Best Email Tip I Learned Last Year … @ Waiting

February 5, 2008 on 11:29 am | In Tech Tips |

Sorry my posting has been so light lately. Buried at work and I’ve been spending quite a bit of time coaching a local high school Mock Trial team (who qualified for state on Saturday!!!). If you’re looking for a great way to give back (pro bono) to the community (and be forced to refresh your knowledge on the rules of evidence)…talk with your State Bar about volunteering (they are always looking for attorney coaches as well as judges for competitions).

On to my “tip” of the day. “@Waiting.”

Do this…create a new folder in Outlook (or whatever email program you use). Call it “@Waiting.”

Every time you send someone an email (e.g., client, associate, secretary) where you are waiting for them to do something, put the sent email into your “@Waiting” folder.

Glance at what is in your @Waiting folder regularly (daily, weekly) and send follow up e-mails as needed (weekly).

My secretaries HATE my @Waiting folder. No longer can they ignore my requests for side projects…they know that I will send them a follow-up reminder (so they might as well do it when I make the initial request).

The other thing to do is to (for you Outlook users), is to add the “@Waiting” folder to your favorites, so it is easier to find.

capture2-5-2008-111444-am.jpg

One additional tip (which I plan on elaborating on in a later post)…I use SpeedFiler to automate this process. SpeedFiler is an Outlook plug-in that prompts you, after you send the email, as to what folder the sent email should be filed in. SpeedFiler really is a killer tool…a full write up will be coming!

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3 Comments

  1. Are your Outlook FLAGS not available to you? The use of these works very well for following up. Since Flags have a few different colors, I am able to color-code these emails.

    Comment by RP — February 6, 2008 #

  2. RP:
    You’re right…that would work too. I see that Microsoft even has an online video explaining how “Outlook Flags” work.

    http://office.microsoft.com/home/video.aspx?assetid=ES102501731033&width=884&height=540&startindex=0&CTT=11&Origin=HA102500961033

    Thanks for the tip.

    Comment by nipper — February 6, 2008 #

  3. This software looked fairly good so I decided to try it. It prompted me to file emails I sent, as advertised. But I would also like a program to prompt me to file emails I receive. However, I just discovered that the software screwed up my calendar. I could no longer create or move appointments. So I had to remove it. You might pass along this caveat to your distribution and the software maker.

    I also use flags. And flagged items show up in Search Folders/For Follow Up. You can also set up your own search folders. They show filtered results for any mail folder you want. And you can customize the search criteria.

    Comment by Norton Townsley — February 6, 2008 #

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