cleaning out email

[Zoe Girl]

i have just got under 8000 emails in my box, i get nervous to delete them and it often doesn't affect anything. but i need to sort through a few topics and mostly i am deleting. it is a trip to see and read these old emails. i am not reading them all! but i see some tensions with my former sup, and surprised to see some of the positives i was also getting.

[ctg492]

8,000 wow is all I can say. Are these business related? I can see archiving and filing those needed, but personal why save? Data Hoarding isn't that whats it is called. Delete and feel free if you can.

[Zoe Girl]

yes all work related, i read and handled them but then just have not taken the time to delete since it wasn't really affecting me. these go back 2 years as well, i need to use folders more for the things i may need potentially.

[zeaxmays]

its just like mail, you have to sort it when it comes in. or else everyone is eating dinner on the couch and the cat is buried alive when the pile falls over on the dining room table.

[kib]

yes all work related, i read and handled them but then just have not taken the time to delete since it wasn't really affecting me. these go back 2 years as well, i need to use folders more for the things i may need potentially. Better to delete, yes, but it is after all only email, it doesn't take up physical space, so if it makes you anxious to throw it away unread there's no harm in creating a folder called "I probably don't need this 2013" and shoveling the mail from the dining table into a box in the garage, so to speak, then focusing on dealing in real time with the new stuff.

[Zoe Girl]

good idea, I think I will move to a couple folders based on what I tend to go back and search for. There are a few common categories I need to go back to and have difficulty finding that one old email. If I search a name it gives me every email they were cc'd on instead of just the ones from that person (outlook), and a LOT of emails go to the full department.