One of my methods for keeping on top of my Inbox is by attrition – once I reply/complete a message I move it into a sub-folder so it is visually out of the way. I am definitely a keyboard jockey, and if possible would prefer to never have to lift my hands from the keyboard to use a mouse, so dragging and dropping a lot of emails gets clumsy after a while.

To quickly move a message to a different folder in Outlook, have a message selected in your Inbox, then hit the key combination Ctrl + Shift + V (I do this with my left hand pinky + ring finger + index finger), and a windows will pop-up where you can use your arrow keys to select the folder, then hit Enter to finalize the message destination.

Some people are less keyboard-coordinated so this shortcut won’t work for everyone. But I find it much easier than dragging and dropping and possibly sending my message to the wrong folder.