I have a special love in my heart just for all things Apple. In the Mac vs. PC debate, I’m Mac all. the. way. Droid vs. iPhone? IPHONE. I could go on for days. However, there is one little feature apple provides that drives. me. crazy…

Yes. The little red numbers in the corner of each app. If you’re like me, your OCD gets the best of you and you’ll do whatever you can to make all your little red numbers go away. With email, these numbers don’t go away until you read the email. I used to read my emails, and then breathe a sigh of relief as soon as my home screen was free and clear, but that left me with one bigger problem. I would read an email and think “yeah, I’ll reply to that when I’m back in the office on Monday! Go me!” and Monday would come around, and I would forget. Forgetting to reply to emails you have read is not the greatest business practice. So, I searched for a solution.

Option 1: Turn off your Badge App Icon. In your notification settings, locate email, and select which email you would like to shut off. I did this to all of my emails to ensure I have no little red numbers. If you still want to get a notification for a received email, just make sure you have “Show on Lock Screen” or “Show in Notification Center” on and a sound is made when you get an email.

Option 2: For me, when I get an email, I still want to read it, just so I know what to expect when I sit down to reply to emails in the office. This is where I was reading, and then forgetting to reply! No good. Fortunately, Apple has a solution for that, too! When you read an email from a client that you don’t really have time to reply to, mark it as unread once you’re done reading it. You can do this by selecting the flag on the bottom left and choosing “Mark as Unread” if you’re in that email. You can also swipe (lightly) to the left on your first email screen (where you see all your emails) and by selecting “More” and then “Mark”, it will then give you the option to Mark as Unread.

Option 3: I have also found that weeding out the junk mail from the start helps me not get so overwhelmed with emails when I’m in the office. When I get an email and the notification shows up on my lock screen of my phone, I can see a preview of the message. If it’s an email I won’t need to open (hello shopping ads) then I’ll delete it right then and there. To do this, simply swipe the email to the left and hit “Trash”. Violà!

I hope these tips help you better manage your email and not get so overwhelmed by it!

If you have any topics or questions you would like me to cover in my next Tuesday Tips post, leave me a comment or shoot me an email!

Happy Tuesday!