55 PM Author: Alcoholic aqua trust fund toilet seat crrrrrrr (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23067427) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 2:01 PM Author: Bronze step-uncle's house I have a folder for each client I'm working on, and then subfolders for each matter. WTF how hard is that to do?
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:26 PM Author: hyperactive boltzmann heaven I have a folder for each matter, with subfolders for the key issues. Like others in this thread, I move things into the appropriate folder once resolved. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23070848) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:30 PM Author: Curious main people stag film (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23070895) |
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Date: April 24th, 2013 10:37 PM Author: lavender church mediation Folders based on client/Subject and then a couple (max 4) sub-folders for discrete activities relating to said client/subject. I keep my inbox clean except for emails I know I will need to repeatedly refer back to and urgent tasks which I cannot do this minute (I also red flag these and sometimes set a reminder). This means no more than 10-20 emails in my inbox. I am also an aggressive deleter, I find too many people keep useless emails, especially keeping multiple emails from the same conversation instead of just keeping the last one. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2238607&forum_id=2#23070963) |