[ale] Making email folders EXACTLY like you want them

[Björn Gustafsson]

Thanks Ron,

That's an interesting approach!

On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 10:01 AM, Ron Frazier
<atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com> wrote:
> (This message was originally entitled: need some Evolution email magic)
>
> Björn, and group,
>
> Björn replied to the email referenced below and asked me to share my email
> folder strategy.  I decided to share it with the group as well in case
> others are interested.
>
> Most email clients, including Eudora OSE (Open Source Edition) and Evolution
> automatically assume you want to sort your folders alphabetically.  Most
> won't let you change this and move the folders to other locations in the
> list.  I use a special naming technique to trick the system in to putting
> the folders where I want them to be.  Below is a representative, but not
> exhaustive, list of my email folders, and sub folders, with comments about
> why I did things this way.  You can customize this general approach to your
> needs.  Many of these folders, particularly mailing lists, are populated by
> automated filters which run on incoming mail.  If you have questions about
> that, please let me know.
>
> The first 6 folders listed here are ones I consider important, and I always
> want them sorted at the top, regardless of their letter of the alphabet.
>  The 4 zeros in front assure this.  Within the group of 0000 items, they
> sort alphabetically.
>
> 0000 ALE-Jobs
> 0000 Employment
> 0000 Eudora OSE Info
> 0000 IMPORTANT
> 0000 Linux - Robots
> 0000 Linux - Ron
>
> These next few folders always sort below the 0000 items, and above
> everything else I'm going to describe.  Items in parentheses are not part of
> the folder name.  Items within this subsection sort alphabetically.  If I
> had something starting with W, X, Y, or Z, it would go below my Vendors
> area, but so far, not a problem.
>
> AHRC (Atlanta Hobby Robot Club)
> ALE (You know what this is.)
> Linux (Other Linux / Ubuntu related stuff)
> Mailing Lists (Generic folder for messages from many mailing lists which
> don't have their own folder)
>
> Vendors is a folder.  Everything below it in this section is a subfolder.
>  Generally, these are commercial entities, although some may be suppliers of
> free products or services with a vendor type relationship.  Note how the
> Xmarks entry cross references to Lastpass, where I actually store messages
> from them.  Within the Vendors folder, subfolders automatically sort
> alphabetically.
>
> Vendors
>  ---Acronis
>  ---Amazon
>  ---Audible
>  ---Best Buy
>  ---Evernote
>  ---Jungledisk
>  ---Lastpass - Xmarks
>  ---National Instruments
>  ---Pandora
>  ---Seagate
>  ---Xmarks - See Lastpass
>
> Next begins an archive section where I use folders with letters of the
> alphabet as place holders to put other folders for the messages I want to
> store.  The Z in front of each throws this whole section to the bottom of
> the list.  The z01, z02, etc. actually controls the sort order, and the A,
> B, C, etc. is for humans.  If I had to add a folder for Zebra in the upper
> section, and it sorted wrong, I could add more Z's in front of the bottom
> section.
>
> z01a ---- AAAAAAAA
> z02a ---- BBBBBBBB
> z03a ---- CCCCCCCC
> z04a ---- DDDDDDDD
>
> Here are some example entries under EEEE.  Note that they start with z05b,
> whereas the EEEE header starts with z05a.  This forces all the actual topic
> folders under the EEEE, but, within that group, they sort alphabetically.  I
> could force the sort order underneath by using z05c, z05d, z05e, etc.
>  However, adding new items becomes very tedious that way as you have to
> change all the items below what you're adding.  Note how Electronics sorts
> above all the Energy entries.  Also, note how all the Energy entries are
> categorized and sub categorized, with the main general Energy category at
> the top.
>
> z05a ---- EEEEEEEE
> z05b Electronics
> z05b Energy
> z05b Energy - AEE
> z05b Energy - DOE
> z05b Energy - Southface
>
> z06a ---- FFFFFFFF
> z07a ---- GGGGGGGG
>
> Some more examples.  Note that these topic entries start with z08b to match
> the z08a of the HHHH header.
>
> z08a ---- HHHHHHHH
> z08b Health - Dr. Ted Broer
> z08b Health - MSN Health
> z08b Hobbies
> z08b Hobbies - Ham Radio
> z08b Hobbies - Machine Work
> z08b Hobbies - Robotics
>
> z09a ---- IIIIIIII
> z10a ---- JJJJJJJJ
> z11a ---- KKKKKKKK
> z12a ---- LLLLLLLL
