When I get far behind in my email filing (e.g., I've scanned most of
my email, but still have some unread and perhaps a couple hundred
unfiled), I like to sort and filter the inbox in various ways to work
through it more efficiently. One good one is to sort by subject so
that I can deal with a whole string at once, usually starting with the
last one in the string.
What would be really cool would be if I could see only subjects with
multiple email messages, so I wouldn't have to scroll through the list
looking for subjects with multiple messages.
Anyone have a suggestion?
You don't mention what version of Entourage you are using, but in Entourage
2004 you can arrange by Custom Arrangements.
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/get_started/thread.html>
See Organize your Mail for more tips:
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/get_started/organize.html>
You definitely need to use Rules to help you organize.
Use the Mailing List Manager (MLM) to
manage Lists. Set the Junk Mail Filter to High, set custom rules.
Remember rules are based on good Address Book management.
Let's say you have no custom rules created. You have a ton of mail in your
Inbox and Junk folder . If it's in your Junk folder then and it's good mail,
select "This is not junk" and add the entry to your Address Book.
[IMPORTANT] Having an up to date Address Book is key to managing your mail
and using rules. Assign a category to every entry in your Address Book. You
can select using command-select to quickly add a lot of entries to one
category.
Select "List" mail in your Inbox. (list mail is mail you get from a mailing
list like the Entourage talk list, Mac-L list etc.) Set all lists with the
Mailing List Manager. Note: The Mailing list Manager is not intended to
handle normal mail.
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/mlm.html>
Select all messages and run "All rules". This will clear out your list mail.
Now that you've cleared out your list mail, let's tackle what's left.
Select the first message left in your Inbox. Can this message be sorted by
a category like Work, Buddy, Family, Announcements, Newsletters? If yes,
then assign a category to the email and set a rule. Categories make adding
new addresses easy. This way if your friend has several addresses, using
category 'friends' will get them all saving you from entering all of their
addresses.
My Buddy Rule:
From is in category Buddy
Is not in a mailing list
Move to folder Buddy
Run AppleScript Play sound (I like to use this action so I can hear when I
get mail from my buddies)
Look through other email in the Inbox and see if there are other emails
there from Buddies. Assign categories to these if you haven't assigned in
your Address Book and run "All Rules". This will move all buddy mail from
your Inbox to your Buddy folder.
Take the next message, create a rule. Run all rules and see if it works, If
not then adjust the rule so it does work. By doing this you will find the
broken rule as you go.
I suggest adding a rule "from is me". This will get your legitimate mail you
test send to yourself and not the fake spam that is sent from you. I like
the first example. Not many spammers use Entourage as their client.
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/example/rule012.html>
Hope this helps.
--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
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http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>
