Folders

Emailing has become one of the most common forms of communication for many people, and keeping your email organized is an important way to stay productive. One of the simplest ways to keep your email organized is to put your messages into folders.

Included Folders

Your e-mail with us already comes with some basic folders, including the Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Spam, Trash, and Virtual Inbox folders.

The Inbox contains most of the mail we've received for you (unless it has passed through a filter). The Drafts folder contains messages that you've started composing and saved, but have not completed and sent out yet. The Sent folder contains messages that you have sent from webmail. The Spam folder contains messages that we've detected to be spam. We put these types of messages in this special folder so that junk mail doesn't take up space in your Inbox. The Trash folder contains messages that you have deleted. The Spam and Trash folders are automatically cleared out every 2 weeks. The Virtual Inbox folder shows you only the messages in your Inbox that you haven't read yet.

Viewing Folders

You can view your folders in the Tree Area, or the Folder Navigator

To view them in the Tree Area, expanding the Mail option will show you the folders:

If you have received new messages, you'll see a icon beside Mail. The Mail and Inbox options will also be in bold with the number of new messages in parenthesis on the right. While viewing folders in the Tree Area is quick and convenient, you'll also want to learn how to bring up the Folder Navigator so you can actually manage your folders.

To get to the Folder Navigator, in the Button Area, click the Folders button with the icon. This will bring up the Folder Navigator:

Creating Folders and Subfolders

If you get a lot of email, then the included folders may not be enough to stay organized. Don't worry, you can also create and manage your own custom folders. To do this, we need to use the Folder Navigator. This tool allows you to create, delete, and manage your own folders, as well as a few other tasks which are covered later in the guide.

From the Folder Navigator, click the Choose Action drop-down list, and select the "Create" option. You'll be asked for the name of the folder you're trying to create. Type the name, and click OK. You'll see a message that the folder was created, and you'll see the new folder in the Folder Navigator:

This type of folder is called a top-level folder. You can also create subfolders (a folder within a folder). To do this, put a checkmark in the existing folder where you want the new subfolder to go, and then follow the same procedure.

Renaming a Folder

At some point you may want to change the name of a folder. Maybe you’re using the folder for a different reason then when you first created it, and you want a different name to reflect that change. From the Folder Navigator, put a checkmark in the folder you want to rename. Then click the Choose Action drop-down list, and select the "Rename" option. You'll be asked for the new name of the folder. Type the new name, and click OK. You'll see a message that the folder was renamed, and you'll see the new folder in the Folder Navigator:

Deleting a Folder

If you created a folder but no longer use it, then you'll probably want to delete it. From the Folder Navigator, put a checkmark in the folder you want to delete. Then click the Choose Action drop-down list, and select the "Delete" option. A warning will ask you to confirm which folder you want to delete:

Make sure the folder is still checked, and click Delete Selected Folders. You’ll be taken back to the Folder Navigator.

Emptying a Folder

If you don't check your email for a long time, it can build up fast, which can make it hard to manage when you finally get around to checking it. If you're sure you don't need any of those emails though, the Folder Navigator gives you a fast and easy way to clear it all out. From the Folder Navigator, put a checkmark in the folder you want to empty. Then click the Choose Action drop-down list, and select the "Empty" option. A warning will ask you to confirm which folder you want to empty:

Make sure the folder is still checked, and click Empty Selected Folders. You’ll be taken back to the Folder Navigator.

Mark Messages as Seen/Unseen

New messages you receive are considered unseen until you’ve read them, at which point they are seen. You can manually mark all messages within a folder as seen or unseen. From the Folder Navigator, select a folder whose messages you want to change. Then click the Choose Action drop-down list, and select the "Mark All Messages As Seen" or the "Mark All Messages As Unseen" option, depending on which you would rather do.

Folder Sizes

The amount of space your email takes up is limited depending on the type of account you have with us. Checking the size of your folders is easy. From the Folder Navigator, put a checkmark in the folder(s) that you want to check the size on. Then click the Choose Action drop-down list, and select the "Show Size" option. You'll see the size of each folder you selected, along with a total at the bottom:

Moving & Copying Messages to Another Folder

Messages can be moved to folders two ways: Manually, and Automatically. For the automatic option, you have to setup Filters, which move messages into folders as soon as they arrive. This is explained in the Filters section of this guide. Here we’ll talk about the manual option.

You can move a message from any folder to any other folder, but let’s start with the most likely example: You receive a message in your Inbox, and you want to move it to another folder. To get back to the Inbox from the Folder Navigator, click on either the Inbox button in the Button Area, or the Inbox option from Tree Area (make sure the Mail option is expanded). Both have the icon. From the Inbox, select the message(s) you want to move. Then click the Messages to drop-down list above the messages, and select the folder you want to move the message(s) to. Then click the Move link to the left of the drop-down list.

The message will be moved to the folder you selected.

The folder you select does not necessarily have to be a custom folder you created. You can delete a message you receive in your Inbox by moving it to the Trash folder using the same method. The message you’re moving doesn’t always have to come from the Inbox either. If you accidentally delete a message, you can move it from the Trash folder to the Inbox using these same steps.

To copy a message to a folder, follow the same process, but at the end click the Copy link to the left of the drop-down list, instead of the Move link.

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