5 Email Hacks: Stop Wasting Everyone's Time!

Whether you're the boss or just pretending, this post is here to help you tackle your overflowing inbox and stop wasting everyone’s time (especially yours). Let’s face it, nobody wants to decipher cryptic subject lines or sift through endless email chains. Here are some quick tips to polish your email chops:

• Make Your Subject Line Searchable
• Reply From the Latest Email In the Chain
• "Reply All" (But Only When Necessary)
• Set Up Automatic Replies When You're Out of Office
• Using Rules for Automatic Forwarding

Let’s dive in and save some sanity!

Have you searched for an email from last week, a month, or a year ago? Was it like Googling—or more like finding a needle in a haystack?

Use subject lines with key info to save yourself (and everyone else) from being a human search engine.

Examples:

• [Vendor PO# ____] - Herschel PO# 8606857894
• [Band - Venue - Date] - Beyond Creation - Warehouse Live - 10/13
• [Meeting - Event Date] - Coffee and Tech Chat - Sunday 1/5

Have you ever provided details about an order or event, only to get a follow-up email that CC’d your management, making it seem like you didn’t reply?

Thanks to Tip #1, you can quickly locate the original email and reply from the latest email in the chain. This keeps everyone informed and speeds up the reply process.

For example, use altered subject lines like:

• Invoice Request - Herschel PO# 8606857894
• Follow-Up: Beyond Creation - Warehouse Live - 10/23
• Reschedule: Coffee and Tech Chat - Sunday 1/5

Have you sent an email and waited for a reply, only to discover the recipient was off on a tropical vacation, enjoying parental leave, or no longer with the company?

When working with teams, it’s usually great to "Reply All" when responding. Why? Because there’s a good chance that key players were CC’d on the original email, and replying to everyone boosts your chances of getting a timely response.

But let’s not get carried away... There are definitely times when a simple "Thank you" is best sent directly to the person, or team, who deserves it. No need to put your chivalry on full display for everyone in the inbox. Brown-nosing only gets you so far—save it for the office holiday party!

Imagine returning to work and finding many missed requests already handled. To make this happen, set up Automatic Replies in Outlook:

1. Go to the Info page and select Automatic Replies.
2. Schedule a date range and times in advance.
3. Customize replies for both 'Inside My Organization' and 'Outside My Organization'.

Include contact info for coworkers who can assist with your typical requests.

Example:
I'm out of the office until 1/30. For assistance, please contact myCoworker@mycompany.com or myManager@mycompany.com.

This ensures smooth communication while you're away.

Setting up rules in Outlook can save you significant time. For instance, if you often receive emails meant for a group but sent only to you, create a rule to forward those emails automatically.

Here’s how:

1. Go to Create Rule and select the conditions that apply (e.g., emails sent only to you).
2. Click Advanced Options and review the settings.
3. Choose Forward it to people or public group, then select the appropriate recipients from your contact list.

This ensures important messages reach the right people, even if the sender overlooked including everyone. It’s a great backup for Tip #4 or a time-saver for manual forwarding.