Create Subfolder Under Inbox in Mail

This can be done easily, though it's undocumented. When you create a "new mailbox" Type Inbox/NewFolder and it will create NewFolder under your Inbox as expected. Took me a couple hours to figure out, but definitely works.

This is just one example of the things you cannot do on mac among other things I discover on a weekly basis. Does it make sense to sacrifice all this time and have all these frustrations for the sake of nice design and durable machines?

Klaus Blume wrote:

Sure it can be done.

Highlight the folder into which you wish to place the subfolder. Click on the + symbol in the extreme lower left corner. Click on ‘New Mailbox.’ It will be placed inside the one you highlighted...

This creates the new folder in the lower portion of the Mail sidebar, under the name, let's call it "myaccount", of the IMAP acount in question. It does not create it directly under the Inbox folder myaccount near the top of the sidebar.

Is there some way of creating a subfolder at the top?

No that is not what the question is. why can't it be right under the inbox, rather than down below. Very unfriendly

I know this, but you seemed to post in contradiction to what I had already posted. What you found is documented in the manner that I explained. You merely created the IMAP Path Prefix directly for the one new folder.

Btw, not every IMAP server will allow this.

Ernie

You are incorrect. You stated you had to set the IMAP Prefix in Advanced Settings. What I said was this isn't necessary as you can specify the root IMAP folder when creating a "new mailbox" without needing to muck with your settings in order to create a subfolder under the inbox, which if you read, is exactly what the original poster was attempting to do.

You're also incorrect that "not every IMAP server will allow this", every IMAP server will allow you to create subfolders under the "root". Read the RFC if you don't understand IMAP's capabilities. http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3501

you can also create a rule to move new mail to a subfolder

one thing though, this works better with gmail IMAP

you need to create the folder first, then after that go to preferences, select the rules tab, click add rule

settings are up to you and you should select to move the messages to your new folder

First of all, what I said in response to you, is that your entering INBOX where you did, accomplished for that one folder what entering it in the IMAP Path Prefix box would accomplish for all new mail folders when created.

Secondly, I believe you will find servers that by administration block this -- I believe that Gmail does so. Three advisories for university situations appear to do so -- see:

https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECN/Support/KB/Docs/GeneralEmailSettings

http://kb.iu.edu/data/ajnm.html

and

http://uits.arizona.edu/services/email_clients/ssl?id=ssl

Other enterprise administered servers preset where folders can be, and therefore may not operate in the manner you expect.

Ernie

Ernie,

I don't think you fully understand the implications of setting INBOX as your IMAP Prefix in Advanced Settings. If you notice, especially when running Mail.app on Lion it completely changes the way your mail is arranged within Mail.app. This also results in missing folders such as Sent, Trash, etc.

For example, on my IMAP server (which is running Zimbra Collaboration Suite btw) the Sent, Trash, and Junk folders do not live under INBOX on the server, therefore, if I set my IMAP Prefix to INBOX in Advanced setings I can no longer see these folders in Mail.app. The vast majority of mail servers (and believe me, I know, I do web hosting support and engineering) such as Exchange, Zimbra, Gmail, and essentially any other IMAP4 compliant server store these folders outside of the INBOX at the root of the mailbox, therefore setting the prefix to INBOX is not a very smart thing to do if all you need to do is create subfolders under the INBOX with Mail.app.

-Jesse

I don't think we are now in much disagreement, but hopefully you will note that in my first post I said I did not recommend to use INBOX path entry.

The IMAP accounts I am hosting with Dreamhost do in fact utilize the INBOX setting in Advanced, yet the Sent, Junk, Trash are right where they are supposed to be. I have not tested those in Lion, but have other accounts.

I probably don't have the hands on experience you may have, but I have spent a good ten years reading nearly every post in all Mail & AB forums in the Apple Discussions, and have witnessed via the experience of others many varied situations.

Ernie

I tried your suggestion, but now I can't see any of the messages in my Inbox or in the NewFolder, and I can't delete the NewFolder. In short, I've lost my mail. :-( Got any suggestions on how to get this straightened out? I'm using OS X Mountain Lion.

jesserehmer wrote:

This can be done easily, though it's undocumented. When you create a "new mailbox" Type Inbox/NewFolder and it will create NewFolder under your Inbox as expected. Took me a couple hours to figure out, but definitely works.

I do not see how these things you mention can be done. I see no little + symbol.

On an earlier iphone, I could make sub-inboxes of my main inbox for email. I cannot see how to do this on my 5c iphone or in the pdf user manual. Please tell me how or if this can be done. Thank you.