A study conducted by IBM (NYSE: IBM) Research has concluded that users who use the search function in their email program are able to find emails just as easily as those who categorize their emails into folders.

Believed to be the first large-scale quantitative study of its kind, the research involved 345 users and yielded some interesting data. For example, manually stepping through various folders in search of an email took an average of 58 seconds, versus an impressive 17 seconds by searching.

That makes searching the superior option, so why do users persist in filing away their emails? Part of the reason could be that filing messages into folders has become more of a reaction to receiving too much email than an actual productivity strategy. Having said that, the report conceded that workers who create complex folders do indeed rely on these for retrieval, just that such "preparatory behaviors are inefficient and do not improve retrieval success."

In comparison, search and threading promote more effective finding. However, the researchers criticized existing search-based clients for ignoring scrolling--think Gmail--and suggested that current threading approaches be expanded by automatically grouping multiple conversations together under a single topic or project.

You can download the full report here (.pdf).

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Lifehacker
- check out this article at Box Free IT

Related Articles:
The incredible persistence of email
Gmail a threat to Microsoft Exchange, says Gartner