Researchers at Glasgow and Paisley universities recently announced that the UK’s workforce feels psyched out by their inboxes. For many, e-mail is no longer a handy method of communication but a cause of stress, even an addiction.

Here’s how to detox your inbox:

1. Manage your time. Check your inbox first thing in the morning then dip into it every hour or so, says Monica Seeley, who writes about and teaches good e-mail practice. It’s better to give your inbox quality time than your continual attention. “You are employed to do other things than be an e-mail clerk,” she says.

2. The subject line is your NBF. That’s new best friend. Use agreed abbreviations in the subject line, such as REQ for requires action, to help everyone in the firm to prioritise their e-load, suggests Chris Horseman, the managing director of Balance Learning, a training company.

3. But keep it brief. You can leave an entire message in the subject line, but be pithy, Horseman says. Keep your bulletin to about 20 to 30 characters if the person is likely to be using a BlackBerry. Don’t forget to write “ends” so the reader knows that they don’t have to open the message. Seconds saved add up.

4. Turn off e-mail alerts. Audio and visual alerts serve only to break your concentration. “It’s much better to turn them off unless you need to respond to customers immediately,” Horseman says. If that thought makes your palms sweat, you’re addicted to your inbox and it’s even more important to go cold turkey.

5. Take control. Don’t be fooled into thinking that every e-mail requires an immediate response when a reply within 24-hours is acceptable. “If you do respond to every e-mail immediately, it raises expectations,” Seeley says.

6. The touch-once rule. Ideally, you should handle an e-mail only once, says Louise Oliver, a spokesperson for Adecco, a recruitment company. Deal with those that are urgent immediately; flag up and file those that can be deferred somewhere accessible; or delegate to others, as appropriate. Delete ephemeral e-mails such as messages from friends and unsubscribe to mailshots from reliable sources.

7. My, what pretty colours. Don’t ignore the tools supplied by Microsoft and the like to help you to differentiate between messages. You can colour code incoming messages to indicate important senders – clients and the boss for example; designate tasks to an e-mail; or simply mark e-mails with a coloured flag or as unread. Pick a process that works for you, Seeley says.

8. Out of office. Whether you are out for the day or away on holiday for two weeks, leave very clear instructions and alternative points of contact for urgent business. “Then you give yourself an insurance policy,” Oliver says.

9. Delete all? The dreamt-about choice of those who return from holiday to find a 1,000 e-mails lying in wait. It’s a drastic solution and one that requires courage and/or stupidity. Will the senders with anything important to say get back to you or will you miss out on the deal of the century? You decide.

10. Admit defeat... And invest in a BlackBerry. An essential tool for checking e-mails on the go or a flash pair of handcuffs that will tie you to the office 24/7? Many sad – sorry, very responsible workers take such kit on holiday to keep their inbox in perfect shape. We prefer to pack suntan lotion.

Stay in control

How big is your inbox? Remove large e-mail attachments at regular intervals to keep within 75 per cent of the recommended limit, Monica Seeley says. That way, important incoming e-mails shouldn’t bounce back to the sender.

Use instant messaging if you want a more immediate response to a question, instead of sending an e-mail. But don’t overuse it or colleagues may stop making you tea.

If you have a series of e-mails sent over a period of time, change the subject line to reflect the latest data or the current status of a project, for example, Chris Horseman suggests.

Find out how to set up a reliable e-mail filing system at: office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA011450561033.aspx

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