Gmail folders work differently than you might expect
Gmail does not have folders in the traditional sense. Instead, it uses labels — a system that lets a single email belong to multiple categories at once. If you are looking to organize your inbox, you create labels rather than folders. A label is a tag you attach to messages, and you can see all messages with the same label by clicking it in the left sidebar.
This matters because it changes how you organize. In a traditional email program, moving a message to a folder removes it from your inbox. In Gmail, applying a label keeps the message in your inbox and also shows it under that label. You can search for messages by label, filter incoming mail into labels automatically, and even nest labels inside other labels to create a hierarchy.
Key Takeaways
- Gmail uses labels instead of folders, and a single email can have multiple labels at once.
- You create a new label by clicking the "Create new label" option in the left sidebar or by right-clicking a message and selecting "Add label."
- You can organize labels hierarchically by using a forward slash in the label name — for example, "Projects/Work" creates a "Work" label nested under "Projects."
- Once you create a label, you can set up filters to automatically apply it to incoming mail that matches certain words or senders.
Create a label from the sidebar
Open Gmail in your web browser and look at the left sidebar. Scroll down past your inbox, starred messages, and sent mail until you see "More." Click "More" to expand additional options. At the bottom of that expanded list, you will see "Create new label." Click it.
A dialog box will appear asking you to name the label. Type the name you want — for example, "Receipts," "Job Applications," or "Family." Do not use special characters like asterisks or forward slashes unless you are intentionally creating a nested label (explained below). Click "Create" and the label appears in your sidebar immediately.
Once the label exists, you can add messages to it. Open any email, click the three-dot menu at the top right, and select "Add label." Check the box next to the label name and click "Apply." The message now appears under that label in your sidebar, and it stays in your inbox as well.
Create nested labels to organize by category
If you want labels organized under a parent category, use a forward slash in the label name. For example, create a label called "Projects/Work" and Gmail automatically nests it under a "Projects" parent label. When you click "Projects" in the sidebar, it expands to show "Work" and any other labels you created with "Projects/" at the start.
This is useful when you have many related labels. You might create "Finances/Taxes," "Finances/Receipts," and "Finances/Invoices" so all money-related labels live under one collapsible section. The parent label "Finances" does not hold messages itself — it is just a container. Messages go into the nested labels underneath.
To create a nested label, follow the same steps as above: click "Create new label" and type the name with a forward slash. For example, type "Travel/Flights" to create a "Flights" label nested under "Travel." Gmail handles the nesting automatically.
Apply labels to messages quickly
You can add a label to a message without opening it. In your inbox list, hover over the message and small icons appear on the right side. Click the label icon (it looks like a tag) and a menu shows all your labels. Check the ones you want and click "Apply." The message now has those labels without you needing to open it.
If you apply the same label to many messages at once, select multiple emails by clicking the checkbox next to each one. Then click the label icon and apply the label to all of them together. This is faster than labeling one at a time.
Set up automatic labeling with filters
You can create a filter that automatically applies a label to incoming mail. Click the search box at the top of Gmail and then click the three-line menu icon on the right side of the search box. Select "Create filter." In the dialog that appears, enter criteria — for example, type a sender's email address in the "From" field, or type a word that appears in the subject line.
Click "Create filter" at the bottom right. In the next screen, check the box next to "Apply the label" and select the label you want from the dropdown. Click "Create filter." From now on, any incoming mail matching those criteria automatically gets that label applied.
This is useful for newsletters, receipts, or messages from specific people. For example, you could create a filter that applies the "Receipts" label to any email from Amazon, or apply "Family" to all messages from your mother's email address.
Delete or rename a label
To rename a label, right-click it in the sidebar and select "Edit label." Type the new name and click "Save." Renaming a label does not affect the messages — they keep the label with its new name.
To delete a label, right-click it and select "Delete label." Gmail asks whether you want to delete the label only or delete the label and all messages with it. If you choose to delete the label only, the messages stay in your inbox but lose that label. If you choose to delete the label and messages, those emails are permanently removed. Be careful with this option.
Find messages by label
Click any label in the sidebar and Gmail shows all messages with that label. You can also search for messages by label using the search box. Type "label:Receipts" to find all messages labeled "Receipts," or type "label:Projects/Work" to find messages in a nested label. This is useful when you remember a label but not the exact message.
You can combine label searches with other criteria. For example, type "label:Receipts from:amazon.com" to find receipts from Amazon only, or "label:Family subject:birthday" to find birthday-related messages from family members.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I move a message out of my inbox using labels?
Labels do not remove messages from your inbox — they add them to a category. If you want messages out of your inbox view, use the archive button (the down arrow icon) instead. Archived messages disappear from your inbox but stay in Gmail and appear under the "All Mail" label. You can also create a filter to automatically archive incoming mail matching certain criteria.
What is the difference between labels and folders?
Folders hold a message in one place only. Labels let a single message belong to multiple categories at once. For example, an email from your boss about a project could have both "Work" and "Projects" labels. In a folder system, you would have to choose one or make a copy.
Can I see all my labels at once?
Click "More" in the sidebar to expand the full list of labels. If you have many labels, you can also search for a specific one by typing in the search box at the top of the sidebar. Labels you use frequently can be starred to pin them to the top of the sidebar.
What happens to messages if I delete a nested label?
Deleting a nested label like "Projects/Work" removes only that label from the messages. The parent label "Projects" stays if you have other nested labels under it, like "Projects/Personal." If "Projects/Work" is the only label under "Projects," the parent disappears too once you delete the child.
Can I use labels on Gmail on my phone?
Yes. Open the Gmail app, tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines), and scroll to see your labels. Tap any label to view messages with it. To add a label to a message, open the email, tap the three-dot menu, and select "Add label." The process is the same as on a computer.