Filed Messages

I'm an "Inbox Zero" guy - my goal is to empty my email inbox as quickly as possible. Once a message has been dealt with I file it in an appropriate folder immediately. Once it's filed I move on to the next one. This is also how I deal with my follow-up - if it's in the inbox it is not done yet.

Depending on how many folders and sub-folders you have it can be quite time consuming to file messages in Outlook, I'm forever dragging and scrolling messages from the Inbox to my labyrinth of sub-folders. I've moved to filing exclusively on my BlackBerry smartphone because it is just easier and for those of you who use Outlook can appreciate, the BlackBerry is actually smarter than Outlook.

How to file a message on the BlackBerry

While reading a message click the MENU button scroll to and select "File", note a quicker way to do this is to use the build-in shortcut "i" so while reading a message and are ready to file it press "i".

Menu - File

You will than be presented with your tree of folders.

My Folders

To quickly drill down to the desired folder begin typing in the name of the folder, in this case I'm looking to file it in folder "Personal".

Personal Foler

Now where this really gets exciting (as exciting as filing email messages gets) is that the BlackBerry learns as you file. It begins to remember where specific types of email get filed, so if I file messages from Kevin and Adam in my "CrackBerry.com" folder. Therefore the next time I press "i" to file it will drill down to the CrackBerry.com folder automatically anticipating that I will want that folder. There is no app for that on other platforms. :)

I find that with the short cut "i" and the filing memory the BlackBerry develops I'm able to manage a Zero Inbox much more efficiently than I can using the Outlook window. Now when all my filing is done and my inbox is empty I feel as though all the planets are in alignment perfectly when I see the magical message on my BlackBerry *No Messages*

Inbox zero
Ahhh, nerd nirvana

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