# Gmail question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853 "2008-08-21T21:40:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/1 "2008-08-21T21:40:49Z")
Just now getting into my new Gmail account. It seems almost impossible that all of the emails coming in just have to live in the one In Box. Am I not able to make sub-folders within In Box, or just other mail folders so I can manage the mails I’ve read? It seems… unweildy. Looking around. No Preferences, etc. Thoughts? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/2 "2008-08-21T21:46:11Z")
There are no folders, only labels. You can apply zero or more labels to a message. Filters can be set up to apply labels to messages automatically, and these can skip the inbox. Horrified, terrified, appalled and chagrined? Don’t worry. You will soon see the Light of the Label, and it will envelop you in its warm, labelular sheeth of gmail goodness. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/3 "2008-08-21T21:51:50Z")
It’s Google - just [search](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6593&topic=13290) for the particular email that you’re looking for. There are also [advanced search](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7190&topic=12796) operators. That being said, you can apply [labels](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=12881) to email. These aren’t folders, so you can’t put folders in folders, but you can apply multiple labels to to an email. You can also create a [filter](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6579&topic=13285) to automatically label incoming email. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/4 "2008-08-21T22:08:11Z")
Labelular sheeth ?? :eek: Okay. I will mess around with labels with a few emails. Near as I can tell, if I conscientiously label incomings, I can essential Folder them and then refer back to a label using Google search? Like, if I were to get 9 emails from **friedo** and label each one, " labelular sheeth " and then move them from In Box to " All Mail ", I could then run a search for the label called " labelular sheeth " and only **friedo** ’s emails would appear in the window? Will try that and come back. Thanks so far for the help. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/5 "2008-08-21T22:28:48Z")
I haven’t tried this myself, so i can’t confirm the accuracy of it, but i read recently that if you enable IMAP in Gmail, and then connect using an email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.), Gmail labels wil appear in your client as folders, and new folders created in the client will be applied as labels in Gmail. Has anyone done this? Is that how it works? ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/6 "2008-08-21T22:55:34Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] Horrified, terrified, appalled and chagrined? Don’t worry. You will soon see the Light of the Label [/QUOTE] I’ve been using it for a couple months now and I’m not sure I agree. I can’t arrange my labels heirarchically, which means the more labels I create, the longer that list gets, and it’s only arranged alphabetically. Plus the UI for assigning labels to emails is cumbersome due to being in that godawful “more actions” menu that you have to scroll if you have more than about 6 labels. Also, I don’t really understand the “Deleted Items” label. For some reason, I have about 10 messages that have this label, and I have no idea how they got that way. It’s definitely not all items I’ve deleted. And how is that distinct from “Trash” in what appears to be a “folder list” in the upper left (which I know is not a folder list because gmail has no folders, but it sure looks like a folder list). ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/7 "2008-08-21T22:56:30Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] Labelular sheeth ?? :eek: Okay. I will mess around with labels with a few emails. Near as I can tell, if I conscientiously label incomings, I can essential Folder them and then refer back to a label using Google search? Like, if I were to get 9 emails from **friedo** and label each one, " labelular sheeth " and then move them from In Box to " All Mail ", I could then run a search for the label called " labelular sheeth " and only **friedo** ’s emails would appear in the window? Will try that and come back. Thanks so far for the help. [/QUOTE] You could do that. Or you could just search “from:friedo” and get the same results. Incidentally, in case you haven’t noticed, there’s already an “Archive” button that will already move a message out of the Inbox. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/8 "2008-08-22T04:10:01Z")
If you just can’t get your mind around doing it the gmail way, you can use any email client (Eudora, Outlook, etc.) to access your gmail account. Google “POP gmail SMTP” for instructions on how to set up your client (it’s pretty simple). The messages can stay in your gmail account, so you can still get to them from anywhere via the gmail webmail client, even after you download them to your “normal” email computer. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/9 "2008-08-22T05:35:34Z")
Speaking of gmail, how can I set it as my default email in IE? ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/10 "2008-08-22T06:20:17Z")
