Webmail: Working with Folders

Webmail allows you to create folders for your email messages. You can create folders and file messages according to project, mail group, date, company, and so forth. When a folder is no longer needed, you can delete it. Once you've created a set of folders, you can use filters to sort incoming messages and put them in specified folders. For more information, see Creating a Message Filter and Organizing Your Messages. For details about naming folders and sending mail directly to subfolders, see Folder Naming Conventions, below.

Note: You cannot delete system-created folders such as Inbox, Sent, or Draft; non-deletable folders do not have a clickable Delete icon. By default, the system-created Sent folder is configured to save a copy of each message you send. By default, the system-created Trash folder is not configured to save deleted messages to it; instead, messages you select and delete stay in your Inbox marked Deleted. To change either of these settings, see Setting Preferences.

Using the Folders Page

To view a subfolder or the contents of a folder:

  1. Select Folders from the links menu.
    Result: The Folders page opens; all top-level folders are displayed in a tree view. A plus sign (+) next to any folder indicates that it has subfolders. The following data is available per folder:
    • Total: The number of messages per folder.
    • Unread: The number of messages in that folder that haven't been read. If you have message filtering capabilities, the Unread message column shows you when filtered messages have arrived in any of your subfolders. For more information, see Organizing Your Messages.
  2. Click a folder's plus sign (+) to open the subfolder view.
    Result: The subfolder(s) for that folder display. The plus sign (+) changes to a minus sign (-); click the minus sign to collapse the subfolder view.
  3. Click on any displayed folder name.
    Result: A page displaying the message list for that folder opens. Use the navigation arrows << >> to page backward and forward through the messages in the current folder. For more information, see Opening and Reading a Message.

To add and delete folders:

  1. To add a folder to the tree, enter a name in the text box, and click Add folder.
    Result: The new name appears in the tree as a link to the new folder.
  2. To delete a folder, first display it on the page and then click the Delete icon Delete Folder for that folder.
    Result: The Confirm Folder Delete page opens.
  3. Click Delete or Cancel.
    Result: If you clicked Delete, the name is removed from the folder tree. If you clicked Cancel, the delete operation is terminated; you are returned to the Folders page.

Note: Your Inbox is a required folder that comes as a default with your account. Like all system-created folders, you cannot delete your Inbox.

Using the Folder Edit Page

To edit folders, add subfolders, or change folder ACLs:

  1. To edit a folder, first display it on the page and then click the Edit icon Edit Folder for that folder.
    Result: The Folder Edit <folder name> page displays with options for adding subfolders and setting access permissions (ACLs) on existing folders. The User list reflects the users that have access permissions for that folder. For details on using folder access permissions see About ACLs, below.
  2. To add a subfolder, enter a name in the text option and click Add Subfolder.
    Result: The new name appears in the tree as a link to the new folder and a confirmation message displays.
  3. To change a folder ACL, enter into the text option box in the User column the name of the user to whom you want to grant access permission (to enable a subfolder to receive mail directly, enter anyone) and select only the check boxes for the permissions you want to grant, by default Read and Mail are selected. Then click Apply.
    Result: The specified user and permissions appears in the User list; the text option is cleared.
  4. To remove a user from a folder ACL, select the folder for whose access control list you are removing a user.
    Result: The User list changes to reflect the users that have access permissions for that folder.
  5. Deselect all the check marked boxes for the user you want to remove. Then click Apply.
    Result: The specified user and permissions go away from the User list; the text option is cleared.
  6. When you are finished with the page, click OK.
    Result: You are returned to the Folders page.

Folder Naming Conventions

Every folder must have a unique name made up of characters from this set, except as noted in "International Folder Names," below:
  • Letters ("A" through "Z" and "a" through "z")
  • Numbers ("0" through "9")
  • Space (" ")
  • Hyphen ("-") Underscore ("_")

Special Characters You Cannot Use in Folder Names:

  • Dot (.): Used as a hierarchy separator in folder paths. Folder paths cannot start or end with a dot, nor can they contain two dots in a row.
  • Front slash (/): Used as a hierarchy separator.
  • Plus sign (+): Used to address subfolders of user Inboxes or shared folders that do not belong to a particular user.
  • Quotation marks (""), asterisks (*), and percent signs (%) are limited by IMAP.

International Folder Names: In addition to the characters listed above, in folder names you can also use modified UTF-7 encoded characters as defined by RFC 1642 and modified by RFC 2060.

Using Alternate Addresses to Send Mail Directly to a Subfolder

By using access control lists (ACLs) and the plus sign (+) you can have an alternate email address direct mail into a folder. For example, If you have a folder named carstuff, mail can be sent to you+carstuff@wherever.com and it will arrive in your carstuff folder, not your Inbox. In order to do this, you must apply the Mail ACL permission for the "anyone" user to your carstuff folder. For details on using folder access permissions see About ACLs, below.

Another option provides for delivery to a subfolder. In this example you create a folder below carstuff named digest. The email address required to put mail in your digest folder would be you+carstuff.digest@wherever.com. Subfolders inherit ACLs; so if the "anyone" ACL on your carstuff folder had the Mail permission, your carstuff.digest subfolder would also have that permission—you wouldn't need to explicitly set it. Note: Only the first separator is a plus sign (+), the others are dots (.). If you use plus signs (+) between each folder name, the mail is delivered to the your Inbox instead of the subfolder.

One way to use an alternate address is to have copies of messages you send delivered to a folder other than your default Save Sent Messages folder. Do this by creating a folder; for example, carstuff. Then, use the Bcc line when composing a message to send a copy of the message to that folder. Tip: You can add the subfolder address to your Address Book and give it an easy-to-use nickname, like cs for carstuff; when you Bcc your carstuff folder, you would only need to type "Cs" on the Bcc line, instead of you+carstuff@wherever.com.

Note: If the Mail permission on the folder for the anyone user is not set, the mail will be put in the your Inbox instead of the folder or subfolder.

About ACLs

A list of users and their access permissions is called an ACL (access control list). Your Inbox and other system-created folders were created with default access permissions set for you. Folders you create inherit their parent folder's ACL. To change the ACL on a folder, you must select the folder and then modify the ACL accordingly; the ACL automatically displays all the current users who have any permissions granted.

One reason you might want to change a folder ACL is to set up a shared folder so everyone in your group could read messages in a certain folder. Another reason you might want to change a folder ACL is if you want to be able to send mail directly to that folder. In order to do that, the folder must have Mail permission granted the anyone user. Since your Inbox, by default, does not grant the anyone user Mail access (the system automatically sends mail to your Inbox for you), subfolders you create will not have the permission set; you will need to deliberately set the permission.

What the Permissions Mean

Permission Meaning
read The user can see that the folder exists, open the folder, read messages in the folder, copy messages from the folder, and see which messages were read. (Equivalent to the l, r, and s IMAP permissions.)
write The user can copy messages into the folder and modify state information for the folder, such as \Flagged, \Answered, and \Draft flags for each message. This permission allows the user to modify the \Deleted state for any message. (Equivalent to w, i, and d IMAP permissions.)
mail The user can submit messages to the SMTP service for delivery to the folder. (Equivalent to the p IMAP permission.)
admin The user can change the ACL on the folder and create subfolders and ACLs. (Equivalent to c and a IMAP permissions.)

Last updated: 10/03/06