Most inboxes are a to-do list that other people write for you. This guide turns yours into a queue of decisions: every email leaves the inbox and goes into one folder that says what happens next and who is holding the ball.
Set up the folders, hand your assistant the brief, then add two hot tips that make an AI assistant better every week. Everything you need to copy is in a box with a Copy button.
Want it set up for you?
On a free 30-minute call, Megan will name your biggest time leak and give you an honest answer on whether Clockwise is the right fit. The rest of this guide is the do-it-yourself path.
Every email in this system answers one question:
"What is the next step, and whose is it?"
That answer picks the folder.
How the system works
There are two kinds of folders. Action folders say what needs to happen, and an email lives in only one at a time. Filing folders say what the email is about, for when the action is done or there was never an action.
Action folders Work from the top down
Only you can handle it: sensitive, a money decision or commitment, or a reply that must come from you. Use it sparingly. If it's full, the filter is too loose.
YouThe assistant isn't sure what to do, so it flags it with a one-line question. Your answer becomes a rule.
YouRoutine work: scheduling, routine replies, simple requests, confirmations. When done, it moves to 3.
AssistantReplies sent on your behalf, kept so you can spot-check them weekly. A wrong reply means a rule needs tightening.
Review onlyThe ball is with someone else. Note who and by when. No reply after about five days, it moves to 5.
Someone elseNeeds to resurface on a date, like a nudge or a deadline. On the day, it moves back to !!, 1 or 2.
Whoever owns itFiling folders No action left
Invoices, receipts, statements, tax. Filed once any action is complete.
FilingNewsletters and reading. Cleared after about 14 days so it doesn't pile up.
FilingOne sub-folder per client, so reference threads are quick to find.
FilingEverything finished. Nothing stays in an action folder once it's done.
FilingWhy the names look like that
!! sorts first
Symbols sort ahead of numbers and letters, so your folder always sits at the very top. It's the one that should never be missed.
1 to 5 set the order
The numbers follow the life of an email: decide, handle, done, waiting, follow up. They show order of attention, not importance.
No number = filing
Filing folders aren't part of the daily flow, so they sit below the numbered ones and you visit them when you need them.
Set up your folders
Fill in these boxes first. Every copy box on the page updates to match. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Personalise the templates
Have your AI set it up
Paste this into an AI assistant that's connected to your email, such as Gemini in Gmail, Copilot in Outlook, or Claude or ChatGPT with your email connected. It shows you the plan before it changes anything. If it can't make changes, it gives you click-by-click steps instead.
Prompt: set up my inbox folders
Paste into your AI assistant
I want to set up my email so the inbox is a queue of decisions, not storage. My email is Gmail. Please help me create these labels, spelled exactly like this: !! Your name 1. Needs Your Call 2. Assistant - Handling 3. Sent by Assistant 4. Waiting On 5. Follow Up Finance Read Later Clients Archive Then: 1. Under Clients, create one sub-label for each client. Suggest the list from the last 3 months of my email and let me confirm it. 2. Suggest up to 5 filters that send obvious emails straight to Finance (invoices, receipts, bank, tax) and Read Later (newsletters). Show me each one before you create it. 3. Don't move, delete, archive or reply to any existing email. This is setup only. Before you change anything, show me the full plan and wait for me to say "go". If you can't make changes in my email, give me click-by-click steps for Gmail instead.
Or set it up yourself
Copy the list, then follow the steps for your email.
The folder list
Spelled exactly, in order
!! Your name
1. Needs Your Call
2. Assistant - Handling
3. Sent by Assistant
4. Waiting On
5. Follow Up
Finance
Read Later
Clients
Archive
- In Gmail, open Settings (the gear), then See all settings, then the Labels tab.
- Click Create new label for each name in the list. For each client, create a label and tick Nest label under Clients.
- To send emails somewhere automatically, open the search options in the search bar, describe the emails (for example, from your bank), then Create filter, Apply the label and Skip the Inbox.
- Gmail's own Archive button already takes email out of the inbox, so you can skip the Archive label if you prefer.
- In Outlook, right-click your mailbox name (or Inbox) in the folder list and choose Create new folder for each name in the list.
- For each client, right-click Clients and choose Create new subfolder.
- To move emails automatically, open Settings, then Mail, then Rules, and add a rule that moves emails from a sender (for example, your bank) to Finance.
- Outlook has its own Archive folder, so you can use that instead of making a new one.
Hand it to your assistant
The folders only work if whoever sorts your email follows the same rules every time. This brief is those rules.
Give them the brief
Give it to a human assistant as their instructions, or paste it into your AI's custom instructions or project instructions. Add to the "Rules learned" list every time you answer a question in folder 1.
