My Apple Mail Workflow

Over the past 6 months I’ve worked out a very streamlined workflow for use inside Apple’s Mail application. No longer do I file each email under a specific folder, I have just one main folder setup, called the “Archive”.

Along with the Archive, I have three sub-folders.

- @ Reply
- @ Hold
- @ To-Do

When an email arrives in my inbox I file it straight away into one of these three folders. If it needs to be replied to, I file it in the “Reply” folder, if I need it on reference it will be filed in the “Hold” folder, and if it requires action other than replying, it gets filed in the “To-Do” folder.

Once the email is no longer relevant to one of these three folders, it gets dumped into the Archive where it stays permanently. If I need to find an email, I use Spotlight.

I find this setup works the best for me as I can quickly glance at just the messages which need replying to in one click if I have a little free time, while all my reference material is stored in one place until it’s no longer relevant.

Comments

  1. #1

    Indraneel → indraneel.thepurohits.net

    I use Gmail. “Select > Mark as Read” is my way of doing things. The BetterGmail Firefox Extension makes things oh so much easier.

  2. #2

    Ian

    Have you found a way to keep all of those messages in those folders as unread so you can see how many are in each folder without going into them?

  3. #3

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Have you found a way to keep all of those messages in those folders as unread so you can see how many are in each folder without going into them?

    I haven’t, though this would be a nice addition - for Mail to add up how many messages in the folder and display it like the unread number next to the folders.

  4. #4

    Joshua → joshuabryant.com

    Kudos for using the one main archive folder. Same here. I still crack up when I see Outlook users open up Outlook and then have a tree-view of folders a mile long.

    I don’t think I’ve ever needed a past email that I couldn’t find through spotlight, and I access my archives a lot. I do wish Mail’s search function allowed you to make more than just one query, but it’s still great the way that it is.

    I also used to have the reply, todo boxes, etc… I think that first showed up on 43folders one time. But just like GTD and all that other crap, I eventually found for my own workflow that it was just creating more work. I now just leave it in my inbox until I take care of it, by either replying or doing the action that is required. And then it’s just my daily goal to generally keep the inbox at 0. I’ve found when things are staring me in the face from my inbox, I tend to get on them faster, if for no other reason than I’m anxious to get it out of there.

  5. #5

    Elliott → www.35light.com

    Nice post Glenn! I’m ready now to organize all my mail from Gmail. As I said before, it would be cool if you could do a post on how your Aperture library is organized. Thanks.

  6. #6

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Nice post Glenn! I’m ready now to organize all my mail from Gmail. As I said before, it would be cool if you could do a post on how your Aperture library is organized. Thanks.

    The Aperture Library post is coming next week, thanks for the suggestion :-)

  7. #7

    Taylor → www.cornerbirch.com

    I do the same thing. My two folders are: New & Respond. I use Mail Act-On to dump everything into my Archives. Merlin Mann wrote a great post on using Act-On and remapping your Caps Lock key. Check it…

    http://www.43folders.com/2006/09/15/mail-act-on/

    Great post!

  8. #8

    Shawn Blanc → thefightspot.com

    Glenn - I love the master Archive folder. A few months ago I re-did my mail workflow but I haven’t found a good system yet. I’m still finding some glitches in my system and are losing some emails. I think having the master archive folder is a great idea.

  9. #9

    Elliott → www.35light.com

    The Aperture Library post is coming next week, thanks for the suggestion :-)

    Awesome! Thanks Glenn. I’m looking forward to it.

  10. #10

    Jay Robinson → www.hip-hop-anonymous.com

    Though I no doubt receive less email than you, I only use two folders, Action and Archive. (I find this solution preferable to the use of obscure characters in front of a name in order for it to be listed at the top of an alphabetically sorted list.)

    The result is a very clean appearance, its all in one place so I can access it from anywhere, I don’t need any fancy Hawkwings type hacks, and I spend less time mucking about with filing items.

  11. #11

    Julian Schrader → julianschrader.de

    I use MailTags 2 to attach to-dos and events to my mails.

    Furthermore I use intelligent mailboxes for “recently viewed” and “recently sent” mails and ONE Archive folder—when I need to find an older mail, I use Spotlight as well.

  12. #12

    Nick Danforth → nickdanforth.blogspot.com

    I’ve always liked this type of workflow. It works very well for me in Thunderbird. However, in addition to those 3 folders, I also have multiple smart folders which sort messages into categories by content/sender, such as a folder for Twittter, one for Flickr, one for my Blog, Apple.com, Forum Notifications, etc.

    Very good post though!

  13. #13

    Dumitru Tira

    Thanks for sharing your method Glenn, then I’ll have my mac I’ll know how to organize it :D.

    My current method: gmail > check as read > done :D

  14. #14

    Tiger!

    Kudos for using the one main archive folder. Same here. I still crack up when I see Outlook users open up Outlook and then have a tree-view of folders a mile long.

    I don’t get why having a tree-view of folders a mile long is amusing?? I use spotlight occasionally, but I actually find it easier to just go through my several mile long (hyperbole) list of folders. Remember some of us use email very very comprehensively for several different email accounts and for several different (and not necessarily interrelated) projects so lots of folders can actually be more than just amusing, they can be really helpful.

  15. #15

    Chris ‘MyAppleStuff’ Marshall → www.myapplestuff.com

    So you use no Smart Folders at all?

    I use three alongside a very similar process to yours:

    - Recently Viewed: Date Last Viewed
    - Recently Sent: Message is in mailbox Sent & Date Received is in last xx days
    - Inbox Flagged: Message is in Mailbox Inbox & Message is Flagged

  16. #16

    Chris ‘MyAppleStuff’ Marshall → www.myapplestuff.com

    Glenn - what would be ‘ideal’ exactly in terms of an item count for the folders? Total, Unread etc

  17. #17

    nick

    this is soooooo 1984…….wake up bud

  18. #18

    Carolina → candycaroline.blogspot.com

    Excellent Advice! Ill use it and then let you now my own experience. Thanx from Argentina!

  19. #19

    Chris Thomson → christhomsonblog.com

    Glenn, do you have a Bacn folder?

  20. #20

    Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com

    Glenn, do you have a Bacn folder?

    Nope, never heard of it before.

  21. #21

    Julian Schrader → julianschrader.de

    I’ve got one: http://julianschrader.de/20070823-9-tips-for-better-e-mail-productivity/

  22. #22

    Create Change | Today: Apple Mail → mikepaschal.net/archive/323

    [...] that number just keeps growing. So to make that happen, I have found this system from another blog. **idea to post this came from [...]

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