Another Three-Pronged Approach to Uncluttering Your Inbox

Suffering from e-mail overload? A couple weeks back, we showed you how one Microsoft exec manages his inbox. If you liked the idea but not the approach, Lifehacker's Gina Trapani offers this alternative: a "trusted trio" of folders you can use to empty out your inbox. You'll have to read the entire post to get the full flavor, but here's an overview of the folders themselves:

• Follow Up These messages represent tasks you must complete; whether that's a response that will take more than two minutes (anything less than that, just respond on the spot!) or some sort of an action. All these messages represent an item on your to do list.
• Archive The Archive folder is your long-term email reference library. Place all the messages that contain information you may want to retrieve at some point in the long term future in Archive.
• Hold The Hold folder is a temporary holding pen for important messages you'll need quick access to within the next few days.