# How Many emails in your inbox? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 8, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506 "2008-04-08T20:24:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/1 "2008-04-08T20:24:08Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9666603#post9666603), how many emails do you have in your inbox right now. Those with multiple accounts can report on the largest. Just your inbox, not associated folders (because counting up all mine would be too much work.) At this moment I have 2869, which I’ve really got to do something about. I have 160 folders, some of which might be empty. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/2 "2008-04-08T20:29:01Z")
Fixed title. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/3 "2008-04-08T20:30:56Z")
How in OG’s name do you find out? I have over six years of emails in my ‘inbox’ which consists of several subfolders. Edit: It’s there in the status bar. Brb. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/4 "2008-04-08T20:31:15Z")
1. I don’t delete anything - it’s very useful work-wise. I’m a little surprised the number is that small. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/5 "2008-04-08T20:35:27Z")
1. But one work-related subfolder has 1372 and another has 2415. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/6 "2008-04-08T20:35:49Z")
I have zero. I file or delete them as soon as I read them, and/or respond to them. Sometimes I have up to a half dozen waiting in the inbox for me to respond, but never more than that, unless I’ve been out of town or something. I have 10 folders with about 200 emails in them altogether – I purge them once a month or so. This is my personal computer – I don’t have a work computer. My computer desktop is very tidy also. All in all, my computer is much neater than any other ‘room’ in my house! ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/7 "2008-04-08T20:36:55Z")
10 in Yahoo 1 in AOL I keep the necessary stuff in folders, and only keep stuff in my inbox to remind myself to address whatever it is concerning. (Pay a bill, do a task, look for eBay package) ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/8 "2008-04-08T20:38:43Z")
Depends on the time of day. At the end of most days, I label, and archive everything, or dump it. Right NOW? 8. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/9 "2008-04-08T20:40:38Z")
1. I’ve been using this account for about three years, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/10 "2008-04-08T20:40:42Z")
55 unread (a bunch of stuff from mailing lists that I’m never going to read, I think), 470 total. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/11 "2008-04-08T20:41:00Z")
124 in my Inbox, about 6,000 in my subfolders. This is work email though. They do a yearly email here at work that asks us to empty our inboxes as it takes up server space. I’m usually around number 10 or 12. The number one guy is somewhere around 50,000 in his inbox. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/12 "2008-04-08T20:43:56Z")
**19,573** received. **4,075** sent. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/13 "2008-04-08T21:32:01Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] Fixed title. [/QUOTE] So that’s what happened. I was in the middle of editing it to fix it when I found it was already fixed. And there is a logical explanation for the seemingly supernatural once again. 😛 And thanks. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/14 "2008-04-08T21:56:52Z")
8368 unsorted 38323 in the largest folder I’m not sure how to total all the folders (Eudora) ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/15 "2008-04-08T22:08:35Z")
College mail inbox: 45 read and organized. Checked 2-10x daily. Hotmail: 23 Yahoo: 1 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/16 "2008-04-08T22:35:07Z")
Zero. It bugs me to keep email in my inbox. That’s what the folders or achive are for. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/17 "2008-04-08T22:39:01Z")
For me the inbox is for unclassifiable emails. I try to keep the number of folders I have to a minimum. Some are essential, such as a folder for customer emails, a folder for automated emails, a folder for reports, a folder for emails sent to another department ---
**Author:** ![Red1980](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@Red1980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red1980)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/18 "2008-04-08T23:28:50Z")
1920 in my hotmail, and I try to stay on top of deleting useless email. Work… wow. I’m afraid to even look. At least 10k. I have a lot of folders in my outlook. 0 unread though, if that counts for anything. I have a folder which just spits out exceptions from various environments with 27k in it, but those don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/19 "2008-04-09T00:50:28Z")
I’ve got 18 in my inbasket, and will have zero by the end of my day. I’ve got a pretty good system of folders and reminders, and then ruthlessly delete. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506/20 "2008-04-09T02:15:03Z")
At work: 0. I delete everything once I’ve read it, unless I _really need_ to keep it, in which case it goes to a folder. At home: 5. I’ve read them all, I just haven’t yet decided which folders suit them best. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-emails-in-your-inbox/444506.md?page=2)