For most of us, attending to e-mail is not just an optional part of our daily routine. It's a requirement - and sometimes not a pleasant one. That's why it makes sense to work smarter and more efficiently with e-mail. Adopt some of the tricks below, and you'll be well on your way.
For mail that you download into programs like Outlook or Thunderbird, however, synchronisation is a bit more difficult. For Outlook, programs like Outback Plus (https://ajsystems.com) and OsaSync (https://www.vaita.com) make the chore easier. For Thunderbird, the procedure is a bit more involved, but you can read about the options at Mozilla's Synchronising Mail page (https://bit.ly/PaJ1C).
Almost all e-mail programs allow you to define multiple "signatures" and to select the appropriate one as you're composing a message. Think of defining signatures that contain most of the text needed for stock responses that you often provide to certain types of messages. Then just select the appropriate signature and fire off your responses.
Typically, if your e-mail program will allow you to schedule messages, you will do so from the message composition window. In Outlook, for instance, you start an e-mail message, open the View menu, click Options, and then select the "Do not deliver before" check box, specifying a date and time. Just be sure your mail program remains running so that it can send your message when you want it to.
BCC allows you to designate e-mail recipients that no one else on your recipient list can see. For instance, if you don't want anyone on your recipient list to be able to see the e-mail addresses of other recipients, put your own e-mail address in the To field and all of the other recipients in the BCC field. Ever get an e-mail addressed to "newsletter" and wonder how you ended up receiving it? It's probably because your e-mail address was entered into the BCC box.
If you have to get a large file to someone by e-mail, however, there are options. First, try splitting the file into smaller parts. You can do that by using a standard Zip program such as the open-source 7-Zip (https://www.7-zip.org). Your recipient can then assemble the parts using the same program. Or you could upload the large file to a free transfer service such as YouSendIt (https://www.yousendit.com), which will send your recipient a link that, when clicked, will download the file.