> z13a ---- MMMMMMMM
> z14a ---- NNNNNNNN
> z15a ---- OOOOOOOO
> z16a ---- PPPPPPPP
> z17a ---- QQQQQQQQ
> z18a ---- RRRRRRRR
> z19a ---- SSSSSSSS
> z20a ---- TTTTTTTT
> z21a ---- UUUUUUUU
> z22a ---- V V V V V V V V
> z23a ---- W W W W W W W W
> z24a ---- XXXXXXXX
> z25a ---- YYYYYYYY
> z26a ---- ZZZZZZZZ
>
> Spam is Unsolicited Commercial Email, which is generally junk.  Bacon is
> email which you've given permission to get, but which is usually of minimal
> value or interest.  I have free subscriptions to several trade journals such
> as Power Engineering Magazine and Energy User News.  Except, they aren't
> really FREE.  They don't cost anything, but they sell your contact data and
> you get flooded with BACON email.  I have filters to dump these messages,
> based on the TO address they're coming to, into this folder.  If I have
> reason to think anything important is coming from a publisher, like a
> subscription ending, I'll go look in there.  The ZZZZ in front of the folder
> name forces this to the bottom of the list.
>
> zzzz Bacon
>
> When I do get junk mail, like the latest greatest mortgage offer, or a way
> to enlarge or reduce some body part, I manually move it to the Junk EVALUATE
> folder, rather than deleting it.  As I've detailed in other posts, I use the
> control panel on my domain name's email server to give a specific forwarding
> email address to each entity I deal with, and never give my actual email
> address.  So, if I want to give Bob's Computer Store my email, it's going to
> be something like bobscomputerinfo@ my domain, etc.  By looking at the TO
> address (which cannot be spoofed) in a message, I can tell where the email
> came from, or at least where the sender got my address, if Bob's sold it.
>  Every so often, I go through the EVALUATE folder and look at the TO field
> to see which addresses are attracting the most spam.
>
> I have other folders, such as the bottom one below, where I put messages to
> those particular addresses.  So, in the example below, if my
> bobscomputerinfo address is attracting lots of spam, that bottom folder will
> eventually get lots of messages in it.  This is a manual process, and is
> very much a when I get around to it activity.  However, over time, I may see
> that this address is attracting, say 10 spams / month.  Based on that, I can
> determine if the good stuff I get from Bob's is worth putting up with the
> junk to that address.  Note that spam coming to bobscomputerinfo doesn't
> NECESSARILY mean that Bob betrayed my trust, as addresses can sometimes
> escape in other ways, just by sending and receiving mail.  If the good mail
> is not worth the trouble of the bad, I simply delete the forwarding address
> for bobscomputerinfo from my email server control panel and the mail to that
> address, both good and bad, vanishes.  So, in general, I get very little
> spam.  What spam I do get, I can banish to the bit version of a black hole
> and only lose email coming TO that particular address.  Note, if you decided
> to manually investigate junk mail like this, you may wish to disconnect from
> the net when viewing the junk.  Just by opening or previewing the junk, they
> (the bad guys) know you opened it, and will send you more.  Also, that's
> sometimes a vector to send you a virus as soon as you open the email.  I
> would never open any attachments in such emails.
>
> zzzz Junk EVALUATE
> zzzzz junk bobscomputerinfo
>
> Well, that's how I organize my email folders.  Hope this is helpful.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
> On 01/24/2011 05:53 PM, Björn Gustafsson wrote:
>>
>> Hi Ron,
>>
>> I'm definitely interested in your folder strategy, if you can
>> communicate it via email. :-)
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Ron Frazier
>> <atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com>  wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Michael,
>>>
>>> Just thought I'd let you know, I'm in the process of switching to Eudora
>>> Open Source Edition, so I can have all the advanced email filters I've
>>>
>
> <snip>
>>>
>>> 1.0, so it's a work in progress.  I have some pretty advanced filtering
>>> systems set up, as well as what I feel is a unique folder strategy.
>>> I'll share this with the group if people are interested, although I'm
>>> not sure it can be done by email.
>
> --
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
>
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT c3energy.com
>
>



-- 
Björn Gustafsson