A folder is the general method of storing messages. Several folders have specific purposes, and you can also add other folders to store specific categories of mail. Common folders include Inbox, Drafts, Sent Items, Deleted Items, and Junk E-Mail. Some folders will be automatically created when you perform certain actions, like sending a new message. For more information about the specific purposes of the folders, see below.

From the Mail menu, choose Manage Folders to add or edit your folders. When you choose this item, a page like the following will appear.

New Folder - Clicking this button allows you to add a new folder to the system. More information about this process can be found below.

Go To Folder - Click on a folder name to see the messages contained in the folder. This has the same effect as clicking on a folder name in the sidebar.

Unread Messages - Shows the total number of unread messages contained in the folder.

Total Messages - Shows the total number messages contained in the folder.

Size - Shows the total size (in kilobytes) of all messages contained in the folder.

Rename - Use this link to rename a folder. It is unavailable on folders that have specific purposes, like Inbox or Deleted Items.

Delete - Clicking on the delete link will permanently delete a folder and all messages contained within it. Note that you cannot delete the Inbox.

Adding a Folder

Folder Name - Enter the name of the new folder. As the note indicates, using a backslash character '\' will create a sub-folder, which can be useful if you wish to sub-categorize your email. Only lower ASCII characters are supported in the folder name, due to limitations with certain protocols.

Note: In order for the folders you create to become available from your email client (e.g. Microsoft Outlook) you will need to create a mail account with IMAP set as your incoming mail server type. If you use POP mail, you only have access to your mail account Inbox, not any folders that are created for storing mail. IMAP accounts are different that POP because they are directly connected to the server from the time you open an interface until the time it is closed. Fot this reason, deleted messages will are crossed out untill they are purged from the folder. This is different from POP account, when the messages are deleted, it is gone from the folder or erased.

Special Folders

Drafts - When you are composing a message, you have the option to "Save as Draft." Choosing this option will save the email in this folder. Later, you can click on the email in the drafts folder to edit or send it.

Deleted Items - You can set up your account to save deleted items in this folder from My Settings. If you choose this option, ensure that you frequently clean out the messages in the folder to keep your disk space usage to a minimum.

Inbox - Incoming mail will usually come to this folder, unless you have specific content filters that redirect the email to another folder. Users that connect to their email via POP3 will only be able to download messages from this folder.

Junk E-Mail - Email that is likely to be spam may get sent to this folder, depending on your spam filters. You should review this folder regularly to ensure that no valid email is contained in it, and "Unmark as spam" any message that gets put here when it should not.

Sent Items - Any emails you send from the webmail will get placed in this folder if you have enabled the option in My Settings. Note that email sent from an email client, like Outlook Express, will not get saved in this folder.