By Jim Sulski

Rich never had much luck at singles bars, so it was ironic to him that he was doing quite well, thank you, with his endeavours into online dating.

There was a slight problem, however: He was having a hard time keeping track of the correspondence that was pouring into his inbox every day.

At one point, things got quite sticky, in an electronic sense.

“I had emailed a girl that I had dated a couple of times and told her that I was really looking forward to meeting her for the first time,” he says. “I got her mixed up with another girl I was corresponding with. The first girl’s response was less than loving, to say the least.”

Rich decided to prevent any further electronic faux pas, he would get his cluttered inbox in order. “That has helped simplify things,” he admits.

For those looking to better manage their amorous email, here are a few tips:

Organise your address book and utilise the various features it offers

Many email programs now allow you to not only catalogue and categorise email addresses, but enhance them with notes, photos and icons that help better identify information.

Rich categorised his email with a simple colour-coded system:

“I used a green dot for those women I was currently dating, a yellow dot for those who I had seen but was not dating and a red dot for those who continued to email me but I wasn’t interested in pursuing,” he says.

Create file folders to store email from your various matches

While an email programme usually has one general inbox, you can create numerous storage folders. Some programs even allow you to automatically shuttle specific email addresses to specific folders. So mail from Carol will go into the Carol folder and email from Julie will be routed into the Julie folder.

Set up a pictures folder

Fully rename any photos that potential suitors send you, and store them collectively in a directory or folder where they can be easily accessed. Many email programs just stash such photos and attachments in a default directory, making them hard to find.

Track your messages

Use the “Reply” option when corresponding with potential matches. With most programs this option makes a copy of any text message sent to you in your returning correspondence.

“As simple as this sounds, this option allowed me to see what I had promised or suggested to some of the people I was corresponding with,” Rich says.

“I could look back at our email to each other and see how we were progressing simply by looking at the most current letter,” he adds.

Make a backup copy of your online correspondence and address book on a floppy disk or CD

Computers can crash or people can destroy them with spilled coffee.

Screen your email

If things go sour, you can usually block incoming email from specific recipients, just as you can block instant messages

Consider separate email handles for your love life and your business life

This will not only prevent additional clutter in your inbox but will avert potential matches from sending instant messages to your business computer.