Managing old emails..

[wafter]

.. the latest manifestation of my OCD has been to sort out my Gmail account; which had acquired 27k messages since I got it in around 2004. Until this point it has, (like most other areas of life) pretty much been left to fester, uncurated.

I've been smashing through sorting, archiving and deleting stuff en-bloc, and I'm now down to amout 1300 messages left to go through (not sure how many I've kept as Gmail apparently doesn't count the archived messages).

I've canned anything obvious but am having a real problem knowing where to draw the line - half of me longs for the cleanliness of deleting pretty much everything and the associated loss of compexity, half of me likes the ability to know exactly when I bought that set of brushes for the washing machine that was replaced ten yers ago..

I definitely feel like I've made some progress and intend to go through each folder / label I've created again to try to cull more / better sort what's there... so I'd welcome any tips please

 

[biggs682]

Open a Hotmail account and forget about the Gmail one .... Sorted

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I don't keep every E Mail, the ones I keep are filed by year and are deleted after ten years.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I dont use Gmail as a email program, I couldn't figure out how it uses 'flags' instead of folders so I stick to outlook as it let's me setup folders and sort mail into them. I added my Gmail account into Outlook and can see all the mail I get.

My first tip would be to set all mail to automatically go to junk unless you say otherwise, I've never missed anything and my Inbox is much easier to manage that way.

Second tip is any email from family or friends is kept forever, its easy to lose conversations that happen electronically so I keep as much as I can.

 

[wafter]

Open a Hotmail account and forget about the Gmail one .... Sorted

lol - is that so it automatically gets "tidied" every so often when hacked, binned and started anew?

The Gmail account replaced a hotmail account all those years ago, and I can't say as I miss anything about it (although Google are probably much more adept at exploiting its contents than Microsoft)..

I dont use Gmail as a email program, I couldn't figure out how it uses 'flags' instead of folders so I stick to outlook as it let's me setup folders and sort mail into them. I added my Gmail account into Outlook and can see all the mail I get.

My first tip would be to set all mail to automatically go to junk unless you say otherwise, I've never missed anything and my Inbox is much easier to manage that way.

Second tip is any email from family or friends is kept forever, its easy to lose conversations that happen electronically so I keep as much as I can.

Cheers - tbh took me a bit of learning before I understood it. The labels work effectively like folders, although you can apply more than one label to an email so I guess it works more like a database than a filing system.

Ta for the pointers - the account does a great job of filtering spam and I've got it setup so that most repeatable addresses (such as ebay notifications) get labelled so that I can archive them to a folder with a couple of clicks.

I agree about the friends and family stuff - it's a fairly minimal part of the total content and I'd not want to lose any of it. I think I'm just going to have to work through each folder and get a feel for what needs to go - for example for each ebay transaction I might get 4-5 emails; just isolating one with the most information and binning the rest would be a start.

Tbh while mechanically it's been quite cathartic to sort and bin so much, emotionally it's also been quite a depressing experience - seeing all the conversations I've let lapse with people I've failed to keep in contact with

 

[cougie uk]

.. the latest manifestation of my OCD has been to sort out my Gmail account; which had acquired 27k messages since I got it in around 2004. Until this point it has, (like most other areas of life) pretty much been left to fester, uncurated.

I've been smashing through sorting, archiving and deleting stuff en-bloc, and I'm now down to amout 1300 messages left to go through (not sure how many I've kept as Gmail apparently doesn't count the archived messages.

I've canned anything obvious but am having a real problem knowing where to draw the line - half of me longs for the cleanliness of deleting pretty much everything and the associated loss of compexity, half of me likes the ability to know exactly when I bought that set of brushes for the washing machine that was replaced ten yers ago..

I definitely feel like I've made some progress and intend to go through each folder / label I've created again to try to cull more / better sort what's there... so I'd welcome any tips please

Don't ask me. Apparently I have 41,726 in my inbox. It's not a problem for me though.

 

[All uphill]

Don't ask me. Apparently I have 41,726 in my inbox. It's not a problem for me though.

Only 41,000?

Seems like I got more than that from Planet X in the last month!

Having advocated for a simpler life I feel a bit of a hypocrite admitting that I have never thought about having a clearout of emails. I find it tough enough clearing out stuff that takes up space, and that I can see. Good on you @wafter if doing this frees you a bit.

 

[wafter]

Only 41,000?

Seems like I got more than that from Planet X in the last month!

Having advocated for a simpler life I feel a bit of a hypocrite admitting that I have never thought about having a clearout of emails. I find it tough enough clearing out stuff that takes up space, and that I can see. Good on you @wafter if doing this frees you a bit.

Thanks - and I guess everyone has their limits as to what they consider acceptable. If you don't feel the need to sort them and it holds no practical purpose; arguably there's no point. For me I think it has as much value intrinsically as an exercise as it does for ongoing practical purpose; as it allows me to do something achievable and arguably productive while I'd otherwise only be capable of sitting staring into a dark corner..

 

[All uphill]

Thanks - and I guess everyone has their limits as to what they consider acceptable. If you don't feel the need to sort them and it holds no practical purpose; arguably there's no point. For me I think it has as much value intrinsically as an exercise as it does for ongoing practical purpose; as it allows me to do something achievable and arguably productive while I'd otherwise only be capable of sitting staring into a dark corner..

I get that, and find comfort in doing a job that brings order.

Keep on keeping on!

 

[wiggydiggy]

Microsoft Outlook

One thing I'll just mention as although I prefer this, the Android App it has recently had some changes. The full Outlook App is now too demanding for my phone so I switched to Outlook Lite but that doesn't support multiple accounts yet so I have to look at Gmail again every so often. And my tablet doesn't support Outlook Lite at all

On desktop luckily its still fine

 

[Slick]

I send something in the region of 50 to 60 emails a day at work, sometimes more.

The last thing I want to deal with in my private life is emails, especially when most of them are either adverts or spam.

I have to tell my friends, if you want me, don't email me as I won't see it, as I'm brutal and delete the lot every few weeks.

I couldn't care less when I bought that set of brushes for the washing machine that I don't have.

Try it, its very cathartic.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I have to tell my friends, if you want me, don't email me as I won't see it, as I'm brutal and delete the lot every few weeks.

To be fair I get very few family/friend emails, they are far more likely to use instant messaging but I always say if it's important - phone me

 

[Slick]

To be fair I get very few family/friend emails, they are far more likely to use instant messaging but I always say if it's important - phone me

I've had a few, especially group family emails.

My brother thinks its the best medium as everyone reads their emails and I had to show him my deleted files unread before he would believe me.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I just let them accumulate.

 

[oldwheels]

I sort my inboxes about once a week and file important ones then dump the rest. Junk mail is checked every day as I have had the occasional important one appear there. After about a year I check the files and older ones mostly get dumped.
Feeling a bit bereft this morning as I only had one junk female offering services. Recently I dumped up to twenty every morning.
This is over two different addresses.