What it does
Uses three settings sheets (Email_Filing, Email_Filing_Folders, and Email_Filing_Rules) to help you quickly file your inbox emails to your desired folders based on repetitive logic by integrating with Outlook.  It offers several settings for folders, subfolders, and emails to ignore to ensure emails are correctly filed (or not filed if you’re still working on them).  It might sound a little crazy to use Excel to file emails in Outlook, but because of the list nature of Excel, ability to filter and copy/paste, data validation, and quickness of letting a macro file them, it actually makes it quite useful.

When to use it
When you want to clean up your inbox and delete/file emails in an efficient and consistent way.  This is designed to be used on a weekly basis but can be used less or more depending on your needs.

Why to use it
It’s an extremely quick way to keep your email inbox nice and neat.  Email is an important component of communication and often the source of tasks to complete and documentation.  Most professionals spend over 25% of their working time writing, reading, and filing email, and this helps do so efficiently and consistently based on reusable logic.  The more emails in your inbox and the more folders you might file them in, the more time this will save!

Default shortcut
None

Other Details

• Category: MS Office / Outlook
• Difficulty: 3/5
• Usage/frequency: 5/5
• Automation factor: 5/5 (estimated 300 seconds saved each time used)
• Type: Bulk
• Date added: 10/30/2019
• Tags: Outlook, email, folders, bulk, filing

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File Email Messages Example File

Prerequisites
Ensure you have an email account set up in Microsoft Outlook and any desired email folders have been created.  To edit email folders in bulk, you can use the Create Edit Email Folders macro.

Instructions
Run the File Email Messages macro.  It will prompt you to select the email account to manage (this will be saved as a default for later).  The first time you run it, it will create three sheets in the active workbook: Email_Filing, Email_Filing_Folders, and Email_Filing_Rules.  The Email_Filing_Folders sheet contains a current list of email folders you have in Outlook.  The Email_Filing_Rules sheet contains optional rules you can set to specify which folders emails should be file in when certain criteria are met, as well as other optional settings.  The Email_Filing sheet contains a list of all emails in your inbox and suggested folders to file them in based on any rules you’ve configured on the Email_Filing_Rules sheet or a similarity between the email subject and email folder names.

The first time you run the File Email Messages macro, it is recommended that you set some filing rules on the rules sheet, delete the Email_Filing sheet, and save the file as a reusable template.  Then run the File Email Messages macro again to suggest folders that include any rules that you added.

Below are descriptions of the settings on the Email_Filing_Rules sheet:

• Column A – Sender (optional): use this to file emails with a certain sender (key tip: copy and paste from column B of the Email_Filing sheet to ensure exact spelling).
• Column B – Domain (optional): use this to file emails with a certain sender domain (key tip: copy and paste from column D of the Email_Filing sheet to ensure exact spelling).
• Column C – Subject Contains (optional): use this to file emails where the subject contains the entered text (does not have to match exactly).
• Column D – Recipient(s) Contain (optional): use this to file emails where one of the email recipients matches the entered text (key tip: copy and paste one of the recipients from column C of the Email_Filing sheet).  Recipients can be individuals or group email distribution list accounts.
• Columns E – Attachment Name Contains (optional): use this to file emails where one of the email attachments contains the entered text (does not have to match exactly).
• Column F – Folder (required): enter the folder that the email should be filed in, based on the condition(s) in columns A:E.  Note that at least one condition in columns A:E is required, otherwise the rule/folder will be ignored.
• Column H – Folders to Ignore (optional): enter any email folders that should be ignored when comparing to email subjects.  Generally this is used when nesting multiple folders in a hierarchy, and some folders are only used to house subfolders, not emails.
• Column I – Ignore Subfolders (optional): this works with column H (Folders to Ignore).  To also ignore any subfolders, enter Yes in this column.  Note that a valid folder name is required in column H for this column to work.
• Column J – Append to Subject (optional): use this to append text to the subject that can be used for the rules or email subject/email folder similarity.  Generally this is used for system emails where the contents of the email contains some text that matches your email folder names, such as company names, project names, etc.
• Column K – Ignore Flagged (optional): to ignore any emails that are flagged, enter Yes in cell K2.  This is recommended so that flagged emails – generally those that you are still working on – are not accidentally filed.

Once you’ve run the File Email Messages macro (ideally after setting up some rules on the Email_Filing_Rules sheet), review the folders in column H of the Email_Filing sheet.  Column H contains drop-down lists of folders to ensure you spell the folder name correctly.  Use the Alt+Down Arrow shortcut to show the list.  If you have a long list of folders (10+), use the Alt+Shift+Down Arrow shortcut to show a searchable autocomplete list of the folders to quickly find the one to enter.

Column I shows a similarity index.  If a rule from the Email_Filing_Rules sheet matched, the similarity index is 99.  For any other value, it is the percentage of words in the suggested folder that appear in the email subject text.  To open an email to read, review, etc., use the Email Picker macro (default shortcut of Ctrl+o), option O to open the email with the Email ID (column J) for the row you have selected.

Once you have reviewed all the folders and you are ready to file the emails, run the File Email Messages macro again.  It will file all the emails that have a valid folder specified and highlight them green.  The Email_Filing sheet will have a timestamp appended so you don’t accidentally try to file them twice.  Feel free to delete or hide that sheet as it is no longer needed.  A fresh Email_Filing sheet will be created the next time you run the File Email Messages macro.