Assistant brief: how to sort my inbox
For a human assistant or your AI's instructions
You help manage Your name's inbox. The inbox is a queue of decisions, not storage. Every email you look at leaves the inbox and goes into exactly one folder. For each email, ask: "What is the next step, and whose is it?" That answer picks the folder. ACTION FOLDERS (one at a time) !! Your name: only Your name can handle it. Personal, sensitive, money decisions or commitments, or a relationship where the reply must come from Your name. Use sparingly. 1. Needs Your Call: you're not sure what to do, or the reply depends on a preference you don't know. Add a one-line note saying what the question is. 2. Assistant - Handling: routine work you'll do: scheduling, routine replies, simple requests, confirmations. When done, move it to 3. 3. Sent by Assistant: emails you've answered on Your name's behalf, kept for a weekly check. 4. Waiting On: the ball is with someone else. Note who and by when. No reply after 5 days: move it to 5. 5. Follow Up: has a date. When the date arrives, move it back to !!, 1 or 2. FILING FOLDERS (after the action is done, or when there is no action) Finance: receipts, invoices, statements, tax. Read Later: newsletters and reading. Clear anything older than 14 days. Clients: one sub-folder per client, for reference threads. Archive: everything finished. RULES 1. One action folder at a time. 2. Nothing stays in the inbox. 3. When in doubt, put it in 1. Needs Your Call. A flag costs seconds; a wrong guess costs more. 4. Waiting expires. Nothing stays in 4. Waiting On for good. 5. Every decision becomes a rule. When Your name answers a question in folder 1, add the answer to "Rules learned" and follow it next time. 6. Until Your name has approved a type of reply, draft it rather than send it. RHYTHM Daily: work through 2 and move finished items to 3. Weekly: review 4 and 5 and move anything that's due. Monthly: clear Read Later and check Finance is up to date. RULES LEARNED (none yet)
Rule 6 keeps a person in the loop. Once you trust a type of reply, add it to "Rules learned" and the assistant can send those on its own.
Agree the five rules
These are already in the brief. Go through them together so you both know what to expect.
- One action folder at a time. An email is never in two action folders at once.
- Nothing sits in the inbox. Every email is moved as soon as it's been looked at.
- When in doubt, flag it. An email in
1. Needs Your Callcosts you seconds. A wrong guess can cost much more. - Waiting expires. Nothing stays in
4. Waiting Onfor good. - Every decision becomes a rule. Answer a question once and that type of email is handled without you next time.
Keep it running
A few minutes a day from you, and a steady rhythm from your assistant.
Daily
You: check !! and 1.
Assistant: works through 2 and moves finished items to 3.
Weekly
You: skim 3, then archive it.
Assistant: reviews 4 and 5 and moves anything due.
Monthly
Clear Read Later, check Finance is up to date, and make sure the rules still match how you want things handled.
Two hot tips for an AI assistant
Once the folders are running, these two instructions make the biggest difference. Add them under the brief.
Hot tip 1: drafts that sound more like you every week
Needs access to your drafts and your Sent folder
Every Friday, compare the drafts you wrote for me this week with what I actually sent. Look at what I changed: the words I cut, how long my replies are, how I open, and how I sign off.
Keep a short "How Your name writes" list (5 to 10 points) and update it each Friday. Use it for next week's drafts so they need fewer edits.
Each Friday, tell me the three biggest changes you made to the list.
Over a few weeks you edit less, because the list keeps learning from your own changes.
Hot tip 2: urgent emails get time in your calendar
Uses the "Who runs your calendar?" box above
When something urgent comes in, put it in !! Your name and flag it straight away with my chief of staff. Ask them to block time in my calendar so I can handle it. In the flag, include: who it's from, what they need, the deadline, and how long you think it will take me. Urgent means: [edit this list: a client problem, a deadline in the next 24 hours, money or a legal issue at risk, anyone on my VIP list]. If you're not sure whether something is urgent, flag it anyway and say why you're unsure.
Edit the "Urgent means" line before you paste it. A clear definition stops everything from being flagged.
Want this running in your business, not just your inbox?
Email is usually where we start, because it's where most owners lose the most time. On a free 30-minute call, Megan will:
- name your biggest time leak
- give you an honest answer on whether working with Clockwise is the right fit
Google Meet, 30 minutes, no cost. Rather write first? Start a conversation.
About the author
Megan Hogan is the founder of Clockwise and works as a fractional COO inside small to medium businesses. She spent seven years at Optus and has led customer experience transformation and AI-enabled contact centre implementation.