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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
Carla's picture

See, this is why I...

See, this is why I miss the early days of FileMaker, when FOSS standalone databases were so common. Claris Emailer plus a well-made FM archiver, and I was soooooo happy. :confused:

 
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