Using Tags and Folders to Organize Email

Assigning Tags to messages and contacts (Back to Top)

Tags are your personal classification system for email messages, contacts, and appointments. Tags are an aid to finding those items. For example, you might have one tag for Immediate Turnaround and another for Medium Priority. The mail messages that are tagged can be in different folders. The tags provide a way to show all messages with a certain tag wherever they are.

You can create and apply multiple tags to a single item in order to classify it under several categories simultaneously. After creating a tag you can apply it to conversations, messages, or contacts.

To create a new tag:
  1. In the Tag Overview pane heading, click edit.
  2. In the content pane click New Tag.
  3. Enter the tag name and select a color for the tag.
  4. Click Create New Tag. The new tag is listed in the Tag Overview pane section.
To apply/remove a tag to multiple items at once:
  1. Check the boxes for items that should be tagged.
  2. In the More Actions pull-down menu, select the tag to apply.
  3. Click Go.
To remove a tag from items:
  1. Check the boxes for items that are tagged with the tag to be removed.
  2. In the More Actions pull-down menu, in the Remove Tag section, select the tag to remove.
  3. Click Go.

Flagging an email message (Back to Top)

The flag icon in the message list is a yes/no indicator that denotes whether the mail message has been flagged. This can be used to indicate an action-needed item or to otherwise distinguish the message or conversation from a large number of other items of lesser importance.

To turn the flag on, select the message or conversation and in the More Actions list, select Add flag.

To turn the flag off, select the message or conversation and in the More Actions list, select Remove flag.

Using folders (Back to Top)

Folders can be used to store your mail messages. You can move items from one folder to another by checking the message or contact and then select the folder from the Move to... list.

Two types of folder exist:

  • System folders. System folders cannot be moved, renamed, or deleted. Examples include your Inbox, Sent, and Trash folders.
  • User-defined folders. You can create folders to organize your mail. Folders you create are displayed in the Folders list in the Overview pane. Top level folder names must be unique. The name cannot be the same as any other top-level folder in your mail or address book folders.

Renaming folders (Back to Top)

You can rename user defined folders by editing the Folders section in the Overview pane. Folder names can have any character except : (colon), / (forward slash), or " (double quotes).

Select the folder and in the Folder heading, click edit.

Change the name and save your changes.

Deleting folders (Back to Top)

You can delete custom folders. You cannot delete system folders.

When you delete a folder, its contents are moved to the Trash. You can recover contents from the Trash by dragging and dropping them to another folder.

  • The Trash folder is purged on a regular basis, so items in the Trash do not stay there forever.

To delete a folder:
  1. Select the folder to delete and in the Folder header click edit.
  2. Check Delete this folder.
  3. Click Delete Folder.

If there are messages in the folder that you want to save, move them to another folder before deleting.

Deleting the contents of a folder

If you want to delete everything in one of your folders, but not the folder

  1. Select the folder and in the Folder header click edit.
  2. Check Permanently hard delete all items in this folder.
  3. Click Delete All Items. The contents of the folder is immediately deleted. There is no undo.