Move Mail to Different Folders in Gmail

Want to organize your Gmail inbox? By using labels and filters, you can sort your messages into Gmail's equivalent of a folder system. Labels act slightly different than a traditional folder system, and may take a little getting used to, but once you're familiar with them, you can organize your mail much more efficiently.

Steps

How Folders Work

  1. Gmail uses "Labels" instead of traditional "Folders". There are no "folders" in the traditional sense in Gmail. Instead, "labels" can be applied to messages to sort them. While these labels act kind of like folders, they differ in a couple of key areas: multiple labels can be applied to a single message, and labels are not related to whether an email can be seen in your inbox or not.
  2. Messages can have labels applied manually or can be automatically sorted using "Filters". You can manually add messages to a label, or you can set messages to automatically have labels applied to them as you receive them. Whether or not the message appears in your inbox is determined by these auto-sorting rules, called "filters".
    • To be clear, the only ways to sort messages into labels that don't appear in your inbox are to create filters that hide them from your inbox when the messages arrive, or to label them manually and archive them.

Moving Messages into Labels

  1. Check the box next to the message(s) that you want to move.
  2. Click the Folder button at the top of the page.
  3. Select "Create new". You can also select from a list of any labels you've already created.
  4. Enter in a name for your label. If you want the label to act as a "subfolder", you can specify which label you want to nest it under.
    • After creating the label, all messages that you had checked will be labeled with it.
    • When you select a folder or create a new label, the checked messages will be moved to that label and then removed from your inbox.

Automatically Labeling and Hiding Messages

  1. Click the Gmail Menu button. This looks like a gear and is located in the upper-right corner.
  2. Select "Settings".
  3. Click the "Filters" tab.
  4. Click "Create a new filter" at the bottom of the list.
  5. Enter in the filter's sorting criteria. There are a variety of methods you can use to add messages to a label using the filter.
    • From - Any messages from the specified address(es) will be filtered.
    • To - Any messages to the specified address(es) will be filtered.
    • Subject - Any messages that have the specified words in the subject will be filtered.
    • Has the words - Any messages that have the specified words in the subject or body will be filtered.
    • Doesn't have - Any messages that don't have the specified words in the subject or body will be filtered.
  6. Click "Create filter with this search". A list of matching messages will be displayed behind the filter creation window.
  7. Check the "Apply the label" box and select the label that you want the filtered messages to be sorted under.
  8. Check the "Skip the Inbox (Archive it)" box to hide new messages that match the filter. You will be able to see these messages by opening the label in the left menu.
  9. Check the "Also apply filter to matching conversations" box if you want the filter to be applied to existing messages. This is very useful if you want to quickly organize a bunch of old messages.
  10. Click "Create filter". New messages that meet your filter's criteria will be automatically labeled with label you specified, and will be hidden from the inbox (if you chose).

Viewing Your Sorted Mail

  1. Click a label in the left menu to view its contents. If the label is bolded, it has new messages that you haven't read yet.
  2. Click the "More" button at the bottom of the label list to view all of your labels. You can show and hide labels from your quick list using the "Labels" tab of the Settings menu. Clicking "more" allows you to see all of your labels, including the ones that are normally hidden.
  3. Move sorted messages to different labels. You can move messages at any time by checking the boxes and then using the folder button to select a new location.



Related Articles

  • Remove the Email Tabs in Gmail
  • Configure Forwarding Filters in Gmail
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