Email Overload: Cleaning up old emails, is it worth it? Part 4

 (Part 1: Email Overload: Clear your inbox in a few easy steps)

(Part 2: Email Overload: How are we doing so far?)

(Part 3: Did I actually get to Inbox Zero?)

Background: I have been trying to clear my inbox manually for the last couple of weeks in order to get a better feel for the need for email productivity and email overload tools. I also wanted to get my Outlook file down from a gigantic 15 G to something more manageable for me and digestible by Outlook.

My current stats:

• Outlook pst file: 15 G -> 6 G -> 5.8 G -> 2.9 G
• Inbox items: 6,743 -> 124 -> 0 (Still holding up at Inbox Zero)

There are more boring tasks than going through ancient emails; I just can’t think of any right now. In the interest of discovery and science, I took on this daunting task.

My process:

• I had already moved all emails and put them in directories by year (2007,2008,2009,2010, in 2011 I am maintaining Inbox Zero and will not have to do that again)
• Began with the oldest (2007), figuring that it would be much easier to part with older emails (this turned out to be true)
• For each year:
  • Sorted by sender, walked through the list of senders, deleted all emails from unimportant senders. There were a few of those.
  • For important senders, walked through and sorted by topic
  • Liberally deleted messages and only kept most important emails (or kept attachments and deleted, or kept contact and deleted, following rules outlined in Part 1 of this series)
  • Used personal judgement: e.g. i) it’s an email with a performance review file attached, I already have the file on my computer and HR has a copy – delete; ii) it’s a copy of the market research that Marketing sent me, of which there is a copy on a shared folder – delete; iii) it’s an interesting email from an R&D team member with a thought-provoking analysis of a feature which I don’t have anywhere else – keep.
• Worked through 2007 and 2008 very easily
• Much tougher to do with more recent emails from 2009 and 2010, so I have scheduled that activity for later
• Still have not touched my Sent Items folder. There are 3,536 items in it (!) and I will have to get to it eventually as well, again to figure out if the algorithm for keep vs delete will be the same as it is for emails I receive.

And now, the big question: Was it worth it?

• It helped me better understand what I really need to think of when maintaining Zero Inbox. I delete emails much more easily from my inbox after having ‘handled’ them.
• It helped me determine that the critical elements for quickly determining theimportance of an email on the keep/delete scale are date received, sender, context/topic, and availability of the info elsewhere.
• It has shown me that I have way too many folders in which I store emails that I want to keep.
• My outlook.ost  has shrunk significantly, and is now below the levels that are considered dangerous for the proper functioning of Outlook.
• I added a few more automated rules for handling less important emails and sending them to appropriate directories (for later handling, and probably deleting)

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experience on prioritizing email and what mental algorithm you would use to determine what to keep and what to delete, and ultimately what – and what not – to read.