The other day I noticed my email server, which I use only for newsletters, was not downloading my mail. Well, I wasn't too concerned because sometimes this happens for a whole variety of reasons. By the time evening came and no mail came from my account, I thought I would check it out by going online to their website and log-in. Ha! Ha! on me.
When I put in the domain name, a domain seller site came up with a message at the top of the screen that the site (my email server) did not renew their domain name and therefore, I was SOL. Okay, Bea, stay calm and troubleshoot this faux pas. I shot into action checking that all my equipment was working right, going to other sites to see if I could access them, and of course, I had read everything on the domain seller site page which did come up.
Having nothing more to wonder about, I thought I would send off an email to my webmaster and ask him if there was anything I could do. In his usual not-so-humorous tone, he too said I was SOL. Now what? Then, I sent an email to the domain seller site, only to get back some babble from their support center.
I waited another whole day and lo and behold, I checked the following evening and all my blessed newsletters downloaded like a dream. I was so happy, but this is not the end of the story. Being the troubleshooting, alternative plan person that I am, I knew I did not again want this horror of oh my god, all my newsletters and how will I reclaim them now, feeling. So I immediately stepped into action.
If you have as many subscriptions as I have and do not track them when you subscribe, then learn from this lesson. Here are several tasks to do to make your life of tracking newsletters a bit easier in the future.
1. Make a list of all the newsletters you receive routinely.
a. List the name of the newsletter and where you can subscribe or unsubscribe and note their email address as well.
b. An easy way to do this is to open up a document titled Newsletter List and when you receive a newsletter, copy and paste their header from the email into your document. Then you will have the essential information should anything ever happen.
2. Another way to track your newsletters is to save the Welcome document, they usually send to you after you have subscribed. Create a special folder for it in your email box. Alternatively, copy the Welcome letter and put it in My Documents. Of course, you must create a special folder for it there as well.
3. Open a free email account to use just for your newsletters. That way you can easily keep track of them and know what you have lost if anything like what happened to me happens to you.
One last loss prevention tip: Back up your files routinely especially if you are running a business. It will save a lot of panic later and keep your business and mind free of technology disaster.
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