[QUOTE=DanBlather] Speaking of gmail, how can I set it as my default email in IE? [/QUOTE] [Making Gmail your default mail application](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10966) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/11 "2008-08-22T15:41:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] Like, if I were to get 9 emails from **friedo** and label each one, " labelular sheeth " and then move them from In Box to " All Mail ", I could then run a search for the label called " labelular sheeth " and only **friedo** ’s emails would appear in the window? [/QUOTE] It’s a bit easier than that - you just click on the “labelular sheeth” item on the left, and it shows you all emails with that label. But yeah, the Google Way is “search, don’t file”. If you do need to file rather than search, labels are better than folders in as much as an email can have more than one label. Although, no, you can’t have a hierarchy of labels, and I take **ntucker** ’s point about the less than ideal user interface. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/12 "2008-08-22T16:54:49Z")
[QUOTE=atomicbadgerrace] [Making Gmail your default mail application](http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10966) [/QUOTE] Thx! ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/13 "2008-08-22T18:08:32Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] Horrified, terrified, appalled and chagrined? Don’t worry. You will soon see the Light of the Label, and it will envelop you in its warm, labelular sheeth of gmail goodness. [/QUOTE] I couldn’t agree more. Everyone I know hated GMail at first, but after using it really liked it. Give it time, it’ll all come together. At least it has for everyone else that I personally know who used GMail. Label it and archive it. It’s logically the same as the subfolder, except w/ the benefit of existing in several folders (labels) at once. The big thing is ARCHIVING it after labeling so it gets out of your inbox. Once new messages come in of the same thread (conversation) they’ll automatically be given that label. Then you just have to archive it after you’ve read it. I love it. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/14 "2008-08-22T20:39:12Z")
[QUOTE=ntucker] Also, I don’t really understand the “Deleted Items” label. For some reason, I have about 10 messages that have this label, and I have no idea how they got that way. It’s definitely not all items I’ve deleted. And how is that distinct from “Trash” in what appears to be a “folder list” in the upper left (which I know is not a folder list because gmail has no folders, but it sure looks like a folder list). [/QUOTE] I think Deleted Items only occurs when you delete things from a certain Gmail clients such as the mobile Gmail client, and seems to be a client bug. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyFrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@JerseyFrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyFrank)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/15 "2008-08-22T20:43:15Z")
I tend not to file my emails, so I loved Gmail from the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/16 "2008-08-22T20:48:45Z")
[QUOTE=Enright3] I couldn’t agree more. Everyone I know hated GMail at first, but after using it really liked it. Give it time, it’ll all come together. At least it has for everyone else that I personally know who used GMail. Label it and archive it. It’s logically the same as the subfolder, except w/ the benefit of existing in several folders (labels) at once. The big thing is ARCHIVING it after labeling so it gets out of your inbox. Once new messages come in of the same thread (conversation) they’ll automatically be given that label. Then you just have to archive it after you’ve read it. I love it. [/QUOTE] I live by the ‘label and archive’ mantra. I star things I want to stay in the inbox if they’re something that I need reminding to follow up on. Set up a filter so that all e-mails from [makebelieveaddress@gmail.com](mailto:makebelieveaddress@gmail.com) automatically gets labeled. Then, also, if you’re so inclined, have it bypass the inbox completely, and go straight to that label. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/17 "2008-08-22T21:22:47Z")
Conceptually, labels and folders are similar, except that more than one label can be applied to a message… very handy. e.g. “September Trip” and “ToDoThisWeek” are labels I would use on the same message. As others pointed out. you can’t have a hierarchical scheme… would bother me at work but not at home. Archiving simply removes the “Inbox” label. Gmail is awesome, wouldn’t use anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-question/460853/18 "2008-08-27T22:44:38Z")
[QUOTE=Kevbo] If you just can’t get your mind around doing it the gmail way, you can use any email client (Eudora, Outlook, etc.) to access your gmail account. Google “POP gmail SMTP” for instructions on how to set up your client (it’s pretty simple). The messages can stay in your gmail account, so you can still get to them from anywhere via the gmail webmail client, even after you download them to your “normal” email computer. [/QUOTE] This is in fact exactly what I’ve done.