Gmail's Lack of Mail Folders? Learn to Love labels!
Last night I had a discussion with someone about Gmail and how she was frustrated by the lack of "folders" to physically move messages into. This is also something I've run up against since most mail clients allow you to move mail into "folders". After a bit of tinkering though, you can make Gmail imitate other mail client's "folder" behavior, effectively moving mail out of the inbox and into a "label" by using filters. Here's how:
- Click on "Create a filter" at the top of Gmail.
- Enter whatever filter criteria you want to filter mail on and click "Next Step".
- Check the box called "Skip the inbox", this moves the message out of your inbox.
- Check the box called "Apply the Label", and select a label from the dropdown to create a new one.
- Click "Create Filter".

And thanks for the gmail invite too!
# Posted By Amber | July 9, 2004 3:25 PM
Plus, the fact that gmail tracks threads makes it a great way to receilve list mail.
I have actually gone to a real-time subscription to CF-Talk in my gmail account!
# Posted By James Edmunds | July 10, 2004 7:03 AM
I like the addition of conversations. I am able to deal with all the CF-Talk traffic with my webmail. I find that amazing. I created a filter which is like an Inbox rule in Outlook, which takes every incoming message from "CF-Talk", attaches a CF-Talk label and then archives the message. That way it doesn't clog up my inbox and I just go delete the uninteresting conversations by title and read those I am interested in.
Way cool is gmail!
Al Hudson
# Posted By Al Hudson | July 19, 2004 3:36 PM
# Posted By Brendon | August 2, 2006 11:54 AM
But what about sub-folders, how can you replace them in gmail?
# Posted By mash | September 30, 2008 5:40 PM