Dreading the post-holiday e-mail flood? Follow these eight tipsto save your inbox sanity during the holiday season.

o Out of Office assistant. Use this feature, generally foundthrough Tools on the Menu bar, to let senders know you are on leaveand to advise senders who will be looking after things in yourabsence.
o Reduce received e-mail. Talk to your clients and prospects nowand let them know the dates your business will be closed or whenyou will be taking leave. This also provides a time to close dealsor plan requirements with clients for the coming year. Tip: Put afooter on your e-mail messages notifying your days off.
o If you must check work e-mail from home, commit to a designatedperiod of time each day. Do the same if you use a handheld device,such as a BlackBerry.
o In the time leading up to the holidays, commit to at least 15minutes each day of uninterrupted time to delete messages and tidyup your e-mail.
o Archive older mail that you need to keep but don't access everyday.
o Use flags and reminders as prompts on messages that need to beaddressed before the holidays. Many e-mail applications also allowusers to drag and drop, or copy messages to the calendar toschedule time to complete items. You will be more likely tocomplete something if it is on your calendar.
o Regularly empty your deleted items folder. This may not happenautomatically.
o Review your e-mail folder structure. Just like a physical filingcabinet, folders in your e-mail may no longer meet your needs overtime.