Keep Your Yahoo! Email Organized: Make the Most of Yahoo!'s Folder Options

If you have more than 100 emails in your Yahoo! email inbox, you probably don't have a streamlined email-handling system.

Don't despair. You're half an hour away from having an email organization system and learning how to develop habits to keep this system in place.

First, note that Yahoo! has a "Search Mail" option, which is nice. You can use this tool to find the username and password for a particular site, find the order number of an item purchased online, or to find out where your globe-trotting friend was the last time you heard from them.

The problem with the Yahoo!'s Search Mail option is even the most specific search can come up with extraneous results, causing you to search through all your old mail to find what you're looking for.

By utilizing the Folders option of Yahoo!, you can bypass the search engine and make it easier to find important email documents. The beauty of the Folders option is that you can expand upon it and organize your emails your way - however they make sense for you.

Here is a useful example of a basic three-folder system that can work for anyone:

The first step is to create three folders and name them Orders, Welcomes and Addresses. To create a folder, click on the "Add" button located next to the header "Folders" on the top left of the screen.

Now take 20 minutes to sift through your inbox and delegate the appropriate emails to their relevant boxes. A quick, easy way to do this is to arrange your mail by the sender's name, by clicking on "Sender" to arrange them in alphabetical order - thus grouping together emails from the same business or person.

Here's what you're looking to put into each folder:

1. Orders: In orders, you want to put any emails that are confirming your order, are sending an update on the status of an order, a shipping notification and any cancellations. Basically anything relating to online commerce you're conducting. This can be incredibly handy if you want to check how much Mom's birthday present cost you, what the site URL was for that cool present you got your best friend, or if you need to change a purchase or check on a late order.

2. Welcomes: You know when you sign up for a Web site - like say, your bank, a nutritional news site, your online pharmacy, photo sharing sites - and you create a username and password? And then you're sent a confirmation email or a welcome email that contains your username and password and has tips on how to navigate the site and what you get out of your membership? Those emails go in the "Welcomes" folder. Now, when your super-stealthy password eludes you, you can find it in a flash!

3. Addresses: Sometimes business associates, friends and family find it necessary to completely overhaul their online communication life and change their email addresses. Or maybe they're being stalked and they have to change their phone number. Or they physically moved and want to keep their people on top of where to send presents for holidays. When you get an email like this, put it in your "Addresses" folder. It's a good idea to keep an actual, tangible address book, or have an Address book program on your computer, or even to use Yahoo!'s Contacts option to keep track of this info, but having an "Addresses" folder is a good back-up system.

The trick to Foldering your email is to get into the habit of using them - force yourself to delegate your emails to the appropriate folder or chuck it as soon as you receive them.

Others use the Folders option to create a folder for every friend or client they email regularly, for individual projects they're working on, for jokes they receive or inspirational texts on friendship and love. The bottom line is to come up with a system that works for you. These three basic folders are a good jumping off point for any organizational system you may end up with.

Remember, the first step to organization is to downsize - shake off that dead weight of old newsletters, jokes and superstitious chain letters that wallow in your inbox months after you skim over them. Get in the habit of letting go and you'll have a manageable inbox that will be easy to search through - especially since you have nifty folders, in which you can file important emails for easy finding later.