43 Folders

Back to Work

Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

Join us via RSS, iTunes, or at 5by5.tv.

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Email Archive as Life Archive?

After watching Merlin's Tech Talk, I was struck by the shear volume of stuff in my Archive folder. I can't possibly need all of that, right?

Here's a brief rundown of the kinds of things I have in there:

  • Payment receipts
  • Client communication
  • Archived email conversations with friends and family
  • Tickler items
  • Archived contact emails from various websites I admin
  • Registration and user account details for various websites and softwares

Some of this stuff is CYA type stuff that I don't feel like I should get rid of. Some of it is reference stuff to be sure, so I guess that could be moved into Journler or Yojimbo.

Do any of you guys feel compelled like I do to keep an archive of your digital life? Anyone moving this stuff off to a junk drawer app like Journler or Yojimbo? Anyone just deleting with impunity consequences be damned?

TOPICS: Life Hacks
Stew's picture

If you have the space...

If you have the space and can still find what you need quickly, why not just leave the archive as is? I haven't deleted much from gmail in two years, and still have plenty of space. If an email is project-related, I'll paste it into Evernote before archiving. The email archive has saved my butt a few times. For example, there was an error on my bank statement. I proved the bank incorrect by offering my daily balance summary email as proof of when the error occurred. I don't usually search directly from gmail often, but I'm glad I have that option when needed.

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

Popular
Today

Popular
Classics

An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »