How to use email inbox folders – Microsoft 365 (2024)

Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Organization > Getting reacquainted with your friend, email inbox folders

April 21, 2023

Keeping your inbox organized will make it faster and easier to find emails. Learn how you can quickly create email folders in Outlook to better manage your inbox.

How to use email inbox folders – Microsoft 365 (1)

What are email folders?

Email folders are digital folders that are designed to keep your messages organized. For example, you could create an email folder titled “Shopping” to keep messages from stores that email you about promotions, a “Soccer” folder for messages related to your soccer club, and a “School” folder for emails related to your school assignments. You can also use folders to help you organize your work—for example, you could create a “To-Do” folder for your upcoming projects. By creating folders, it will make your most important messages easier to find, rather than having to sift through your entire inbox.

How to use email inbox folders – Microsoft 365 (2)

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How to create email folders in Outlook

Creating a new email folder is easy. To create a new folder in Outlook:

Right-click your inbox and select New Folder.
Enter the name of your folder.
Press Enter.

Now you have a new email folder. To move specific messages to your new folder:

Right-click an email in your inbox.
Click where it says Move.
Select the folder you want to move the message to.

If you ever mistakenly create a new folder or simply no longer need it, right-click it and select Delete Folder.

How to quickly search through folders

Searching through a specific folder rather than your entire inbox will help you find what you’re looking for faster. To search through a folder, type the following in Outlook’s search bar:

Folder:[FOLDER NAME] [QUERY]

For example, if you’re trying to search through your folder titled “School” for a message about an upcoming test, you would type:

Creating Search Folders in Outlook

Search Folders in Outlook are folders that automatically filter through emails that match specific search criteria. Search Folders can help save you time because you won’t have to manually search for messages. For example, you can create a Search Folder that contains:

Unread mail
Mail flagged for follow up
Important mail
Mail to and from specific people
Categorized mail
Mail with attachments
Mail with specific words

You also have the option to create a custom Search Folder. Creating a Search Folder is beneficial if you find yourself frequently searching for messages in one of the above categories.

To create a Search Folder:

Scroll down to where it says Search Folders in Outlook.
Right-click Search Folders.
Select New Search Folder.
Select the type of folder you want to create or create a custom Search Folder.
To re-name a Search Folder, right-click it and select Rename Folder.

Organizing your folders

If your folders are getting out of hand, Outlook has a handy feature that allows you to delete redundant messages. To quickly clean up a folder:

Right-click the folder that you want to clean up.
Select Clean Up Folder.

Redundant messages will be moved to the Deleted Items folder.

If you ever want to move a folder to another location in your inbox:

Right-click the folder that you want to move.
Click Move Folder.
Select where you would like to move your folder.

If you accidentally made a typo while naming your folder or want to give it a more specific name, renaming a folder is fast and easy. To rename a folder: