Better email productivity<\/a> can end up saving you hours a month, giving you more time to pace your day, get ahead of schedule, and keep important projects on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve gathered some of our favorite email productivity tips and hacks to help you save time and stay organized. Here’s what to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of business professionals know they spend too much time on their email. But cutting back can be harder than you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve all gotten used to using email a certain way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n These habits can really kill your workday momentum. They bog you down with things that could probably wait and have you focusing on someone else’s to-do list <\/a>instead of your own. They also consume a lot of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For busy people who need to get a lot done in a day, this isn’t the best way to use email. Instead, consider implementing the following 10 email tips<\/strong>. These email productivity hacks<\/strong> can end up saving you hours a month and totally change how you use your email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the best email productivity hacks<\/strong> is to limit the number of times you check email in a given day. Two to three times per day is actually plenty for most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try scheduling blocks of time on your calendar just for checking your email, and make it a daily task just like other tasks in your work day. If you decide to check it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The time you choose will vary depending on your schedule, but in general it shouldn’t be too early or too late in the day so that it adds more stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While many people worry a couple time blocks for email won’t be enough, most find it’s actually fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since you’re going to be checking your email less often, the last thing you want is to get a notification telling you a new message has arrived \u2014 hours before your next scheduled time block for email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, turn off your email notifications on your phone and your desktop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Email notifications can be a constant distraction, throwing off your focus and making it harder to get things done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No doubt, it will feel weird at first going through a day without email dings and buzzes, but soon you will wonder how you survived before without this email productivity hack<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each block of email time you put on your calendar should have an end time as well as a start time. This way you can limit how much of your day goes into email, eliminating the time sink and staying more productive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pomodoro Technique<\/a> is a great trick for email. Use one 25-minute Pomodoro cycle per email time block and work through as much of your inbox as you can. If you still have a few messages you didn’t get to, they’ll still be there next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re new to the Pomodoro Technique, try out an app, like Pomodoro Timer<\/a>, Focus To-Do<\/a> or Focus Keeper<\/a>, to help you put it into practice on your email inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people dream of a clean and tidy email inbox and one of the best ways to get there is to sort your mail into folders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Folders let you filter what actions you need to take on each email, letting you work productively in “batches.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n What folders you set up will vary. Some popular options include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, by putting everything in a folder, you will regularly clear out your inbox for the ultimate email achievement \u2014 inbox zero!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you get a lot of mail, sorting it all into folders by hand is going to get tedious, which is the opposite of what we want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Setting up rules in Outlook or Gmail is not too tricky and can really save a lot of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Filtering rules are a great email productivity hack<\/strong> when you have a steady stream of recurring messages, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use rules to automatically sort your emails into the right folders by keywords, senders or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both Outlook and Google let you mark your important emails with either flags or stars, but working through those tasks in their original form means you’ll be staring at your inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, consider converting your emails into a list of to-dos that you can handle without the distraction of your inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Manage your tasks using a separate app, such as Todoist<\/a>, OneNote<\/a>, or Focus To-Do<\/a>, to work through email questions, tickets, assignments and other tasks without breaking your no-inbox rule during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or better yet, manage them from directly within your inbox with Folio<\/a>. \ud83d\ude09 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes you\u2019ll find yourself re-typing the same email over and over again. An email productivity tip<\/strong> that can save you a lot of time is to use templates for these boilerplate responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Setting up some templates for common emails and tasks, where you just have to fill in a few details or numbers is a great trick that will help you get through your inbox faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a number of template tools you can use, such as TextExpander<\/a>, to help you keep track of your responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another way many emailers lose time is by overthinking simple questions and underthinking complex ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rethinking the way you answer email can help up your productivity. For instance, ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider starting your day without checking your email as the very first thing you do. Instead, reclaim your morning for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Start with a morning routine. It’s transformative personally and professionally to spend some time each morning on a workout, walk, meditation or breakfast with the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, plan your day. Make a list of what you’d like to accomplish, review important tasks, and pick two or three priorities that you want to get done today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, before you check that inbox, spend 30 minutes to an hour on your more important work task for the day while you are still full of energy and focus. You’ll start feeling a lot better and getting a lot more done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try an app, like My Morning Routine<\/a>, if you need help sticking to you new routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Email subscriptions are often a necessary evil. You need to stay up to date with vendors, clients and industry news, but these emails can really clog up your inbox and make you less productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizing your subscriptions is another great email productivity tip that will save you a ton of time on your email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s a few ways to go about it. You can unsubscribe from anything that’s unessential, you can create a rule to filter your subscriptions into the right folder, or you can use a tool like Unroll.me, which can roll all your subscriptions into one concise email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Better email productivity can help you keep your momentum going, focus on what’s important and save you a lot time. Re-thinking your approach to your inbox and incorporating these productivity tips will save you hours every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But with the right tool, you may be able to cut down the time you spend on email even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not to brag, but making email more efficient and less time consuming is why we created Folio<\/a>. \ud83d\ude42 Folio lives directly inside your Gmail and has helps over 100,000 professionals save 5\u201310 hours every week managing their email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our AI-powered algorithms automatically sort your Gmail or Outlook inbox into workflows that make sense, with Smart Folders, reminders, and integrations with your favorite tools. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy Email Productivity Hacks Can Help (A Lot)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1. Schedule Specific Times for Checking Email<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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2. Turn Off Your Email Notifications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Limit the Time Spent Handling Emails<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Pomodoro](\"https:\/\/www.amitree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/pomodoro-technique-1024x505.png\" "\\"pomodoro")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n4. Use Folders to Get to Inbox Zero<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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5. Set Up Rules to Filter Mail<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Gmail](\"https:\/\/www.amitree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/gmail-filters.png\" "\\"Gmail")
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6. Convert Emails into a Lists of To-Dos<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
7. Use Templates for Quick Responses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
8. Rethink Your Email Responses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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9. Stop Checking Email First Thing in the Morning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Checking](\"https:\/\/www.amitree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/email-check-morning-1024x618.jpeg\" "\\"Email")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n10. Organize Your Subscriptions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
More Email Productivity Tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n