• As you would process "snail-mail" using an In/Out system on your desk-top,use the concept for your E-mails as well.

• Similar to a paper-based file system, establish a "file cabinet" with "files" for E-mails. In most cases, you will consider four key categories to, with respective, individual files. They include:

• Admin. Files: Correspondence, Finances, Warranties, etc.

• Client Files: Que, John, etc. * Project Files: 123 SORT IT, etc.

• Reference Files: Trade Press Releases, etc.

• When you retrieve your E-mails, download them into an In "basket." (Immediately delete E-mails where you do not recognize the sender. This will save you from receiving on-line"junk mail.")

• Keep mail in your In "basket" until you are ready to reply.

• Allocate time in your schedule to address E-mail. As you read mail, process them to the next step -- what is the next action: Answer, Forward, File or Action?

• Answer E-mail in a timely manner. Either save the in-coming E-mail in the appropriate file or delete it. (Making the decision to save or delete now will save you time and hard disc space.)Use the E-mail Management Flowchart to help you determine what to save.

• Forward E-mail to the appropriate person when necessary. Do not save the original copy.(Use an auto-file saving setting to save all your out-going E-mails. That way you will have a copy for your records. And you will have a copy of all your out-going correspondence.)

• After reading an E-mail and if there is no action required, yet you need to save the E-mail,file it in the appropriate file.

• Keep E-mails that need further action in your In "basket" -- when you need additional time to complete an action. For example, you might have E-mails that are long and you need time to read them thoroughly, you need to record an event on your calendar, or you need to compile additional information before you are ready to respond.

• If you begin responding to an E-mail, yet you do not have time to finish it, save it in your Out "basket." (Remember not to send out all your out-going E-mail if there is an unfinished correspondence in the out "basket." A trick you can use is to initially address your response to yourself -- that way, if you accidentally send something that is incomplete, it comes to you!

• Finally, remember this industry statistic -- 80% of what you file will never be looked at again!

Information Overload:
Source: Nancy Freeze: Hewlett-Pachard Executive VP Administrative Assistant

• Information overload is caused by widespread distribution of information through easy to use distribution channels. Primary contributors are:
  • Voice Mail
  • Faxes
  • Electronic Mail
  • Photocopying
• According to recent findings published in USA Today (January 1996), 26million voice mails were recorded in 1996.
• The average office has 19 copies of each document.

Fax Frenzy Leading To Mountains Of Paperwork:
Source: San Jose Mercury News - July, 1996

• Fax machines are doing what regular mail used to; creating an overwhelming trail of important documents, junk mail and unsolicited advertisements. The average Fortune 500 company spends 41% of its $37million annual phone bill on fax costs according to a 1996Gallup/Pitney Bowes survey.
• For most business of any size, fax is second only to the telephone as the communication method of choice.

E-Mail Solutions - A Quick Fix?
Source: San Jose Mercury News - July, 1996

Some companies like Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Have taken matters into their own hands, looking to e-mail as a quick-fix alternative to excessive faxing.

Many say that for forwarding and editing purposes, e-mail is the better alternative for in-company use. But employees still print out a good number of e-mail messages and continue to rely on the fax machine for sending documents.