Delegate your day.
Inbox time calculator
Enter how many emails you handle and how long each takes. The page multiplies it out, shows the formula and keeps your numbers in your browser.
You just approve.
The short version
- Every result is your own numbers multiplied out. The page estimates nothing on its own.
- The starting values are examples to overwrite, not statistics.
- The formula is printed beside the answer so you can check it.
The starting numbers are examples to overwrite, not statistics. Your entries stay in this page.
Your inbox costs
7.5 hours a week
- Per day
- 90 minutes
- Per year
- 360 hours
- As working days (8 hours each)
- 45.0 days
If you got your minutes back
120 hours a year
That is 15.0 working days. It is the minutes you entered multiplied out, not a forecast of what any app will save.
The formula
minutes a day = emails a day × minutes per email
hours a week = minutes a day × days a week ÷ 60
hours a year = hours a week × weeks a year
working days = hours a year ÷ 8
How it works
Two numbers carry most of the result: how many emails you handle in a day and how many minutes each one takes you. Multiply them for minutes a day. Multiply by the days you work a week and divide by 60 for hours a week. Multiply by the weeks you work in a year for hours a year, and divide by 8 to see it as working days.
There are no hidden factors. The formula sits beside the answer, and the starting values (60 emails, 1.5 minutes, five days, 48 weeks) are examples chosen to be easy to overwrite.
Counting honestly
An email that takes four seconds to archive and one that takes ten minutes to answer belong in the same average only if you weigh them. Try the calculator twice: once with your quick triage, once with the replies that need thought, then add the two.
One reference point
McKinsey Global Institute's 2012 report, The social economy, estimated that the average "interaction worker", a high-skill knowledge worker, spends about 28 percent of the workweek managing e-mail. It is one study from 2012 about one group of workers. It is context, not a default: nothing on this page uses it.
Using the answer
Count for a week to replace the example numbers with your own: a tally mark per email you open is enough. Then look at the biggest lever. Fewer emails (unsubscribe, filter), faster emails (shorter replies, saved snippets, keyboard shortcuts) and batching (reading at set times) each change a different number in the formula, so you can see which one moves your total most.
The "minutes back" line
The last input is a target you choose, such as 30 minutes a day. The page multiplies it out to hours a year. It is not a forecast of what any app, Otto included, will save you.
Questions, answered
How do I work out how much time I spend on email?
Multiply the emails you handle in a day by the minutes each takes, then multiply by your working days. Divide by 60 to get hours. This calculator does that and prints the formula.
Are the default numbers typical?
They are examples, not statistics. Replace them with your own counts. A week of tallying emails handled gives a better number than a guess.
Does this predict what an email app would save me?
No. The results are your inputs multiplied out. The minutes-back line uses a number you choose, so it is a what-if, not a forecast.
And the rest of the inbox
Otto reads what arrived across Gmail and Outlook, drafts the replies, books the time and keeps track of what you are still owed. It prepares each one and waits for you to approve it.
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