If the e-mail inbox is full, no more e-mails can arrive and are lost. That’s why it’s important to organize it and always keep enough space free. There are some practical tips and functions for this.
The e-mail inbox fills up very quickly with important documents and correspondence in everyday life. From sales contracts and invoices, which are often sent in PDF format, to inquiries and appointment invitations. In addition to all the important e-mails, there are also many newsletters and spam e-mails that also take up valuable storage space. Without effective organization of the e-mail inbox, it quickly becomes full and confusing. However, this can be prevented with the following functions and tips.
Unsubscribe or block newsletters
If the e-mail inbox is too full, it is often due to spam e-mails that block the inbox with their sheer volume. You should unsubscribe from newsletters that arrive at short intervals and quickly lose their topicality. Most newsletters have a link at the bottom to unsubscribe from the mailing list. Spam mails, on the other hand, cannot be unsubscribed in most cases. That’s why you should block obtrusive or suspicious senders in your email settings. Because certain content should not be clicked on, because malicious programs can also be hidden behind links or buttons.
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Set up filters for the e-mail inbox
A filter is the right tool to organize e-mails and prepare them for quick deletion. With the help of certain search terms, you can store emails in the folders provided for this purpose.
You can also use search terms to specialize the spam folder in the e-mail inbox for specific content and keywords. The spam folder also automatically sorts out suspicious emails. Therefore, check at certain intervals to make sure that no important messages have gotten lost there. If a spam email gets through the spam folder filter, adjust the folder’s search terms.
Filtering by search terms in other folders for subject areas such as “Appointments”, “Association” and “Invoices” also helps to organize the e-mail inbox. In addition, the classification according to the importance of the e-mails and the necessary time for processing is one way of structuring the folder structure.
If important e-mails from a sender only arrive in the mailbox at certain intervals, you can filter the e-mails by sender. In this way, messages from a company or a person are clearly visible. It is thus possible to directly sort out and delete superfluous emails from a sender.
Also read: LKA warns of alleged emails from the federal government
Delete emails and make room
The best protection against overflow is to regularly delete superfluous mail. Thus, the previous filtering in subject areas or processed mails helps to make the decision to delete easier. Documents that are in the attachments and that you need should be downloaded and saved on a PC, a mobile hard drive or in the cloud.
For certain folders, you can also set automatic deletion after a selected period of time. This is especially interesting for the spam folder and folder for daily newsletters.
Empty trash
Deleted emails also take up valuable storage space if you don’t empty the trash regularly. You can empty the entire recycle bin with one click or set automatic deletion in the settings. Then the recycle bin will be emptied in a certain period of time. But beware, it is often worth looking through the e-mails in the recycle bin again. If an e-mail does not belong there, it can be moved to a folder.
Compress attachments before sending
When files are attached to emails that are very large, the mailbox fills up faster. That’s why it’s worth compressing the email attachments before sending them. This has several advantages: On the one hand, they take up less storage space. On the other hand, e-mails can be sent faster if the internet connection is bad or the data volume is limited.
The format used to compress email attachments is the ZIP format on both Windows and macOS. However, you cannot shrink all files. Image, video and music files cannot be compressed using the ZIP format, but can be added to the ZIP folder. If you make image and video files smaller by saving the files with a lower resolution, you should be aware that this cannot be undone.
All other files are compressed in ZIP format. After the ZIP folder has arrived via email, the files get their original size back via the unzip function.
Compress and unzip a ZIP file with Windows
- Windows lets you select and compress files. To do this, right-click on the selected file and a corresponding tab will open.
- Click Send To.
- To zip the folder or file, select Compressed ZIP Folder.
- A ZIP file will then appear next to the selected original.
- To extract, right-click the ZIP file and select “Extract”, then choose where to save the files.
Compress and unzip a ZIP file with macOS
- With macOS, open a tab by holding down the “Control” or “Ctrl” key and left-clicking on the file.
- Then select the “(filename-)compress” option.
- A ZIP file with a .zip extension is created. If multiple files are selected to be compressed, the compressed file is named Archive.zip.
- To unzip the ZIP file in the same folder, select and double-click the file.
Book additional storage space
If the e-mail inbox is always full despite being well organized, booking additional storage space can help. The e-mail providers have offers for premium accounts that have more storage space and functions or offers that expand the storage space and allow the mailbox to grow monthly.
The possibility of effectively organizing the e-mail inbox and saving storage space is therefore available. For this, however, you have to part with the digital ballast at certain intervals or pay money. Because the incessant flow of new e-mails will certainly continue in the years to come. Sending an e-mail is simply too convenient and inexpensive for this.