Hello all,
I haven't had time in the last couple of days to read any messages
from this and other lists. Quite obviously they were waiting in their
respective folders, unread and NOT displayed in the Ticker which I DO
use.
I was just reading the "ticker info?" thread and was very interested
by some of the things said there and the different ways different
people use some options, and would have liked to make some comments of
my own. But instead of now replying to different issues in several or
many messages, I just decided to start a new thread and just explain
how I use filters, colour groups and the Ticker. Not with the
intention of convincing anyone, just to perhaps point some ideas that
may be useful for someone.
I manage 20 accounts, 299 folders, some 20 mail lists, at least 10
colour groups, and only in my main account (the most active one) 17
Incoming filters, 10 outgoing, 11 read and 9 replied. And like many of
you, only on this main account, I receive 100s of messages and send
quite a bit.
I have tried several setups and, since about a month or so, I am using
the quite satisfactorily one that I will try explain now and
illustrate with just a few examples.
Colour Groups defined:
Reply - red
Action - green
...
Incoming Filters (listed in proper order):
Spam - Msgs with special X header from my server sent to Spam
folder.
C - Messages from C to folder C
D - Same
IMPORTANT: Note that I don't start with A and B, but I do use A
and B in Outgoing, Read and Replied.
TBUDL - Same
...
Known
New - Unknown
Outgoing:
A - Messages to A go to folder A.
B
C
...
No, TBUDL is not here. I will get my messages from the list and
sorted through Incoming.
Read filters:
Must Reply (Inbox - Known)
This checks if the message is associated with Reply colour
group and sends it to Reply folder
Must Reply (Inbox - Unknown)
Same as above
Action - Similar as above.
A
B
...
And no, TBUDL isn't here either.
Replied filters:
A - Sends to folder A and, in Actions, sets to
Generic colour group.
B - Same.
...
Replied - Doesn't look for any filter strings, just sends message to
Replied folder and sets colour to Generic.
The Ticker:
ONLY shows messages from Inbox-Known and, if I am not too busy, I
may also select Inbox-Unknown. Just 1 or 2 folders of the 299. Ah!
I do have a sound set up for Inbox-Known and _only_ for
Inbox-Known.
So, how do I use all of this or how does it work for me?
What I basically do with incoming filters is establish a priority and
sort to their folder those messages that I will read when I have time
(i.e. C, D, TBUDL, etc.). While I am working I only care about those
incoming messages that end up in Inbox-Known folder (for which I have
properly set up my AB) and perhaps Inbox-Unknown.
So, every 5 minutes TB will connect to my server and if any message
ends up in Inbox-Known, the Mail Ticker will pop up and call my
attention. I DO want the Mail Ticker to "disturb" me because I want to
read those messages immediately.
When the Ticker pops up, I do read _all_ messages (in Inbox-Known) and
_before_ marking then as Read, which I do manually (Ctrl+M) and NOT
after x seconds, I may assign the message to Colour Group "Reply", or
"Action", etc., or to none. This way, those messages that when reading
them I have considered I have to reply to, by magic of the Read
filters, will be sent to the Reply folder. A _single_ folder for all
messages that I have to reply to. Easy to find. Those I have marked
for Action to the Action folder, and those that I have not assigned to
any group (colour) to their respective A, B, C... archive folders.
Now, sooner or later I decide I have to start replying. I go to the
Reply folder and start doing so. When I Send each reply, the Reply
filters set the colour group of the original message to Generic and
send it to its corresponding A, B... archive folder. And the Outgoing
filters sort my outgoing replies.
And that is basically it. I know it may look a bit strange, or
peculiar or even an awkward way of doing things, and I don't know if I
have been able to clearly explain it. But believe me, I am so
satisfied with this set up! I now never forget to reply to an
important message.
One last thing. I know you may think that if I use the Reply colour
group, why not send the message to its archive folder when reading it
and later do a search for Reply group in all folders? Well, it's much
quicker to just go to the Reply folder, plus the fact that with a
quick look to the folders pane I can see how many messages are waiting
for me to reply to. BTW, the Reply folder is just below my Outbox near
the top.
Finally, as I have already said, I am not trying to "sell" this setup
to any of you. It's _mine_ and _I_ am happy with it. I just thought it
may give some ideas to some one.
-- Best regards,
Miguel A. Urech (El Escorial - Spain)
Using The Bat! v1.60c
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