Folder Hierarchy

How to complete Folder Hierarchy

Instead of letting every email pile into one inbox, you build rules that sort mail the moment it arrives: receipts to one place, newsletters to another, work threads flagged. The payoff is an inbox that shows only what needs you, with everything else already filed.

1. Spend a few minutes scanning your inbox for the senders and patterns that repeat most (receipts, newsletters, notifications, a key client)
2. Create labels or folders for those categories before writing any rules
3. In Gmail use Settings > Filters, in Outlook use Rules; build filters that match by sender, subject keyword, or 'to' address and apply a label/folder plus 'skip inbox' where appropriate
4. Test each rule against existing mail using the 'apply to matching conversations' option so you see it work retroactively
5. Add a catch for low-value mail (auto-archive or auto-label promotions) so the inbox keeps shrinking

Tips

• Filter on the plus-address or list-unsubscribe header rather than display name: senders change names but rarely change addresses
• Don't auto-delete anything; route to a folder instead so a misfired rule never loses real mail
• Use one signup alias per category to make filtering trivial going forward

What counts as done

New mail lands pre-sorted into the right folders on its own and your main inbox only surfaces things that need a human.