12th April 2002

Keeping your Inbox organized is a healthy habit. If you're a popular person, this folder can quickly become flooded. If you have more than a hundred messages in there for an extended period of time, either take a typing class or stop sharing your e-mail address with the world. In the business world, it's courteous to reply with the entire thread below your response. This way, if an earlier point is brought up in an e-mail conversation, either party can easily reference it. Let's say you needed to view a recent message sent to or from the other person. In Outlook, right-click on the message, select Find All | Related Messages. The Advanced Find dialog will automatically look in your Inbox, Drafts, and Sent Items folders. As your information database grows larger, this will become an increasingly important feature. To tune the search, limit it to items with or without attachments (on the 'More Choices' tab), to certain object types (in the 'Look for' field), or to any other field (on the 'Advanced' tab). If you do not have this option in your mail client, you may have to make due with sorting by either the To or From field in the appropriate folder.