Should I clean up my inbox or not?

[Forkjulle]

In the days of Gmail, I was always told that keeping one's inbox as clean and empty as possible. You know, move emails into folders etc, as long as they're out of the inbox.

I'm not sure if this is sound advice.

After moving to iCloud (and Apple Mail), I've found that my inbox is quite large. I have a handful of mailboxes, and even more smart mailboxes.

I understand that smart mailboxes don't move the messages out of the inbox.

Is it acceptable, performance-wise, to leave the inbox quite full, while using smart mailboxes as a quick way of organising?

Or would mailboxes be better?

 

[maflynn]

Nether is better, but rather what works for you. I prefer organizing my emails others like it all in one place. Set up a work flow that best suits your needs and tastes.

 

[Forkjulle]

What I mean is...

...is a full inbox no slower / faster than the emails split across mailboxes and smart mailboxes? (As in the application's performance and speed.)

 

[takeshi74]

Is it acceptable, performance-wise, to leave the inbox quite full, while using smart mailboxes as a quick way of organising?

A smart mailbox isn't going to have any impact either way. It's essentially a view. As you stated, the mail remains in its existing physical location.

Are you actually having performance issues?

 

[Forkjulle]

A smart mailbox isn't going to have any impact either way. It's essentially a view. As you stated, the mail remains in its existing physical location.

Are you actually having performance issues?

No. I'm just interested in whether or not an inbox, with thousands of emails, will slow down things, and whether or not it's more efficient to move emails out of the inbox.

 

[Jbedoun]

My gmail has over 10,000 emails in the inbox. I use the search feature if I want to find something. It is not slow at all.

 

[James_C]

I think this may be more of a workflow issue, if you have the tendency to leave emails in your inbox, you may have a lot of redundant emails you no longer need to keep. An IMAP mail system that syncs over all your connected devices may start to slow as your stored mail builds up. I came across Merlin Mann's InBox Zero concept a few years ago, which basically applied a Getting Things Done (David Allen) philosophy to have a better process to manage your email. After using it for a while, I found it really worked for me and I wrote an article about it, with links to some of Merlin's original work that inspired me.