Emails can be overwhelming when they begin to add up. However, they are a key source of information for school, private, and community events and reminders. Knowing ways to manage an inbox in a professional, personal, or school setting allows people to be better prepared and have meaningful conversations with others.
“It was COVID [that] made it difficult to communicate and teach how to manage emails,” Career Technician Trisha Oskner said. “[Students] are getting emails all day long—from [students] counselors, career tech, and admin.”
However, managing an inbox can be quite simple if people find the right techniques that work for them.
“I strongly encourage kids to not be afraid to delete, but if [they] are afraid [to, then] make folders. [For example, having] a Cuesta folder and put[ing] everything in the Cuesta folder,” Oskner said.
Gmail has many tools for managing inboxes and dividing it in certain ways to help clean out emails. However, some take a more practical approach.
“I check my email first thing in the morning when I come to work, right after break and then another time in the afternoon,” Principal Brad Grumbles said. “That allows you to do what’s called batching. You could go in them one time and you could do a lot of things really quickly.”
Tackling emails can be simple and completed in one sitting; spending time going through smaller chunks of emails can gradually decrease the overall amount of emails in an inbox, such as deleting emails that are not needed or unwanted and keeping important ones.
“Making sure you stay on top of spam, instead of archiving an email, make sure that you flag it and report it as junk. That will help stay on top of junk email,” Grumbles said.
Communicating through emails can also have downsides if not enough effort is put into the email.
“[People] can get lazy with an email. The best way to talk to people is face-to-face, but the easy way is through email. When you leave information out it could be too short and can be perceived as being mean or angry or upset,” Grumbles said.
Effective communication through email is important. An email starts with a strong subject, followed by a greeting, a body paragraph, and a closing. Good formatting can lead to an email similar to an in-person conversation.
Managing emails is important and spending time going through them every day can reduce the amount of emails students have in their inbox.
