It is fairly common for businesses that have been filing emails for many years to have created complex structures with folders for incoming and outgoing emails along with sub-folders for various categories.


This was necessary when the only viable way to find emails was to browse the Windows folders into which they were filed.


This however creates a burden on staff who have to learn the filing structures and consistently file into the right places, but it also adds a dilemma, as it's often the case that a email ought to be in more than one location. For example, an invoice for a survey could logically go in a Surveys folder and/or an Accounts Payable folder.


Each person will have their views, leading to staff being incapable of finding what they need rapidly.


Technology has made finding so easy that most businesses now create just one email folder for each filing location and this is what we recommend to all customers, i.e. make it easy for staff to file by offering just one filing location, and rely on the search tools to pinpoint the message when needed.


Architects & Engineers

For example Architects and Engineers who organise their emails by projects, could have a structure similar to this:

Location name: 

P3065 - Bounds Road

Path:        

P:\3000\P3065 - Bounds Road\email




Accountants, Manufacturers and other businesses that file to Customer folders

These businesses will typically have a top-level folder for the Customer with a sub-folder for emails similar to this:

Location name:

Cathy's Cards 

Path:        

S:\Clients\Cathy's Cards\email




Solicitors, Lawyers and businesses that file by a case or matter

These businesses will typically have a top-level folder for the Case or Matter with a sub-folder for emails similar to this:

Location name: 

C03245 Mr T Jones

Path:        

J:\Clients\Rodney's Mufflers\C03245 Mr T Jones\email




In each example, staff know to just file to the location name e.g. P3065 - Bounds Road which is easy and therefore far more likely to happen, and when they need to find emails, the filters in the Pico search engine make it easy to narrow in on their target.