The question if email is a KM tool goes around in my mind for some time. I'm sure other people have discussed it before, although a quick search wasn't very helpful (I found one useful article, which I will come back to below). Maybe email is not an intended tool, as in planned to be used for KM, which is why I didn't find many results. Look for a list of KM tools and email won't be in it.
I think it is a tool that contains knowledge though, more perhaps than many other systems. An unintended (if that's an existing word) KM tool. Email is for many people an archive, a task list (or reminder of the 'things to do'), as we learned when we studied information overload and the role of email (in the past).
I'm quoting from a Hiver blogpost, titled "Email and Knowledge Management: The Possibilities":
"For a Knowledge management strategy to succeed, it must tap into knowledge where its created, and in the process of its creation. That is what makes email extremely important for any Knowledge management plan. For a lot of us, our mail inboxes are the most important go-to source of information at work."
Email inbox capacity is nowadays so large, we can keep any email stored in it. Search will help us finding the right message back, there is no need in making folders as most of us did in the past. It's our personal archive.
Knowing this, we can't ignore email and its content. Especially if someone is leaving the company, be aware that his/her working history is basically in the mailbox. Even more than in documents (or other systems). Make email part of the KM plan, as the earlier mentioned blogpost suggests. It's where knowledge gets created and stored.
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