How to Create Folders in Gmail: A Step-By-Step Guide

Introduction

Email folders are critical for categorizing, storing, and organizing emails into compartments for easy access. When you create folders for different categories of emails, it becomes easier to separate incoming emails into relevant categories, such as work, personal, financial, or subscriptions.

For example, you could create specific folders for urgent communications, while you might create others for newsletters or work emails. This method becomes essential if you have to deal with and manage large volumes of emails. With folders, you won't have to worry about important emails being buried under a pile of unimportant ones.

💡Pro tip: In Gmail, folders are known as labels, so keep that in mind. Apart from the ease with which Gmail labels help you access different email categories, they also keep your main inbox clean enough to identify new, unopened messages as soon as you receive them.

In this guide, I will show you, on a step-by-step basis, how to create folders in your Gmail inbox and keep your inbox organized.

How to create folders in gmail on desktop

There are several ways to create folders in Gmail. You can create Gmail labels on a desktop or mobile. Using a desktop, you can learn how to create folders in Gmail through the sidebar or the Settings menu.

Create a folder using the Gmail sidebar

• Step 1: Open Gmail in your browser. Log in with your credentials.
• Step 2: Click "More" in the left-hand menu inside your inbox.
• Step 3: Select "Create new label."
• Step 4: Name the label and click "Create."

Create a folder using the Gmail settings

• Step 1: Access "Settings" (gear icon) and click "See all settings."
• Step 2: Navigate to the "Labels" tab.
• Step 3: Click "Create new label" at the bottom of the page.
• Step 4: Name and create the label.

💡 Pro tip: To create subfolders, create new labels and nest them under existing ones.

Create folders using Gmail mobile

If you're using the Gmail mobile app, here are the steps for creating labels:

• Step 1: Open the Gmail app and access the menu (three horizontal lines).
• Step 2: Scroll down and tap "Create new."
• Step 3: Enter the label name and click "Save."

How to manage Gmail folders/labels

After creating the labels, you can edit or delete them at any time. Below, you'll find some detailed steps on how to do this:

How to edit labels:

• Step 1: Hover over a label in the sidebar.
• Step 2: Click the three dots and choose "Edit."
• Step 3: Update the label and save changes.

How to delete labels:

Step 1: Hover over the label. Step 2: Select "Remove label" and confirm deletion.

How to label existing emails

• Step 1: Open an email.
• Step 2: Click the "Label" icon and select the appropriate label(s).
• Step 3: Apply changes.

How to label emails in bulk

To speed up the process, you can label multiple emails in one step. Two simple steps are required.

• Step 1: Select multiple emails in your inbox.
• Step 2: Use the "Label" button to assign labels.

How to label outgoing emails

To save yourself time and having to label emails after they've been sent, you can adopt this proactive approach:

• Step 1: While composing an email, click the three-dot menu.
• Step 2: Select "Label" and apply the desired label.

How to automate labeling with filters

Another way to make your task easier is by setting up filters that can automatically apply labels based on the selected criteria:

• Step 1: Open Gmail and click the "Search options" icon.
• Step 2: Define the filter criteria (e.g., sender, keywords).
• Step 3: Create the filter and select "Apply the label."
• Step 4: Choose or create a label, then save the filter.

💡Pro tip: Saving the filter ensures that future emails that match the selected criteria are automatically added to the label.

Advanced label management tips

These tips can help you better manage the labels after creating them.

You can hide labels, if you don't want them to be publicly visible in your inbox. Here's how to do it:

• Step 1: Click on the little arrow beside the label you want to hide in the label list.
• Step 2: You'll see a dropdown menu. Select ”Hide.”

You can also hide labels that do not include unread messages, to make it easier to find new messages.

• Step 1: Click on the same arrow beside the label name.
• Step 2: Choose “Show if unread” from the dropdown menu.

💡Pro tip: Follow the same format, with the corresponding dropdown menu option to show a hidden label.

You can also arrange your labels in a particular order. Pick one label, drag it and drop it into the sidebar in the order you want to see it. Creating subfolders under parent labels also aids hierarchy and organization. For example, you could create a label and title it “Newsletters”, then nest a sub-label under it for “Tech newsletters.”

You can also use the principle of colors to create a priority settings list. For example, Green labels show a set of emails that must be attended to immediately. Red could signify that the emails are in danger of not being replied to in time.

Folder ideas for better inbox organization

Here are some other examples of label organization ideas you can use to boost your productivity levels:

• "Today": For emails, you need to pay immediate attention.
• "This Week": Weekly tasks or follow-ups with a deadline of seven days.
• "FYI": Informational emails you don’t need to act on but want to keep.
• "Clients" or "Projects": Specific categories created to cater to ongoing work.
• "Archive": For emails you want to save for future reference but don’t necessarily need in your inbox.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to create folders in Gmail, you should also know that creating folders and organizing emails by moving them individually is not easy. It demands a lot of time and attention. Not only do you have to set up these folders, but you also have to continuously manage the categorization of incoming emails. It has to be vigilantly done so that important emails are not overlooked or wrongly labeled. If you receive a high volume of emails daily, doing this manually label by label might be too stressful to handle.

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