Make labels act like folders

Make labels act like folders

If you want to organise your mail even further, you can make your labels act like folders so marked emails never land in your inbox. This is a two-step process: first we have to create a filter that auto-applies labels, the next we want to archive the emails so it never appears in the inbox.

Click the Settings link in the top right-hand corner
Click the Filters link
Click the Create a new filter link
You'll now be given a number of fields in order to identify what email to apply the filter to. For example, if we wanted to auto apply the "Mum" filter we created in the earlier tip, we'd want to identify our mother's email address here. For the sake of example, say her email address is mum@mum.com — we'd enter that in the From field and click Next Step
We can now choose what we want to do with those emails we've identified — for our example, we'd want to check Skip the inbox (Archive it) and set Apply the label to Mum
If we wish to apply this rule to all existing mail as well as new mail, then the Also apply filter to x conversations below check box should be ticked
When ready, click Create Filter
Now those emails will never appear in your inbox — you'll have to click the label link on the left-hand side to access them, essentially turning labels into folders