6 weeks off. 2 hours to inbox zero.
I'm back from my honeymoon! I'm sure most of you are out enjoying holiday festivities and stat days off, but I wanted to share a quick email tip.
Even though I was away from the office for almost six weeks straight, when I got back I was able to get caught up on email in less than two hours. How did I do it?
1. Manage expectations
The first - and probably most important - thing that I did to combat being overwhelmed by email was that I actively told people that I was going away for a significant amount of time. I made sure that everyone who regularly emails me knew I would be away. I set up delegates for different components of my work (if you need help with x, contact y...) and made it clear that the blackberry was off: I wasn't going to be checking email while I was away. If they want my attention, they will be able to save the question for when I get back.
2. Prevention
When I set up my out-of-office alert in Outlook, I also set up a rule to filter out global emails. I set up a new folder called "Auto Archive", and using outlook I set up a rule that went like this: when my name is not in the To: box, move it to the Auto Archive folder and mark it as read. Messages where I'm not in the to: box could include company wide distribution lists, announcements from the front desk about people who were parked in the wrong place, or messages that I'm just cc'd on. Either way - if I'm not in the To: box, nobody has an expectation that I will reply.
Some people would automatically delete these messages, but I didn't want to in case the email filter caught something I actually DID need to see. It's also nice to go through the corporate messages quickly to catch up on big organizational changes you might have missed, or any other interesting news.
Marking it as read prevents "sticker shock" when you come back from holiday. Even if these are the emails that aren't urgent, seeing "(1000+)" in a folder NEVER gives you a good feeling.
3. Block out the time
The third and final most important thing that I did to combat being overwhelmed with vacation email is yet another thing that you can do before you even turn out the lights and board that plane.
My first day back at work was blocked off completely with a "fake*" meeting. Things DO come up while you're gone, and when people need to talk to you, they'll look for the first available timeslot in your calendar. It's not their fault, it's just the automatic thing to do.
Unfortunately, this can mean that the first day you're back, you're scheduled into back-to-back 9-5 meetings, including breakfast and lunch, and with a few conflicts at 3pm! Tuesday won't be much better, and as people realize your back, your email will be flooded with REGULAR messages that need your attention TODAY! You'll either ruin all your vacation destressing by working through nights and weekends to get back on top, or you'll miss something important and never get back to inbox zero again.
The fake meeting reminds people that you need some time to get back up to speed on things (and you do), and allows them to decide whether the meeting really IS urgent enough to take up your first day back from vacation. If all goes well (and it did for me), you'll have at least a few hours of peace and quiet reserved to focus.
It doesn't hurt to come in an hour early, either 
(*By "fake" meeting, I mean I set a meeting with nobody (but myself) and I titled it "hold". If you opened the event, it read "I just need some time to get through my email." I wasn't trying to pull a fast one on the boss or anything, I just wanted to make people stop and think twice before booking into Monday)
4. Inbox zero
We're finally into post-vacation tips! This one is just a link to my inbox zero strategies: sort by to:, delete what you don't need, reply quickly and then flag what needs your action.'
5. Remember that extra folder!
When all was said and done, I had about 200 or so emails unread in my inbox. There were over 500 in the auto-archive folder!
As predicted, 80-90% of the emails in AutoArchive were completely ignorable... I really didn't need to know about that bake sale 3 weeks ago. Being able to focus on the inbox first meant that I wasn't being distracted by these less urgent matters, but there were one or two chains that I did need to rescue, and a couple of interesting organizational announcements that I was glad weren't deleted.
[Before we get into competitions here, 700 is really not that much email, I know. I'm not a big player in the company, and I do a lot on a regular basis to mitigate the email I receive.]
For Email: An Ounce of Prevention Truly Is Worth a Pound of Cure
I know that not every company is as understanding as mine (not remotely!) and this much time off usually isn't possible for people. But illness and emergencies do come up, and for some people a week away is enough to get their inbox completely flooded. No matter how much email flows in, these steps will help you quickly sort out what needs your attention and gets you back to work faster.