5 email problems — and how to solve them

Whether it’s coping with an overwhelming amount of email or figuring out how email fits into the overall flow of our days, most people have some kind of email problem.

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Here are five of the most common email dilemmas — and some solutions:

1. HOW TO SET EMAILS ASIDE FOR LATER: If you read something but don’t reply to it, mark it “unread” so you don’t forget about it. You could also stick all these emails into a folder called “reply later,” then set aside a specific time of the day to look in there and address anything you haven’t answered yet.

2. HOW TO RETIRE AN EMAIL ACCOUNT: Export all the emails, and then import the archive into the email service you are currently using.

3. HOW TO COMBINE MULTIPLE EMAIL ACCOUNTS: You could set up five folders in your “main” email account, one for each alternate address you use. Then set up a filter that streams the messages from each account into its appropriate folder, based on the “to” address.

4. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR EMAIL: You can “train” your email by setting up specific mail filters. If that’s too technical for you, Other Inbox can help filter, unsubscribe or organize your emails; Unroll.me does a great job of unsubscribing from bulk emails; and Mailstrom is handy for clearing out a backlog of irrelevant email.

5. HOW TO HANDLE OLD, IRRELEVANT EMAIL: Only a small percentage of your email should actually hit your inbox at all. Most of it can get filtered and land in folders like “newsletters” or “receipts.” And if you archive emails without deleting them, you can clear your inbox and rely on “search” to find emails from the past.