having lots of emails in a project, means also having a sound way to archive them for a quick and effective retrieval.
How do you organize your project's folders?
I have sort of root folder with uncategorized items, then major subfolders "Client" "Purchase" "Process" "Suppliers" and sub-folders when needed (Suppliers has many!!)
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Can you share what your are doing , Alberto? It certainly seems to work fine for me. Obviously, you will want to invest some time in defining your categories.
I can easily search by either using category:name in the search bar or using the Advanced Find.
I take advantage of this open thread to ask what do you do with emails that have been replied and counter/replied several times. Do you keep all of them or just the latest (assuming that it includes the content of all previous emails).
In addition, do you keep ALL emails related to the project?
Eduard, yes, I also keep all the emails. If there were an issue of space, we should archive it. Depending on the company that I've worked the policies SOX, JSOX made me re send the emails (As Stéphane noted) with the attachment, then is more and more space... Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Again, and this is my personal opinion: With outlook, the best thing is to create subfolders and distribute your emails in them as they come and after you complete any required actions.
If you need to follow up on any, you can always set a reminder and mark them.
On another note, I also keep all my emails from the different companies I worked for, I create PST Files and have all emails stored in them and in many occasion I had to refer to some. Saving Changes...
You can automate email delivery to specific folder, either by setting rules or writing VBA code.
There are various ways to organize. This is the simplest and common across IT :)
Anupam, rules, and VBA work in big organizations where all team follows the ground communication rules when sending an email. I did when I've worked in IBM (using Loftus, for sure) or HP (outlook, that has limitations in the rules that you can apply)
I've worked in a small company as freelance that they were using GMAIL...then... lol
It depends on a lot of the organization and the project. But, I'm with Stéphen...tags, categories...that's all.
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1 reply by Anupam
Jan 13, 2017 10:59 PM
Anupam
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Hey, you can set rules with GMAIL as well :)
I have been using GMAIL/OUTLOOK/YAHOO for categorizing personal emails.
For example, I have categorized and set rules on all emails from PM.com
On the lighter side - I have also set rules by connections, whose comments I would definitely like to read, keep, and check at PM.com
Anupam, rules, and VBA work in big organizations where all team follows the ground communication rules when sending an email. I did when I've worked in IBM (using Loftus, for sure) or HP (outlook, that has limitations in the rules that you can apply)
I've worked in a small company as freelance that they were using GMAIL...then... lol
It depends on a lot of the organization and the project. But, I'm with Stéphen...tags, categories...that's all.
Hey, you can set rules with GMAIL as well :)
I have been using GMAIL/OUTLOOK/YAHOO for categorizing personal emails.
For example, I have categorized and set rules on all emails from PM.com
On the lighter side - I have also set rules by connections, whose comments I would definitely like to read, keep, and check at PM.com Saving Changes...
With Outlook I use to have one pst file per project.Found that easier where archiving on project, just close the pst. At the time it prevented getting to the limit of file size and speed up search. Saving Changes...
Jess De OcampoLean Six Sigma Professional/Project Manager/Consultant/| .Manila, Ncr, Philippines
I create a folder for each project and sub-categories under each folder for easy access, reference, retrieval, tracking and monitoring. I find this efficient especially if you are handling more than one project. Other e-mails are automatically filtered to specific folders for organization and easy sorting. Saving Changes...
Blaine KruizengaSr. Project Manager / CFO| Southwest Cyber Systems Inc.Houston, Tx, United States
Interesting. I've always categorized my project folders by phases and then by topic within each phase. Does that make me weird? LOL (I also use the search option as well.)
Blaine, it make sens to me. The important point is it work for you.
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
My recommendation is: think all this stuff in the framework of Project Configuration Management. Do not loose the opportunity. The PMI has an standard on it. But you will find the best guides by searching IEEE documents into the internet. Saving Changes...
Lisa KomidarService Delivery Manager - Sr. Engagement Manager| Optimum Healthcare ITKane, Pa, United States
I keep one folder. Like it was mentioned earlier, I can easily search for anything that I need. The key is moving the emails into the folder as they come in. I find using flags on my emails indicating if I need to follow up on them to be helpful. I was also thinking of using different color flags for different categories but haven't implemented that yet. We use email heavily here as I mostly telecommute. Saving Changes...
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