Archive old emails

Archive old emails in Microsoft Outlook — with the four heights of help laid out: do it now, make it easier for the next person to accept, work out the right move when you are stuck, and learn the pattern so it stops coming back.

4prompt heights
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The four heights

The same task, four distances: today's deadline, the next reviewer, the stuck moment, the pattern.

Execute — do the immediate task

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Inbox is over its retention window. Archive all emails older than January 1, 2023 that are in the…
Inbox is over its retention window. Archive all emails older than January 1, 2023 that are in the Promotions and Updates folders, except any thread with 'invoice' or 'tax' in the subject. Confirm count before you archive and show me the first five subjects being archived.

Improve — make it easier to accept

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Before archiving old messages, surface any hidden risks. Highlight threads older than January 1,…
Before archiving old messages, surface any hidden risks. Highlight threads older than January 1, 2023 that mention contract numbers, invoices, or legal, and list any sender addresses that match vendors we still work with so I can exclude them if needed.

Decide — diagnose the stuck moment

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I queued archive for everything before January 2023 and saw a vendor thread about a disputed…

I selected a bulk archive but spotted a vendor thread I might need

I queued archive for everything before January 2023 and saw a vendor thread about a disputed invoice. I don't know if finance still needs it. Who should I check with quickly and what language gets a definitive yes or no so I don't archive something we might need for reconciliation?

Become — change the pattern

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Every quarter I spend hours finding old invoices and contract notes because I hoard everything in…

Old emails keep accumulating and I waste time searching

Every quarter I spend hours finding old invoices and contract notes because I hoard everything in my inbox. Which filing habit or small rule will cut my search time in half and still keep needed items accessible?

Next to this one

Other email and calendar work people do in Microsoft Outlook.

Every task here came from the work, not from a feature list — which is why the prompts name what you want done and never the button that does it. The tool changes; the work does not.
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The rest of the map

Same library, five ways in.