Can I set up a folder under a mailbox in the inbox?
I receive 100 messages per day. 10 of them are labelled "Sales Leads." I want to set up a folder in my inbox so that I can route these 10 to a folder for prioritization. I would like to leave them there while adding notes to the email through the To-Do functionality. Once completed, I will move them to a folder "On My Mac" so that I have a history of them. I think I need to do it this way because I want to be able to see the emails and the To-Dos on my iPhone...and if I move them to "On My Mac" while they are still active, I won't be able to view them.
Question 1: Am I approaching solving this problem the best way?
Question 2: Assuming the answer is yes...how do I do it?
Thanks John Bull. I have that set up in my mobile me account...now I need to figure out how to make this work with the emails that are being sent to my work email account...because I am not receiving the emails in my @me.com account. Any instructions on that?
Depending on who your mail service provider is and whether or not you administer your own work email account, you may be able to arrange to forward those mails to your MobileMe address.
Either that or give your clients your MobileMe address - an alias if you wish.
Without further information, that's all I can suggest at present.
Thanks for asking, John. Typically, I prefer to describe the outcome I am trying to achieve so that I don't overlook possible solutions. When asking for specific direction on how to do something, one inevitably closes off other avenues...so that is why I described the issue with respect to Sales Leads, etc.
Having said that, in Outlook, I could create folders underneath my mailbox (on the server) so that I could write rules that routed email to a specific folder. Again, this routing occurred while the messages were still on the server, but I could view these "routed" emails from my local mail client. I assume what was happening is as follows: when creating folders under my mailbox in Outlook, the Outlook client on my PC was telling the Exchange server how to route the emails. I further assume - though I never used Webmail - that the folders would have shown up on the Webmail view as well. I believe this would have been the case because my whole premise is that the local email client directs the Exchange server how to route and file emails on the server...which mirrors the routing and filing scheme on my local machine.
Again, back to my objectives, I would do this so that all the emails that came from my direct reports when in to a single folder. All the emails from my board members would go in to a different folder, etc. That way I could sift through my 100+ emails more quickly. It is unclear to me how this works with Mac.
I did, BTW, set up a folder in Mobile Me. So now any emails that go to my mobile me account are first filtered by the rule I created, and then routed accordingly. A few problems...1) The folder doesn't show up on my iPhone, but the are in the folder labeled "Sales Leads" when I use the webmail client for Mobile Me. This has persisted for 4 hours, so the closing, opening, timing thing hasn't solved the problem either. This means I can't see the messages on my iPhone. While this is a nuisance...the really big issue is - 2) I don't want to direct 100+ emails per day through mobile me to solve this problem. I really want to know how to solve the problem for each of my email accounts.
That does help somewhat, though I don't know whose mail services you're using, and I know nothing about the workings of Outlook.
So who is the service provider for the account containing the mails you wish to 'manipulate'? And does that provider offer IMAP access to mails? And does that provider offer you the option of adding rules?
If they do, it should be straightforward to set up IMAP accounts on your Mac and your phone, then you can create as many folders and rules as you like which, thanks to the magic of IMAP, will all stay in sync on both your Mac and your phone.
By the way. If the folder you set up in MM doesn't appear on your phone, quit the Mail app - not just press the Home button - but quit it. When you start it up again, I expect your new folder will appear.
I believe IMAP will do what you require, if I'm not missing something here . . .
I see that you say above "…It is unclear to me how this works with Mac."
Okay.
Please go to 'Mail > Help' and type the word mailbox in the search field. All the information you need is probably there.
Here are some snippets from Mail Help:
"To create a mailbox:
1. Choose Mailbox > New Mailbox, or click the Add (plus) button at the bottom of the sidebar and then choose New Mailbox.
2. Use the Location pop-up menu to choose where to store the mailbox you’re creating: on your computer or on the server for the selected email address.
3. Type a name for the mailbox, and then click OK."
and:
"Some organizations may set up mailboxes in your account that are read-only. For example, a Public Folder may be used to provide information for all users of the mail system. You can’t create mailboxes within or save messages to these read-only mailboxes. To find out how to post messages to the mailbox, ask your mail administrator."
I think part of the problem has been the words I choose and also the fact that the whole Mac Mail system isn't yet intuitive to me.
