Email is an extremely useful communication tool.  But when used inappropriately, email can hinder productivity.

More than one-quarter of a worker's day on average is spent answering and reading emails - email is the second-most time-consuming activity for workers, next to "role-specific ...

... to read and respond to email. Don’t leave your email program open all day long. Alerts from incoming messages can interrupt your work flow. Instead, schedule specific blocks of time throughout the day for checking your email. 

You might even try marking your calendar and s...

• browse the inbox for emails that can be immediately deleted (spam or promotional emails). Then select messages that don’t require a response and delete or archive them. 
• Don’t let important emails sit in your inbox for days. Unless you’re on vacation, respond within 48 ...

• Prioritize, group, sort and file messages to keep your inbox organized. Create parent categories for broad subjects such as the following: clients, projects and finances.
• Use subcategories to file emails related to specific clients or projects. Before you file a message...

Newsletters and advertisements can overwhelm your inbox and bury important messages. Clean out the clutter.

Unsubscribe from receiving messages from specific senders if you no longer want to receive their missives or don't have the time to read them.