Creating a Tickler file on Outlook

[Ian B]

Hi all - new joiner.

I've seen a couple of slightly old (and therefore unreplyable) posts
asking how to create a tickler file on outlook - no doubt posted by
fans of GTD. The replies all suggested using tasks or reminders - but
that's not the most efficient way of "tickling" emails.

If you have been sent an email that you want to be reminded to look at
some time in the future then creating a task or meeting/reminder for it
is quite cumbersome.You'll have to create a task and some sort of
reference/link to the email.

The easiest way is to create a "Tickler" folder and to move the "to be
tickled" emails to that folder when you initially process them.

You can either follow the manual 43 folders methodology and create a
Tickler folder with subfolders for Jan-Dec and move the email to the
relevant folder (plus 1-31 folders or at least a "this week" folder for
transferring them to when you do a monthly/weekly review).

Or you can just have one tickler folder and set a follow up flag on the
emails with a due date of approximately when you want to look at them.
Make sure the Tickler folder has "Due By" as one of the visible fields
and keep the folder sorted by the Due By field ensureing you always
have a chronological listing of upcoming tickles.

Rgds

Ian

 

[Mary]

Have you tried using Flags? Outlook copies flagged items in a folder marked
For Follow up under Search.

 

[Ian B]

That's what I meant by setting a follow-up flag. I would still get it
out of the Inbox though to keep that clean so new items are more
visible.

Ian