So now understand that I mailboxes are the way to route emails in to certain groupings...not folders. It seems as though Mac Mail doesn't use the term folder.
The thing I haven't gotten my head wrapped around is how the different logical units relate to each other. For example, at the top of the navigation pane on the left side, it starts with MAILBOXES. It then indents to Inbox and then Indented below Inbox are all the email accounts. When I added a new "mailbox" I would have expected it to indent yet one more time and show up below one of the email account names...but instead it shows up in the last section at the bottom of the pane that is in all caps that has the same name as the mailbox up at the top. I don't get this. In between the MAILBOXES label the next items that are all in caps are REMINDERS, then RSS, then ON MY MAC, then the two email accounts that I have listed above. Under these capitalized email account names at the bottom are listed Calendar, Deleted Messages, Sent Messages (and any other mailboxes I added). This, I just don't get. Then, to top it all off, when I go to my iphone and try to find it, I have to navigate to the email account (not the inbox) and under the account are things like Drafts Sent Trash Calendar Contacts Journal JunkEmail....etc. Again...I am struggling with the logical relationship of Mailboxes to Inboxes to Smart mailboxes to folders to other things.....
But bottom line, I found that by simply creating a mailbox and locating it under the email account in question and writing a rule, that works.
Obviously writing all this so if someone stumbles on the thread they'll have some context for the solution.
Hi JAM, I'm not sure I can offer a solution, but . . . . .
Apple literature refers to both 'Mailboxes & Folders, so you could consider the terms interchangeable. Having said that, when you look at the left column of 'Mail' the item named MAILBOXES contains all the mailboxes with basic functions.
The items immediately below the inboxes, -Drafts, Sent, Trash & Junk - all contain sub-folders for messages relating to any given account. If you can't see those sub-folders, it's because you haven't used them yet. They will appear when needed. The same applies to 'Reminders'
The items below, that are named after your email accounts, contain all the folders you create for that account. These folders reside on the web. They're 'IMAP business' and I personally find it useful to have them as separate entities as I can more clearly see where I'm putting things. For our purposes, consider them as living permanently on the web - though I know you don't use web mail.
Now, if you create a new mailbox/folder for filing purposes, and if you choose the location 'On My Mac', you will create a mailbox/folder in ON MY MAC at left. This folder resides on your computer ONLY. You can add folders and nested folders here as you please. As long as you're backing up your Mac frequently, you'll be backing up these folders. When a backup occurs, it's not guaranteed to back up the mail which is still living on a mail server.
The items MAILBOXES, REMINDERS, RSS, ACCOUNT NAME, ON MY MAC & SMART MAILBOXES (if you have any) can be dragged up or down to reposition them.
As for rules, if you're out and about, you may have to set these up at your web mail site in order to filter messages before they arrive on your phone. If you do this, you should find that those rules have been applied, the next time you look into 'ACCOUNT NAME' on your Mac.
Lastly, the only way to get to your created mailboxes/folders on your phone is, as you've found, by navigating to the email account itself. If you don't see all the mailboxes/folders you've created, QUIT the mail app on your phone and relaunch it. They should then appear.
I hope this may be of some further use.
Oh, and by the way, if you want to use 'Notes & To Do's' much, you may find it useful to go to 'Mail > Preferences' on your mac, click the 'Composing' tab and select where to create notes & to do's.
John, that was a great email. It helped me put a lot of this in context. The fact that things show up when they are needed/used is a bit counterintuitive to me, so that was very helpful. The tip on the note location was also helpful. Thanks for taking the time to help me get through this.
Now if, you could only help me with solving the dilemma of the disappearing "To-Do!" Been working with the Apple Support team on this one and they said it is a known problem in certain situations, but they can't identify why. When I have an email open and attempt to add a "To-Do" it shows up in the yellow header, but then when I close the email, all the text disappears and I am left with a blank "To-Do." They have a workaround which involves writing the To-Do an then dragging it on to the email, which is a little inconvenient...but better than nothing. Have you heard of this issue before?
I'm very glad to have been of help. Thank you for the stars.
Now, as for disappearing to do's, no, I haven't heard of this issue before, and I've tried and failed to duplicate the problem here. My to do's stay put.
I've scanned through a dozen or so pages of this forum and haven't found any reference to this issue.
So, now you know that help
is available here, perhaps you could start a new topic in this forum, just to see if anyone else has information.
