Meta tagging emails, or using labels and tags to categorize and organize messages, can be more effective than filing them away in folders for several reasons:

1. Increased flexibility: Meta tagging allows you to assign multiple labels and tags to a single message, making it easier to find and access relevant information. This is especially useful if you’re searching for a message that pertains to multiple projects or topics.
2. Improved searchability: When you use metatags, you can search for messages using specific keywords or phrases, making it easier to find the information you need. This is much more efficient than manually searching through a series of folders.
3. Greater scalability: As the number of messages in your inbox grows, it can become increasingly difficult to manage and organize them in folders. With meta tagging, you can continue to add new labels and tags as needed, making it easier to scale your organization system as your email volume...

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Categorization

When we categorize emails, we are doing so in order to be able to locate them quickly and easily. Beginning with that end in mind, since all your mails will be placed in one folder, we should not be thinking in hierarchies (folder in a folder in a folder…) when we create categories; instead, we should understand that we are affixing one or more meta-tags (like #tags) to emails.

With a hierarchical mindset we would be tempted to create complicated multi-word categories like:  Customer – West Coast – Acme tools.

With a meta-tag mindset, we would be thinking more universally.  We might attach two different categories, like: Acme tools (the name of the company), Ball peen hammer (the tool they ordered).

In a hierarchical approach we organize from general to specific.  In a meta-tag or category approach we think of the characteristics that would best help us locate the mail at a later date — afterall,...