Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Technology


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 08-06-2008, 06:31 PM   #1 (permalink)
zomgomgomgomgomgomg
 
telekinetic's Avatar
 
Location: Fauxenix, Azerona
Inbox Zero-style Outlook Makeover.

So I have a new job, and since I had some downtime this morning, I decided to give my Outlook an Inbox Zero makeover. I got the idea from LifeHacker, but there's plenty of sources online suggesting the same (I stole the name from one of them).


clicky for biggy

Everything that comes in immediately gets Triage'd into one of five folders:

Respond - Any emails that can be responded to in less than 5 minutes. Anything that can be responded to in less than 1 minute, just do as it comes in and don't bother to file it.
Action - Any emails that require more than 5 minutes of work to respond to, or that have work instructions.
Waiting - Things that other people need to follow up on or get back to you about.
Hold - Stuff that requires no action, but that you want easily accessible. Examples would be tracking numbers, order confirmations, or other stuff you might be referring to over the next week or so.
Vault - Long term reference message storage. This folder can have sub folders by category if desired (I have "CYA" and "Reference," so far), although since it is searchable there probably aren't many needed.
Trash - Yes, I know this is a sixth folder, but it's one that is already there. Delete visciously. Anything that doesn't go in one of the top five folders, or anything from those folders that you are done with and don't need to move to archive, gets deleted immediately.

Oh, and I found/modified VB script macros to move my messages around
Oh, and in the cases of Action/Respond/Waiting, it marks them unread, so I could keep track of the running count of open tasks in those folders. See? One action pending!
AND I made little buttons for them. (See? up by Help? Aren't they cute?)
AND I linked them to keyboard shortcuts.
Oh, and I had to digitally sign the macro package using a certificate I made with selfcert.exe so Outlook will let me run them.

I also wrote most of it up for my blog. I can copy it here, if you like, or you can just google around and figure out the info yourself...that's what I did, and I learned a lot! I'd hate to rob people of the joy of discovery, but if there's enough interest, i'll polish it and post it up.

Last edited by telekinetic; 08-06-2008 at 06:42 PM..
telekinetic is offline  
Old 08-06-2008, 06:49 PM   #2 (permalink)
The Computer Kid :D
 
Location: 127.0.0.1
Sounds pretty jolly. I'd set this up if I actually had work emails.

It seems a bit overdone though. Why not just drag into the folders?
MikeSty is offline  
Old 08-06-2008, 06:53 PM   #3 (permalink)
Tilted Cat Head
 
Cynthetiq's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
I have inbox and offline PST.

if it's not something for me to work on now, it's moved to the PST. If the person needs it really bad and I've not gotten back to them, they will email me again.
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
Cynthetiq is offline  
Old 08-06-2008, 06:55 PM   #4 (permalink)
zomgomgomgomgomgomg
 
telekinetic's Avatar
 
Location: Fauxenix, Azerona
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeSty View Post
Sounds pretty jolly. I'd set this up if I actually had work emails.

It seems a bit overdone though. Why not just drag into the folders?
Because I was really bored

Also, I wanted to learn how to do VB Script macros. Also also, it's a quick way to sort things and mark them unread in one click or one alt-letter instead of click, drag, right click, click, click back to inbox.

I admit, if you're not having to parse 50+ emails a day this system is probably overkill, but my last job, I did nothing and ended up with an inbox with 6000 messages by the time i left.

Last edited by telekinetic; 08-06-2008 at 06:58 PM..
telekinetic is offline  
Old 08-06-2008, 06:58 PM   #5 (permalink)
spudly
 
ubertuber's Avatar
 
Location: Ellay
You and I are cut from the same cloth. I'm a GTD practitioner myself, although the particulars differ.

In my case, I have an inbox and then I have an action box, which is what I actually read. The action box collects all unread messages and any messages which I have marked as flagged. Flagged means that the message is something that should be in my universe, it will require an action from me or my attention. At any given time, I seem to have between 3 and 10 flagged messages, plus the unreads, but I am pretty vigilant about acting on things as soon as I can.

For me, anything else is just in the regular inbox, which I hardly ever look at. I suppose it is the equivalent of your vault. The search function on OS X mail is fast and robust enough with my 15,000 message vault that I quit filing things a long time ago. I realized I was simply scratching my own organizational itches without adding simplicity or value to my system.

My mail system runs itself -- I had to set up a couple of smart mailboxes, which took about 10 minutes. I run my life out of the excellent program Omnifocus, which is a task manager that I use for hold/waiting, and other contexts. Since the mail is so easily searchable, I don't worry about creating more walls in that part of my life. As a bonus, my OF database automatically syncs to my iPhone, so I am working from the same lists at all times. Unfortunately, OF is OS X only. I hear that there are hacks to MS Outlook to add similar functionality.

