Are you looking for some easy ways to reduce your time spent sending and reading emails daily? Don’t you wish there were shortcuts for some of the most used features of your email provider? Read on to find out how some simple changes can make the world of difference.

Email, the never-ending flow of communication, delivered instantly, at any time, without any remorse.

Some days are better than others. 4 out of 5 days I’ll respond to every email I receive, but every now and then I let my inbox snowball out of control and end up being too scared to look at it for some time.

It doesn’t have to be like this though, as with anything in life it can be taken apart, analysed, tweaked and improved. In this article I’m going to show you a few effective ways that have helped me manage my inbox.

Master Your Tools

When I first started using photoshop for design jobs it would take me hours to complete tasks and that’s because I did not know the keyboard shortcuts. They are called shortcuts from a reason and once you get proficient at using them you’ll know why.

Learn the keyboard shortcuts for your email client.

The most common can be found below:

• Gmail
• Outlook
• Yahoo Mail

Condense Your Workload

Sanebox sorts through your inbox and sorts it into priority and non-priority emails for you. It’s unique algorithm is very accurate at determining what email is important to the user. Everything else gets packaged into a handy ‘Archive’ and ‘Read Later’ pile.

It works with all the major email providers and prices start at $7 for one month. I don’t find that I need to use SaneBox every day. What I do is pay for 1 month’s access to the app once or twice a year just to give my inbox a spring clean and help keep everything organised.

Keep It Short

So much time is wasted adding fluff to emails. Every day I receive at least one email that takes 5 sentences to say something that would have taken 1.

The design and history behind email is what is holding many of us back. For too long we have seen email as the digital version of a letter. Apps such as Whatsapp have shown that communication doesn’t have to be so tedious and formal.

The key is to write less. Start thinking of your emails as text messages and keep them short. One tactic is to limit yourself to a certain amount of sentences. In all communication I send, I include a signature where I state my two.sentenc.es belief. That is keeping all communication to 2 sentences.

——————————————–
Q: Why is this email two sentences or less?
A: http://two.sentenc.es

Pre-Written Responses In Gmail

This feature is currently in beta, however it allows you to compile an archive of frequently used messages. These can be accessed when composing a new email. You can send replies in a matter of seconds with this feature. Very valuable time saver.

Practice short cuts and writing shorter emails daily and you’ll drastically cut down your time spent managing your email. Combine that with some nifty inbox sorting service like SaneBox and you’ll soon be looking forward to opening your email at the start of each day.

Have some other handy tip for managing email? Let me know in the comments below.