You have two filing systems. No, seriously, you do. Unless you keep all of your e-mail in your inbox all the time (please tell me you’re not doing that….), then you have a system that you keep for your actual files, and you have an e-mail system. One of the things that I try to make happen with any of my filing systems (I do have a couple of different e-mails) is to make sure that there is some level of continuity between them. If there are some points where your filing system and your e-mail system will interact, it makes sense that they should be structured similarly.
1) Keeping track of different systems is a pain – I know that one of the things that I talk about on this blog is the importance of maintaining your filing system. While this is true and vital, trying to maintain multiple filing systems with different structures can be highly chaotic to try to manage. It’s therefore important to be able to maintain some sort of continuity between your e-mail and your filing system.
2) Allowing for crossover is key – If you get a phone bill (and an example), you want to be able to track the payment of that bill, right? I tend to get a PDF of the payment online and the original e-mail and put that in my filing system. That way, I have a record of the transaction, but what about the original e-mail? It’s still in your inbox and will be there until you do something with it. That is why you need to have a crossover with your e-mail filing system. If the folder structures on both systems match, then locating the folder you need when you need it, as well as the e-mails will be much easier to find.
3) There will be differences, but the format should be the same – Certainly, there will be some kinds of differences between your e-mail folder structure. As an example, you probably will not be keeping personal correspondence from your family or Freinds in your filing system. This means there will be SOME differences, but making sure that anything that crossover would be in roughly the same format will make it so you can find things in both places.
Organizing your digital life is not about simply organizing your files, It’s about organizing your whole digital life. If you keep one end of your filing system organized but fail to manage the other, then the entire system falls apart. I have (on a few different occasions) needed to go through my e-mail to make sure that I found one that had a specific document. In this case, I received an e-mail from a particular person. I was able to track down the e-mail, and from there, I was able to find it in my filing system. I was able to see that file in my filing system because I found it in my e-mail. I found my e-mail because I kept that e-mail account well organized. If you do the same, you will be able to find anything you’re looking for.
What does your e-mail filing system look like?
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