When it comes to organizing and keeping track of emails in college, I strive to achieve “inbox zero”, meaning that I want to ensure my emails are taken care of effectively and that I don’t have to worry about important messages getting lost in a sea of other messages. Having an organized email inbox in college is important for everyone, but it is especially helpful for students with visual impairments who may become easily overwhelmed by visual clutter or that use assistive technology like large print or screen readers to access their email. Here are my favorite tips and strategies for how I organize emails in college to keep my inbox streamlined as a student with low vision.
More about my college email
My college uses Microsoft’s Office 365 system for all email addresses, which is powered by Microsoft Outlook. To check my email in a web browser, I have to log in through my college’s email portal with my username and multi-factor authentication before I can view my inbox with the Microsoft Outlook web application. I can also add this email account to the Mail app on my iPad or another email client to create or manage emails in my inbox.
When I took classes at two other colleges for transfer credit, I received email addresses specifically for these institutions, including one that was powered by Google/Gmail. I don’t have a preference for using one platform over the other, but I did set up email forwarding to my “home” college’s email address to make sure I didn’t miss anything- more on that later.
Related links
- Ten Information Technology Skills Every College Student Needs
- Ten Templates For Emailing Professors
- How To Get Disability Accommodations In Community College
- Tips For Transferring Cox Email to Yahoo Email With Low Vision
How I check my email with low vision
My all-time favorite application for checking my email with low vision is Apple’s Mail app on my iPad. Here’s why:
- Mail supports Dynamic Type font sizes, meaning that my emails are displayed at around a size 32 font size
- With the accessibility settings I have, my emails are displayed with dark text on a light background, which is comfortable for me to read
- The sidebar also supports Dynamic Type, so I can easily view information in my inbox sidebar without having to immediately turn on Zoom or another screen magnification tool
- I can easily move emails to folders and customize the toolbar to prioritize the features I need
- The layout isn’t visually cluttered compared to other email applications that have a lot of features
- I can position my iPad screen at an angle for comfortable reading with the lined bifocal in my glasses
In order to set up things like mail forwarding, custom folders, and rules/routines, I still have to use a desktop or web application for Outlook or Gmail, though it is nice to have all of these settings synchronized to the Mail application. I still use the desktop or web applications for checking my college email or setting up new rules, especially when I am working on my computer or writing a long message, but I love the simplicity of using Mail for checking my email throughout the day.
Another application I really like using for email is Microsoft Outlook, as I can use the Immersive Reader simplified reading display to read emails in large print and customize the toolbar there as well, but I still find it visually overwhelming at times.
Related links
- Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Keyboards
- Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Tablets
- How To Organize Apps On iPad With Low Vision
- Questions To Ask When Choosing A Desktop Computer For College
- Questions To Ask When Choosing A Laptop For College
- How I Use Microsoft Immersive Reader With Low Vision
Adding notifications for emails
I don’t find it helpful to get notified about every single email that comes into my inbox, but I do want notifications for some emails like the ones from my professors or a time-sensitive email thread. In these situations, I set up custom notifications to make sure that I don’t miss out on something using one of the following options:
- When reading an email in the Mail app, select More Actions (arrow icon in bottom right corner) and select Notify Me to get notifications in the preferred notification style configured in Settings
- When writing an email in the Mail app, select Notifications (bell icon in Subject field) and select Notify Me to get notifications in the preferred notification style configured in Settings
- Pin an email thread to the top of the inbox in Outlook to view new updates to the thread as they are sent
- Set up an email rule in Outlook or Gmail to provide an alert for specific email addresses, which can also be used with a custom tone/sound, or place emails from a sender in a specific folder
Related links
- How I Use Blackboard With Low Vision
- How I Use Canvas With Low Vision
- How I Use Moodle With Low Vision
Moving content to folders
Many of my professors use email to send me copies of class notes, presentations, or copies of assignments that aren’t on the class website. Using folders in my email inbox has helped me to keep this information organized, as well as other emails from my department or codes I may need to access in the future. Some examples of inbox folders I have include:
- Materials (class notes, presentations, etc.)
