How do you file your emails

[FSS]

Outlook folders are stuffed with old emails. Many ways to file them, but none seem to be the best way. Do you move them into "project directories" with all the other project stuff and then lose them from Outlook? Or copy them and then have duplicates? After a few gigabytes here and there the folder sizes are getting noticed.

Small firm, so pretty much free to do it any way. How do others go about filing away old emails?

 

[rbulsara]

See thread784-280437

I have the similar issue. There is no magic solution.

Rafiq Bulsara

http://www.srengineersct.com

 

[Ron]

I file them the same way I file everything else...poorly!

 

[cvg]

they are never "lost" from outlook. you can drag them back in to outlook if you need to - unless you saved them as html or txt or some other format

 

[csd72]

This exact question has been asked before. Use the google at the top of the page.

 

[FSS]

Shoot, I can't even search correctly to find the same dang post from just a few months ago. I swear I looked first.

And at least I did not answer that one. Good stuff in there and I am glad to see it is not just me with the problem.

 

[msquared48]

Personally, I file mine vertically.

At least that's how they appear on the monitor.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask

 

[MikeHalloran]

Older versions of Outlook had a bug that gave you a warning when the total size of the hidden file in which everything was stored was approaching 2Gb.

It was a useless warning, because it appeared only _after_ ALL of your data was gone. Forever.

Newer versions of Outlook don't have that exact bug.

... but there's no guarantee that they don't have a similar one with a different threshold. You can evaluate Microsoft's history on your own.

I see a business opportunity here, so far unfulfilled, for a robust retrievable message storage system.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Albigger]

I used to try to file them by project or customer, but that didn't work too well so I quickly moved on.

Now I use a different system. Everything in outlook is in my inbox or my sentbox. all other folders are emptied on a regular basis.

Every half-year I log all the messages to a new outlook (.pst) file. This keeps the outlook file sizes manageable (read: not corrupted) but I still have access to all my previous emails. I have a list when I open outlook on the left such as 2010(1), 2010(2), 2009(1), 2009(2), etc...

I use the search function to find the relevant email(s) I may be looking for. (Kind of like how I had previously used favorites or bookmarks for websites, but google search has replaced those for me).

I do still copy and/or print the really important messages to the relevant project folder.

Probably not the most organized or elegant solution but it works well for me.