Finally Gmail has folders! Find out how to use them

Google has finally decided to directly compete with Yahoo! in their mail service. In this post, I will explain how you can move mails into a folder, and later in the same post I will explain how you can apply filters in your mail so that a mail can automatically be moved to a specific folder.

Gmail, as you might have noticed has got a different template for its buttons now. What you may not have noticed however, is the "Move to" button in Gmail now.

If you select a mail from your Inbox, and click the Move To Button, it gives you the option of moving this mail out of your Inbox and into any existing folder (something they term as LABEL). You can also create new folders, which are then listed in the Left Menu (under chat) in your Gmail. When you click on the folder names, Gmail will accordingly show you the relevant mails.

What is the difference from earlier? Earlier, Google only allowed you to Label incoming mail with whatever you wanted. Those mails would remain in your Inbox, though you would clearly be able to see their label there itself. This wasn't particularly convenient - especially compared to Yahoo mail, where the design of folders just rocks. This new feature from Google completely changes the equation of competition between Yahoo mail and Gmail.

Now, one feature of Yahoo which is still better than Gmail is Filtering. You can easily make a mail move to a particular folder using filters. However, this feature is not directly there with Gmail. However, there is a small workaround with which you can replicate the Yahoo feature.

Say you want to move all mails you get from xyz@gmail.com into a folder called XYZ. You need to perform the following steps to complete the action.

1. Click on Settings in Gmail at the right Top of the browser screen.
2. Click on Filters in the Top Menu under Settings
3. Click on Create a New Filter
4. At the top of the screen, you would now see various ways of making a filter. In this case, we want to move all mails sent from xyz@gmail.com into a folder called XYZ. So, first enter xyz@gmail.com in the From field at the top. Click on Next Step.
5. Now, you would see multiple options of what can be done with these mails. Here, you will need to select "Skip the Inbox (archive it)", and also select "Apply the Label", and specify the label name or create a new one.
6. You can now apply the filter to existing mails as well as new mails by selecting the checkboxex accordingly.
7. Save your filter, and test run it to confirm.
8. So the next time xyz@gmail.com mails you, the mail would automatically go to that folder, and what's more, it will even be highlighted as XYZ (1) when a mail comes.

In case of any queries, do write them on the wall