# GMail - there's no Move To Folder - Why **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412 "2011-10-22T01:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/1 "2011-10-22T01:58:20Z")
I’m having fits trying to organize these 4 messages. They were sent from a friends IPhone. Normally there’s a button Labled “Move To” with a drop down list for my various folders in Gmail. For some crazy reason these Iphone messages don’t show a “Move To” button. There’s a Move to Inbox. Which I’ve tried clicking many, many times. You’ll notice this guys Iphone didn’t create a subject header. This is what came from his phone. The message list shows these messages are in inbox. So why won’t this crazy Gmail give me the normal Move To button? I can’t get these messages moved to a separate folder and it’s driving me nuts. They’re are buried a year deep in my inbox. I have to use “Search” to even find these darn messages. They need to be in their own folder. here’s a screen cap. I cleared out the name of the sender. The button labeled Move to Inbox _should say_ Move To. At least that’s what all my other messages say. I’ve checked under the “More” button and there’s no Move To button there either. These Context based buttons a such a PITA. :smack: [![](https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff307/aceplace57/GMailProblem.jpg) ](https://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff307/aceplace57/GMailProblem.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/2 "2011-10-22T02:03:21Z")
The Labels menu is what you want. (GMail doesn’t have folders - just labels.) ETA: Once you label them, you can archive them and they will retain the label(s) you assign. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/3 "2011-10-22T02:06:06Z")
Bless you. Man that is a huge relief. 😃 These are some critical messages with photos of some construction details of framing in my attic. I’m still baffled why my normal messages have a "Move To " button with all my folders under it. These were the first messages I’ve ever seen where that context button says “Move to Inbox” \ anyway, labels did the trick and that’s a huge relief. I’ve been thinking labels meant print adhesive labels for envelopes. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/4 "2011-10-22T02:09:50Z")
Ok, this is interesting. Now that the messages have labels assigned (the folder I put them in). Now, I get the “Move To” button like normal. 😉 For some reason, these IPhone messages got into my Inbox Unlabeled and that’s what screwed things up. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/5 "2011-10-22T02:18:01Z")
I think for some reason the “Move To” menu just doesn’t appear on the search results screen, but it does appear when you browse normally. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/6 "2011-10-22T02:34:28Z")
In case it wasn’t clear - Gmail doesn’t actually have “folders”. It’s all done with labels. The “Inbox” also acts like a special label as well, one that’s added to all incoming mail. The “Archive” command removes the “Inbox” label. So the “move to” is a strange command to have. I think it’s their way to make labels behave more like folders. But what it actually does is add the specified label, and remove all other labels (including the “Inbox” label). So if you add a label to a conversation and then archive it, it’s exactly the same as “move to” that label. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/7 "2011-10-22T02:43:49Z")
Labels are a used like folders. But they are not folders. They don’t have a hierarchy that most folder system have. A label cannot be inside another label like a folder can be in another folder. Another difference is that an email can be in, or more in keeping with the label metaphor, have more than one label. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/8 "2011-10-22T03:55:18Z")
Wow, the Dope came through again. I Knew nothing about labels in Gmail. My employer had their own mail server and a Web interface. They gave us zero training after the University switched to Gmail. We came in one Monday and they said “here it is, go use it”. It took them almost a month to transfer everyone’s old mail into Gmail. We had over 2000 accounts to convert. I had to rely on my knowledge of Hotmail’s web interface to use Gmail. I always thought there were folders in Gmail just like Outlook or Hotmail. Fake it till you make it. You use the interface you know and hope it’s the same as the new software. **I Learned something tonight. Thanks!!!** > [@gazpacho](#): > > Labels are a used like folders. But they are not folders. They don’t have a hierarchy that most folder system have. A label cannot be inside another label like a folder can be in another folder. Another difference is that an email can be in, or more in keeping with the label metaphor, have more than one label. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/9 "2011-10-23T14:53:43Z")
You can enable label hierarchies if you want to in Google Labs. I do. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/10 "2011-10-23T15:08:10Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You can enable label hierarchies if you want to in Google Labs. I do. Me too. Once I got my head around the label concept–I was used to folders as well–I found that being able to have multiple labels on a message was way more useful that being able to put the message in just one folder. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/11 "2011-10-23T15:09:29Z")
So how exactly does that work? Do you search for a certain label and then specify it’s under a certain parent label? Seems like nothing but added complexity. What’s the benefit? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-theres-no-move-to-folder-why/600412/12 "2011-10-23T15:16:10Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > So how exactly does that work? Do you search for a certain label and then specify it’s under a certain parent label? Seems like nothing but added complexity. What’s the benefit? At the left side of the Gmail screen is a list of labels. Nesting labels enables me to make that list a lot shorter, so it all fits on one screen.