Tech Tip of the Week: Start the New Year with a Less Full Inbox

If you tend to go over quota with your Hampshire email, or if your email feels too disorganized, now might be a good time to make some quick adjustments.

In Thunderbird, the “Local Folders” section contains folders that are stored on your computer, rather than on the server. This is a good place to archive messages that you aren’t quite ready to throw out. If you don’t regularly clean out your Inbox, a quick once a year archive might be just the ticket. If a calendar year schedule makes the most sense for you, now’s the time.

  1. To create a new folder, in Thunderbird select “File–>New–>Folder”; if you prefer, you can right-click on “Local Folders” instead.”
  2. From the dropdown list, choose to make it a sub-folder of “Local Folders.”
  3. Give the folder a name, such as “Inbox 2012 – 2013”. We don’t recommend using a “/” character in the name, even if you’re allowed to.
  4. Now you can drag messages into the folder. Click on the first message in your inbox that you want to move.
  5. Now shift-click (that is, hold down the shift key while you click) on the last message that you want to move. This will select all of the messages in between.
  6. Drag the block of messages into the new folder. Or, you can right-click on the block of messages and choose “Move To>” and then select the folder you created above.

That’s all there is to it. Plan to do this once a year–if you put it on your schedule now, you won’t forget to do it next year.

If you’d like other tips on organizing email, check out some of these Tech Tips:

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