Email Management Workshop Handout

Email Management
Information Technology Email Retention Policy
Save email and attachments to Adobe pdf file
Sorting
Search Option
Mailbox Clean Up Tool
Clean-up process:
o Deleted items
o Sent items
o Junk email
o Lynx/OCS history
Clean up function (remove redundant messages)
Email Processing Suggestions

Information Technology Email Retention Policy:
Refer to the Information Technology E-mail Retention Policy.
Save your emails and attachments to an Adobe pdf file:
Emails that need to be retained longer than the retention policy states can be converted to Adobe
pdf file and stored on the network drive or alternate electronic medium.
To convert an email or group of emails to an Adobe pdf file:
o Select the file from the main folder list or open the email.
o To select multiple files: click on the first email then press control click (noncontiguous
group) or press shift click (all inclusive range) to select the other
emails.
o Select Adobe PDF tab from the ribbon.
o Click on Selected Messages / Create New PDF
o Select and the desired drive and folders on the left
o Click on Save.
o Notes:
• All your selected emails will be saved into one pdf file.
• Email attachments will also be saved.
• You can also right click and select Convert to Adobe pdf after selecting
the emails.
To append an email or group of emails to an existing Adobe pdf file:
o Select the file from the main folder list or open the email.
o To select multiple files: click on the first email then press control click (noncontiguous
group) or press shift click (all inclusive range) to select the other
emails.
o Select Adobe PDF tab from the ribbon.
o Click on Selected Messages
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o Click on the desired file listed under Append to Existing PDF or click on Append
to Existing PDF and locate the file
o You Adobe PDF file will be displayed:
o The top part of the screen will display the list of converted emails. Click on the
item to display the contents. The attachments column will display the number of
attached files. Click on the paper clip to open the attachment.
o Click on the Search box or filter icon to located specific items.
To save an email attachment only:
o Open the email then right click on the attachment and select Save As.
o Save to desired location.
Sorting: By default, emails are automatically sorted by date so you can determine what emails
need to be deleted or saved to a file and then deleted. You may want to sort by author or subject
when cleaning up your emails.
To sort your emails:
o Click on the heading column (subject, date, received, paper clip (attachments) or
follow up flag.
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Search option: Use the email search to locate old files. You can search all email folders at
once or search each folder separately.
To search email folders:
o Click on the desired folder from the navigation pane on the left then click on the
Search box located at the top of your email list
o Click on Current Folder or All Mail Items from the ribbon:
o Click on + More to view refine your search.
o Click on Received.
o Click on the down arrow and select an option from the list or enter less than
followed by a date to find email older than the date entered (i.e.:

o Click on Find.
o Maximize your screen and delete or save email to a msg file or text file or print.
o Note: When you delete from this list, there is a delay in the screen refresh
response time.
You can sort your results list by clicking on the heading name (i.e.: folder). By default, the
results will include all email folders.
Clean-up process: Periodically check and clean-up the following folders:
o Sent items – All your sent emails and replies are stored in the Sent Items folder.
• To delete all items in this folder: Right click on the Sent Items folder and
select Delete All then select Yes on the message to move all items in this
folder to the deleted items folder.
• Note: Important sent emails you want to save and review later can be
moved to a different folder (i.e.: Important sent items folder).
o Junk email – Scan your junk email to make sure it doesn't contain a message
from a safe sender. If it contains a message to be saved, click on the subject and
drag it to the Inbox, otherwise, delete your junk emails.
• To empty this folder: Right click on the Junk email folder and select
Empty folder and select Yes to permanently delete all items and
subfolders.
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o Conversation History – If you use Lynx or Office Communicator, you can check
the option to automatically save your instant message conversations in the
Outlook conversation history folder.
• To delete all items in this folder: Right click on the Sent Items folder and
select Delete All then select Yes on message to move all items in this
folder to the deleted items folder.
o Deleted items folder – anything you delete in Outlook including emails, contacts
and calendar items are placed in this folder.
• To empty this folder: Right click on the Deleted Items folder and select
Empty Folder. Click Yes on the message to permanently delete all items
and subfolders from the deleted items folder.
o Delete options – you can delete an inclusive group or non-contiguous range of
emails.
• To select a range of items to delete: Click on the first item to be deleted
then scroll down to the last item and press shift click. All items between
the first and last item will be highlighted. Select Delete from the ribbon or
right click on highlighted area and select delete.
• To select random, non-contiguous items to delete: Click on the first item
to be deleted then press control click on all the other items you want
deleted. Select Delete from the ribbon or right click on highlighted area
and select delete.
Remove Redundant Messages – use the Outlook Clean up function to remove redundant
messages. Many emails go back and forth with many replies and the last email contains the
whole conversation. Use the "clean up" tool to automatically delete duplicates. You can check
the number of emails in your folder before and after this option is run (check count on bottom
left of screen).
To run the clean-up and remove redundant messages:
o Click on Home / Clean up.
o Click Clean up Folder or Clean up Folder and Subfolders.
o Click Clean up Folder.
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Suggested Ways of Processing Email: To help you save time with processing email, use
these guidelines and functions:
Process (read/reply) your email in batches and schedule time to process. Try not to spend
all day checking your email.
Read your email once and do one of the following:
o Reply to the email.
o Delete the email.
o Mark it with a follow up flag so you will not lose track of it. You can sort by the
flag column to locate all the follow up emails you have marked. In addition,
when you mark an email with a follow up flag, the email is automatically
displayed on your task list.
o Move it to a folder.
• If needed, create a folder: Click on Folder tab from the ribbon / Select
New Folder / Enter a folder name and select Mail and Post Items then
select where to place the folder (usually emailname@providence.edu /
click ok.
• To move one email: Click on the email from the list and drag it to the
appropriate folder.
• To move multiple emails at once: Click on the 1 st email and press control
click on all other emails. Click on one of the highlighted emails and drag
to the appropriate folder.
• To delete a folder: Right click on the folder and select Delete Folder.
Click "Yes" to delete folder and move all of the contents to the deleted
items folder.
o For long term storage, save email to alternate storage medium.
Optional: Move sent items that need to be saved and later reviewed to an "Important
Sent Items Folder". This will make deleting your "Sent Items" folder very quick and
easy. Periodically check retention dates on your "Important Sent Items Folder" and then
save to long term storage if needed.
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Turn off the desktop alert so you don't get a display message on the bottom right of your
screen every time you get a new email. The alerts can be distracting and take you away
from what you are working on.
To turn off desktop alert:
o Click on File / Options / Mail.
o Under the Message Arrival settings, deselect the "Display a Desktop Alert" and
"Play a sound" option.
Periodically run Clean up / Clean up folder (Home tab).
Periodically check retention dates on all emails and process accordingly (use search and
clean up tools).
In summary, ALL email folders need to be reviewed periodically. If you decide the email needs
to be saved beyond of retention policy of 365 days (beyond 30 for junk or deleted items), then
you need to save the email to a file on the network or other storage medium or print and file it.
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