I've been kicking around an idea about for a thread about this stuff.
__________________
Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam
ubertuber is offline  
Old 08-06-2008, 07:08 PM   #6 (permalink)
zomgomgomgomgomgomg
 
telekinetic's Avatar
 
Location: Fauxenix, Azerona
Quote:
Originally Posted by ubertuber View Post
with my 15,000 message vault that I quit filing things a long time ago. I realized I was simply scratching my own organizational itches without adding simplicity or value to my system.
I agree, with search as powerful as it is these days, sorting by content is a masturbatory gesture. However, I think that sorting by function may serve some purpose, since the shortcuts I built in remove all boundaries to actually using the system as intended. I don't keep any external To Do lists, and in fact have another rule running to copy my sent messages into my inbox for similar filing in the same system. I've read the pros and cons of keeping a separate to-do list, but right now this meets what I predict to be my needs, although I am very open to further optimization.
telekinetic is offline  
Old 08-06-2008, 07:15 PM   #7 (permalink)
Tilted Cat Head
 
Cynthetiq's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
i didn't realize that you scripted it that's pretty cool...
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
Cynthetiq is offline  
Old 08-06-2008, 08:19 PM   #8 (permalink)
The Computer Kid :D
 
Location: 127.0.0.1
Quote:
Originally Posted by twistedmosaic View Post
Because I was really bored

Also, I wanted to learn how to do VB Script macros. Also also, it's a quick way to sort things and mark them unread in one click or one alt-letter instead of click, drag, right click, click, click back to inbox.

I admit, if you're not having to parse 50+ emails a day this system is probably overkill, but my last job, I did nothing and ended up with an inbox with 6000 messages by the time i left.
That's quite respectable.

I'll be honest, I just use GMAIL to filter a lot of crapmail and I have only started to organize my Thunderbird mail for my .EDU addresses. I have set it so that various messages from different Listservs are posted in their own folders, and then I have folders for copies of important messages. I don't have an inflow yet where enough automation is required.

However, on GMAIL, I get enough crap that I do have it filtered. The filter+label system there is SO ridiculously awesome and easy. TFP replies go in one folder, facebook things in another, weekly updates etc etc. It's information overload, but at least I aggregate and reduce it.
MikeSty is offline  
Old 08-06-2008, 11:32 PM   #9 (permalink)
Evil Priest: The Devil Made Me Do It!
 
Daniel_'s Avatar
 
Location: Southern England
Inbox optimisation certainly helps productivity.

My system is as follows:

1) Keep Inbox sorted "By Conversation" so that all messages group - just like a forum.
2) Move all sent items to Inbox as soon as they're sent.
3) Only keep threads in Inbox that have something still pending on them.
4) Under my Inbox I have 3 folders "2008" or general closed threads, "IT" for threads relating to IT equipment issues (not part of my job, but I'm the go to guy), "Personal" for private stuff and jokes or humour from anyone.
5) Use Autoarchive to move offline all messages from these three folders once they're 3 months old. Do not use Autoarchive on Inbox itself.
6) Use coloured flags exactly like twistedmosaic uses his sub folders. I use RED for complaints and emergencies (I'm Quality and Regulatory manager of a healthcare company), use GREEN for "don't forget about this, but it's not urgent", use other colours to categorise things into "nag a colleague", "chase a supplier" etc.
7) Try to keep Inbox to about 50-70 threads max.
8) Try to keep coloured flags to ~20.

One productivity thing I'd advocate to anyone is "learn to use tasks and appointments correctly". Our Customer Service manager needed to be FORCED to use tasks rather than blocking out times in her calendar, and what happened is she'd get past the time she'd booked and no longer have a reminder to do stuff - by using tasks you get a constant reminder that you've missed a deadline...
__________________
╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine

╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝
Daniel_ is offline  
Old 08-07-2008, 02:30 PM   #10 (permalink)
zomgomgomgomgomgomg
 
telekinetic's Avatar
 
Location: Fauxenix, Azerona
So my Outlook had an unrelated glitch today and had to be re-installed---argh! Luckily macros are stored seperately from the outlook build, so I just had to remap the buttons. Just in case I ever lose the macros, however, I figured I'd copy-paste them here. This works if you have your five inbox subfolders named "Vault, Hold, Action, Respond, and Waiting" but the macros have different names because I edited them mid-stream.

Anyways, If you're trying to read it, it is actually five identical macros repeated.