- Advising/Graduation
- Apps
- Folders for specific classes that require a lot of email communication
- Campus events
- Tickets to events
- Newsletters
When it comes to adding emails to folders, I can either add a rule to automatically send emails from a specific address/subject line to a folder or add an email to the folder manually.
Related links
- How To Make Things On The Board Easier To See
- How I Manage Dysgraphia In Online Classes
- Disability Accommodations For Graduation
Plus addressing for organizing accounts and apps
One of my favorite strategies for organizing accounts and app logins for my classes is to use plus addressing (also known as subaddressing) to filter emails to a specific folder. Plus addressing creates a unique receive-only email address that can be used to filter emails to a specific folder or serve as a labeling tool for identifying emails on a specific subject/from a specific sender. To use plus addressing, add a + sign and descriptor after the account name and before the @ symbol in the email address.
For example, if I wanted to register to use websites for my assistive technology classes (which use the course prefix EDAT), I could create a plus address by writing “myusername+edat@myuniversity.edu” without the quotation marks. The emails can be filtered to a data science folder or appear automatically my inbox. However, plus addressing cannot be used to compose a new email, so outgoing mail would be sent from “myusername@myuniversity.edu.”
Organizing newsletters in a separate inbox
I love to read, and often get so excited whenever a newsletter or blog subscription alert comes through that I stop what I’m doing to read it— not the best idea when I have a deadline or when it delays important tasks like going to eat breakfast. Read-it-later email services provide users with an email address they can use to sign up for newsletters or blog subscriptions and receive emails in a separate application designed for reading. I really like using these tools because I can easily go back and search for information from previous newsletters, and my email inbox feels more “focused” on things that I actually have to reply to.
Previously, I used the Omnivore app as a read-it-later email service, which has since shut down. I’m currently trying out a few different applications like Meco, though that requires pinch-to-zoom to enlarge text. Another option would be to create a rule for newsletters being delivered to a separate folder, or to create a separate email account specifically for receiving newsletters.
Related links
- Free Digital Bookmarking Tools For Low Vision
- Simplified Reading Displays and Low Vision
- A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
Set up email forwarding
When I was taking classes at another college, I would set up email forwarding to send a copy of emails to my primary college’s email address so I could make sure I didn’t miss any critical deadlines or software keys. Another one of my friends would set up email forwarding for their college email to send messages to their personal email, though they would still log in to their college account to send emails to their professors.
Information about setting up email forwarding can be found online or within the settings menu for email providers.
Reporting scam emails
I get phishing and scam emails at least once a week sent to my college email, including fake job postings, emails with odd attachments, and links to viruses or websites trying to access personal information. It’s important that users know how to identify these emails on their own, as well as how to report them to IT services or the cybersecurity office. My college has a specific email address that students can forward suspicious emails to, and they will respond to say if the email is suspicious and should be deleted, or if it is safe to open. I talked more about identifying scam emails on the Hadley Presents podcast linked below.
It’s worth noting that there have been times where I forwarded something to IT services thinking it was a scam and it actually wasn’t (like the time I got a housing violation), but it’s better to be cautious when opening emails that look suspicious or are from unfamiliar senders.
Related links
- How to Avoid Phone and Online Scams When Living With Vision Loss | Hadley (hadleyhelps.org)
- How To Recognize Phishing Attempts With Vision Impairment
- Online Safety For Visually Impaired Users: Safer Internet Day
- What If I Get A Housing Violation?
More resources on how I organize emails in college
- One way to access email web applications/websites quickly is to create a shortcut that can be pinned to a toolbar or device home screen. Learn more in Helpful Ways To Bookmark Websites For Low Vision Users
- Prefer to type emails with a physical keyboard? Learn more about choosing a keyboard in Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Keyboards and Choosing An iPad Keyboard For Low Vision
- A lot of university alerts are sent over email that provide detailed information about class cancellations or instructions for how to handle severe weather. These are set as priority emails so I get notifications immediately.
- Another way I keep my email organized and secure is to have a strong password- I share more tips in How To Create Secure And Easy To Remember Passwords
Published May 30, 2019. Updated December 2024