Limit Auto-Responders

8 of 10 from 10 Ways to Unclutter Your Inbox and Regain Your Morning Sanity

Setting up an automated response to incoming email messages is generally not a great idea. If your account receives a lot of spam, your system will be replying to spam messages, which you know is a big no-no. The responses will tell the spammers that your account is active, putting you on more lists and at risk for even more spam. In addition, auto-responses are not often an effective way to communicate, since users that receive such messages are no more certain that their issue is being attended to than they would be if they received no response at all.

If you've already committed yourself to checking your inbox in a limited, regimented fashion and dealing with email in an efficient and expedient manner, then providing auto-responses to senders should not be necessary. Simply respond to your emails at the time or times you have allocated for that practice during a given day, and those dangerous and impersonal auto-responses will become a thing of the past.

Step 9: Protect Your Address