The Folder Collector - The 7 Types of Email Users

The Folder Collectors - scrolling for days!

Have you got LOTS of folders and sub-folders in your inbox?

People usually become Folder Collectors in one of two ways:

First there's the people who believe that being organised means the more folders the better and label with lots of detail - a folder for every micro detail of your job and all it contains.

Second are the people who started their folders reasonably simply but created more folders as their role become more complex or they've been with their company a long time and the folders have accumulated.

If you are The Folder Collector:

Let's say that you are able to maintain filing all your emails into your countless folders. Have you considered how much time it takes you? Especially when you have to scroll to include ALL the folders & sub-folders?
HINT* It takes you 5 times longer to file if you have 40 folders compared with only 5 folders.

This is time that is wasted because most people now search for emails using the search bar. What is the point in filing into huge amounts of folders when you don't go back into those folders to find the emails (in the majority of cases)?

The truth is you are making the execution of filing quite a challenging task for you brain. Too many choices and it takes too long, so on busy days your brain abandons filing. A few of those days in a row and before you know it your inbox starts getting out of control.

That's how it started for many people who have large amounts of emails in their inbox (in the thousands or many thousands). Eventually it reaches a point where it seems pointless to even bother filing at all; it's become a lost cause. For the Folder Collectors, they had the best of intentions to start with but their folder structure became complex and they couldn't keep up.

How can you simplify your folders?
Can you merge similar folders?

Let's face it there's probably a number of your folders that you haven't used for ages or have barely anything in them; start with culling those.

Make it your first goal to halve the amount of folders you have - you can do it!