Poll: Huge loads of emails may cause important messages to be overlooked. Does this ever happen to you? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Huge loads of emails may cause important messages to be overlooked. Does this ever happen to you?".
This poll was originally submitted by Susanna Martoni. View the poll results »
| | | | Tim Drayton 
Cyprus
Local time: 02:40
Turkish to English
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I said 'No, never', but of course I have no real way of knowing.
| | | | | Somewhere between rarely and occasionally | Mar 7, 2015 |
I average 300 e-mails a day (400 during the holidays). A lot of it goes to spam, but it has happened that I missed something important.
| | | | Susanna Martoni
Italy
Local time: 01:40
Member (2009)
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
Thank you Muriel and Tim.
With this survey, I did not meant spam mails, but huge amounts of regular mails, work-related, friends-related, holiday-related etc.
Sometimes it may happen that I receive several important messagges, but I then to forget to answer them because of the huge amount of mails to be managed and because I am busy with work and family.
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I have a system of quick deleting/catalogueing
and only keep the projects I am working on in the Inbox.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 01:40
Spanish to English
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Not a lot. I have so many different e-mail accounts that I can't remember remember half of them. I tend to open dedicated e-mail accounts for certain things, for example I mainly use one for my work, and I have another one or two gmail accounts I can use when the main one has issues.
Many websites ask you to register with an e-mail account before letting you peruse them, and I always suspect that they are going to spam me later, so I will sometimes open a free webmail account just to acces... See more Not a lot. I have so many different e-mail accounts that I can't remember remember half of them. I tend to open dedicated e-mail accounts for certain things, for example I mainly use one for my work, and I have another one or two gmail accounts I can use when the main one has issues.
Many websites ask you to register with an e-mail account before letting you peruse them, and I always suspect that they are going to spam me later, so I will sometimes open a free webmail account just to access a website.
I also have a dedicated e-mail for proz.com correspondence, but I haven't had time to look at it so far this year yet. It quickly fills up with notifications etc and I don't usually have time to sift through them all to sort out the wheat from the chaff. So, apologies to anyone who may have tried to contact me via that e-mail account. ▲ Collapse
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My mailbox is kept very tidy, with colours marking emails "to do", "work", and other classification. I also checked my spam folder to make sure no valid emails were sent there by the system by accident.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:40
Member (2007)
English
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| It just takes discipline | Mar 7, 2015 |
Selecting unread emails for deletion doesn't seem a priority job, but it is. The more unread emails in your inbox, the more the important ones are hidden. Two seconds and you can see them.
I too use flags and folders to mark things as:
Needing my attention
Pending (normally waiting for client action)
Work pending invoice
Actual emails with invoices attached
Overdue invoices
Emails to be kept handy (registration details etc)
and various othe... See more Selecting unread emails for deletion doesn't seem a priority job, but it is. The more unread emails in your inbox, the more the important ones are hidden. Two seconds and you can see them.
I too use flags and folders to mark things as:
Needing my attention
Pending (normally waiting for client action)
Work pending invoice
Actual emails with invoices attached
Overdue invoices
Emails to be kept handy (registration details etc)
and various others
The only time I miss an email is when I don't stick to my own system! Normally, that's if I read an email on my phone (e.g. when I'm enjoying an evening out) and don't categorise it at all. ▲ Collapse
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564354352 (X)
Denmark
Local time: 01:40
Danish to English
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| No, never, I'm a tidy freak | Mar 7, 2015 |
I have different private and business accounts, which keep things pretty well separated. In addition to that, I am ridiculously good at archiving, both emails and everything else. I routinely archive (or ruthlessly delete) things that don't need attention. I archive emails about ongoing jobs as soon as I have dealt with them, keeping only the email that contains the order in my Inbox. Once a job is completed, I delete most of the correspondence, except for the email with the delivered work attac... See more I have different private and business accounts, which keep things pretty well separated. In addition to that, I am ridiculously good at archiving, both emails and everything else. I routinely archive (or ruthlessly delete) things that don't need attention. I archive emails about ongoing jobs as soon as I have dealt with them, keeping only the email that contains the order in my Inbox. Once a job is completed, I delete most of the correspondence, except for the email with the delivered work attached and the client's acknowledgement that they have received it.
I also tend to check my emails within a few minutes of their arrival, deleting irrelevant stuff, and I generally respond to anything business-related within 15 minutes. Personal emails can often wait, so they do...
My desk is the same... nothing gets lost here, because it is always tidy... Disgusting, isn't it?  ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ventnai
Spain
Local time: 01:40
German to English
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I'd say no as my emails are automatically organised as they arrive - regular clients have their own files, not so regular clients go to a general client file and friends and prospective clients go to the in-box. Some emails go directly to trash but I can still read them.
| | | | Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 17:40
Dutch to English
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I don't get loads of emails but I have two email address, one for work and one for everything else. I have my system set up so some types of emails go to the 'junk' box automatically (such as the spam mails from translators offering to work for me). I use tags to mark emails that require special attention and I have folders, for example a 'payments' folder and I create a temporary folder when emails start flying back and forth about a project that I'm working on. In both accounts I purge emails ... See more I don't get loads of emails but I have two email address, one for work and one for everything else. I have my system set up so some types of emails go to the 'junk' box automatically (such as the spam mails from translators offering to work for me). I use tags to mark emails that require special attention and I have folders, for example a 'payments' folder and I create a temporary folder when emails start flying back and forth about a project that I'm working on. In both accounts I purge emails frequently, so they never build up too much. ▲ Collapse
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Of course no one is infallible, and certainly not me, but I very rarely miss important messages. I check my mails as they come in, i.e. several times a day.
There are rarely more than ten unread, and I delete firmly all the ephemeral ones - anything from Proz.com that I can find again, such as KudoZ and forums, ditto other discussion sites and news.
I firmly stop anything I am not interested in - Facebook, discussions on other websites that are not moderated, semi-spam ... See more Of course no one is infallible, and certainly not me, but I very rarely miss important messages. I check my mails as they come in, i.e. several times a day.
There are rarely more than ten unread, and I delete firmly all the ephemeral ones - anything from Proz.com that I can find again, such as KudoZ and forums, ditto other discussion sites and news.
I firmly stop anything I am not interested in - Facebook, discussions on other websites that are not moderated, semi-spam newsletters...
When I take a break I cancel things like KudoZ and anything else that can easily be restarted when I get back. I check mails and delete the irrelevant ones as a rule, even when I am away.
I only have one account, but as Sheila says, discipline is vital. ▲ Collapse
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