Code:
Sub Action()

On Error Resume Next

 

 

    Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder

    Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem

 

 

    Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")

    Set objInbox = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)

    Set objFolder = objInbox.Folders("Action")
            
            
'Assume this is a mail folder

 

 

    If objFolder Is Nothing Then

        MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"

    End If

 

 

    If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then

        'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected

        Exit Sub

    End If

 

 

    For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection

        If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then

            If objItem.Class = olMail Then

                objItem.UnRead = True
                objItem.Move objFolder

            End If

        End If

    Next

 

 
        
    Set objItem = Nothing

    Set objFolder = Nothing

    Set objInbox = Nothing

    Set objNS = Nothing

End Sub
Sub Respond()


On Error Resume Next

 

 

    Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder

    Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem

 

 

    Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")

    Set objInbox = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)

    Set objFolder = objInbox.Folders("Respond")
            
            
'Assume this is a mail folder

 

 

    If objFolder Is Nothing Then

        MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"

    End If

 

 

    If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then

        'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected

        Exit Sub

    End If

 

 

    For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection

        If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then

            If objItem.Class = olMail Then

                objItem.UnRead = True
                objItem.Move objFolder

            End If

        End If

    Next

 

 
        
    Set objItem = Nothing

    Set objFolder = Nothing

    Set objInbox = Nothing

    Set objNS = Nothing

End Sub

Sub Waiting()

On Error Resume Next

 

 

    Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder

    Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem

 

 

    Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")

    Set objInbox = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)

    Set objFolder = objInbox.Folders("Waiting")
            
            
'Assume this is a mail folder

 

 

    If objFolder Is Nothing Then

        MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"

    End If

 

 

    If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then

        'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected

        Exit Sub

    End If

 

 

    For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection

        If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then

            If objItem.Class = olMail Then

                objItem.UnRead = True
                objItem.Move objFolder

            End If

        End If

    Next

 

 
        
    Set objItem = Nothing

    Set objFolder = Nothing

    Set objInbox = Nothing

    Set objNS = Nothing

End Sub

Sub Archive()

On Error Resume Next

 

 

    Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder

    Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem

 

 

    Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")

    Set objInbox = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)

    Set objFolder = objInbox.Folders("Vault")
            
            
'Assume this is a mail folder

 

 

    If objFolder Is Nothing Then

        MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"

    End If

 

 

    If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then

        'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected

        Exit Sub

    End If

 

 

    For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection

        If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then

            If objItem.Class = olMail Then

                objItem.UnRead = False
                objItem.Move objFolder

            End If

        End If

    Next

 

 
        
    Set objItem = Nothing

    Set objFolder = Nothing

    Set objInbox = Nothing

    Set objNS = Nothing

End Sub

Sub TempHold()

On Error Resume Next

 

 

    Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder

    Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem

 

 

    Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")

    Set objInbox = objNS.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)

    Set objFolder = objInbox.Folders("Hold")
            
            
'Assume this is a mail folder

 

 

    If objFolder Is Nothing Then

        MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"

    End If

 

 

    If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then

        'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected

        Exit Sub

    End If

 

 

    For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection

        If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then

            If objItem.Class = olMail Then

                objItem.UnRead = False
                objItem.Move objFolder

            End If

        End If

    Next

 

 
        
    Set objItem = Nothing

    Set objFolder = Nothing

    Set objInbox = Nothing

    Set objNS = Nothing

End Sub
telekinetic is offline  
Old 08-07-2008, 02:38 PM   #11 (permalink)
Lover - Protector - Teacher
 
Jinn's Avatar
 
Location: Seattle, WA
I have "Unread Mail", "For Follow Up" and "Important".

When it comes in, it's in Unread Mail. As I read them, they automatically mark read.

If it's something I can't reply immediately to, it gets moved to For Follow Up automatically when I flag it.

If it's login information, etc, I just do a right click > Move to Important. That's enough for me, and search is responsive enough to poll the 50,000+ emails I have in my Inbox.
__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel
Jinn is offline  
Old 08-16-2008, 01:15 AM   #12 (permalink)
Evil Priest: The Devil Made Me Do It!
 
Daniel_'s Avatar
 
Location: Southern England
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jinn View Post
I have "Unread Mail", "For Follow Up" and "Important".

When it comes in, it's in Unread Mail. As I read them, they automatically mark read.

If it's something I can't reply immediately to, it gets moved to For Follow Up automatically when I flag it.

If it's login information, etc, I just do a right click > Move to Important. That's enough for me, and search is responsive enough to poll the 50,000+ emails I have in my Inbox.
This is the point I keep making to the people I work with, who can never get their head round the fact that I can pull messages out of one big folder faster than they can carefully track it down in their huge array of folders (my line manager has ~200 folders, some containing only single figures of items).
__________________
╔═════════════════════════════════════════╗
Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine

╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝
Daniel_ is offline  
 

Tags
email, hackery, inbox, makeover, outlook, zerostyle

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 07:20 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360