Today, Friday afternoon, as I write this, my inbox looks like this:

Once you’ve tried the concept of Inbox Zero, you’ll never want to go back to the mess of having every email unread and stuck in your to-do list.

Reaching Inbox Zero with Outlook is simple and requires a maximum of five minutes to set up.

I borrowed this setup straight from a blog post. However, the concept originates from David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done. You can copy it exactly as I have or customize it to suit your needs. I do recommend sticking to the basics and building your method from there. The advantage is that it’s simple to set up and works on almost any device.

4-D Stands For:

Done - I’m finished with this. Use this when you don’t need to reply to an email or are done with the matter.

Do - I’ll do this right away. Use this when you can reply to an email or complete the task in a few minutes. Don’t put off simple things.

Defer - I’ll do this later. Use this when the email requires a bit more effort or thought before you respond. This may apply to very long emails or ones that need some input before you’re done.

Delegate - Someone else can handle this. Use this when you can shift responsibility to someone else and follow up on the task later.

Setup

Setting this up in Outlook is easy. Start by creating a folder called Done. If you’re someone who organizes all emails into different folders, you can keep doing that. Personally, I let all emails end up in “Done” eventually and then use the search function to find them later. In cases where I need more organization, I categorize them by color and name.

To make Inbox Zero easier, set up some shortcuts to quickly sort your emails.

Click the arrow at the bottom left of the shortcuts menu, then select Manage Quick Steps.

Then click New and choose Custom.

Configure “DONE!” like this.

Continue setting up “DO!”, “DEFER!”, and “DELEGATE!” like this.

Then use the shortcuts in the menu to start sorting your emails. Continue until your inbox is empty.

The images above are self-explanatory, but I’ll briefly describe them in case anything is unclear.

Now, when you choose DONE!, the email will be marked as complete and moved to the Done folder. When you choose DO!, it will open a new reply-all email, mark the email as complete, and move it to Done.

When you choose Defer!, the email will be moved to the Done folder, but at the same time, a task will be created in Outlook, waiting for you to take action. This is where you should start working when your inbox is empty or when you have extra time.

You can also set up a view that shows your tasks next to your inbox.

When you select Delegate!, the email will also be moved to Done, and a task will be created. The difference here is that it opens the task before it saves it, so you can add notes on what needs to be done and who is taking over the responsibility. It will also open a new email where you can forward the content.

The only change I made to the system above is that, in the Defer! shortcut, I move emails to a folder named DEFER! instead of Done. This way, I can keep track of emails that I need to act on beyond just seeing them in tasks. This also lets you access them from your mobile or other devices that don’t support Outlook Tasks.

Are you using Inbox Zero today?