Inbox reset checklist
How to get the mailbox under control: bulk-archive the old, four decisions per message, tasks into a task list, unsubscribes and filters, a checking rhythm.

[ ] Move everything older than a month to an archive
    In one folder, unprocessed. Search will find it, and almost nobody starts a years-long backlog message by message.
[ ] Adopt four decisions per message
    Reply, turn into a task, defer with a date, delete. There is no fifth option of \u201cleave it hanging\u201d.
[ ] Reply immediately if it takes under two minutes
    A short reply costs less than returning to the message three times. Anything longer becomes a task.
[ ] Move actions from email into your task list
    Written as an action, not \u201creply to Pete\u201d. An inbox is a poor task list: no priorities and no dates.
[ ] Unsubscribe instead of deleting weekly
    Deleting a newsletter costs a minute now and the same minute next week. Unsubscribing costs the same, once.
[ ] Set filters for service notifications
    Receipts, alerts, reports go past the inbox into their own folders. They are read when needed, not as they arrive.
[ ] Use a separate address for shopping and sign-ups
    Your main inbox stops being a promotions dump. It also shows who passed your address on.
[ ] Turn off per-message notifications
    Email is not a chat. Instant reaction is almost never required, and the interruption costs the next several minutes.
[ ] Check email on a schedule
    Two or three passes a day. In between the client is closed: anything urgent arrives elsewhere or by phone.
[ ] Create templates for repeated replies
    Identical messages cost more time than people think. A template is written once and lasts years.
[ ] Do not build an elaborate folder system
    Search beats twenty folders. One or two categories plus an archive is enough structure for almost everyone.
[ ] Keep a \u201cwaiting for\u201d folder
    Messages where the ball is with someone else. Review it weekly and follow up when nothing came back.
[ ] Check the mailbox security
    Two-factor authentication, the device list, forwarding rules. Email is the key to every other account.
[ ] Make finishing the pass a habit
    Process to zero daily, or at least weekly. A partial pass brings back exactly the uncertainty you removed.

Checklist from Unload: https://unloads.me/c/email-inbox-reset