iOS 7 introduced a number of enhancements and new features to Mail, an app that was by all accounts getting a little dated. One particularly useful feature, especially for users with multiple mail accounts, has been the ability to organise and show/hide mailbox folders.
Show or Hide Default Mailboxes
By default, Mail will display the inbox of all currently enabled mail accounts, as well as the VIP list.
In addition to these default mailboxes, Mail also has additional mailboxes that act as filters, letting you view messages based on their status. These are:
- Flagged
- Unread
- To or CC
- Attachments
These mailboxes aren't folders like an inbox, they simply display all messages that meet a certain criteria, e.g. messages that have been flagged or that are unread.
You can also view draft, sent and deleted messages across all accounts, if you have more than one enabled on your iOS device.
- All Drafts
- All Sent
- All Trash
To enable these additional mailboxes and have them appear within the main group, tap the Edit button within Mail. You will then be able to show or hide any of the standard mailboxes, as well as rearrange them by dragging them up or down.
As mentioned previously, you can also hide mailboxes that you may not want to display. Don't use VIP? Simply uncheck it and it will be removed from the mailbox list.
Add Your Own Mailboxes
Navigating to messages within subfolders in an email account, especially with multiple accounts set up, can be a longwinded process on iOS. Fortunately, you can add any folder within your mail account to the list of mailboxes, allowing for quick access to folders you might frequently use. Doing this will also make moving messages from your inbox to desired folders much quicker.
Just as before, tap the Edit button to bring up the option to modify mailboxes displayed. Tap Add Mailbox... at the bottom of the list and you'll be able to specify any folder that exists within your mail account as one that can appear within the main group.
By managing your frequently accessed folders, Mail becomes much easier when working with server-side rules that might automatically file messages to specific folders when certain criteria is met.