Working with folders
Screenshot: main menu with Folders shortcut highlighted
To keep your Inbox uncluttered and manageable you can store messages in different folders. This is especially useful if you have a lot of email and want to keep it organised. The folders option allows creation and manipulation of your folders.
Subscribed Folders and the left-hand frame
Screenshot: subscribed folders (right) relate directly to folders that show in the Folders frame (left)
Currently subscribed folders are listed in the Folders frame to the left.
This frame may be set to automatically refresh in the Options page. Alternatively, you can click the ‘refresh’ icon, which is next to the 'Folders' text at the top of the left frame, to refresh the view and show any changes that have been made to the subscribed folders.
The first folder listed is your Inbox, which contains your received mail. To the right of the first folder is a number in brackets reflecting the count of unread emails. This number is likely to vary from the total number of emails displayed in the right frame, as there may also be read mails in your Inbox.
Under the main folder are likely to be other folders or sub-folders. Colours for these folders will change if you have made any theme choices in the Options page.
Please note: if you are subscribed to a sub-folder but not to that sub-folder's parent folder the default indenting format will make the sub-folder appear to be a sub-folder of the previously-displayed parent folder. To improve the display and to avoid potential confusion it is useful to subscribe to any parent folders where sub-folders of these are subscribed.
Delete
Screenshot: select this option to delete a folder
You can delete any folder displayed in the dropdown list box to the left of the Delete button. This list may not include all the folders displayed: special folders such as the Sent, Trash or Inbox folders cannot be deleted.
Create
Screenshot: select this option to create a folder
Folders can be created by typing the desired name into the text box and pressing the Create button. If you wish to create a sub-folder, you just need to select the folder you want the folder to ‘live’ in from the drop-down box under the text ‘as a sub-folder of’.
On some mail servers, there are two types of folders. One that contains messages, and one that contains folders.
You may see an option called ‘Let this folder contain sub-folders’. If you check that, the folder you create will only be able to contain folders and cannot contain messages.
Otherwise, you will only be able to store messages in it and not folders.
Rename
Screenshot: select this option to rename a folder
Screenshot: press the Submit button to rename a folder
You may rename any folder displayed in the dropdown list box to the left of the Rename button.
Notice that this list may not include all the folders displayed in the left frame. For obvious reasons, you cannot rename the Sent, Trash, or Inbox folders.
Unsubscribe and Subscribe
SquirrelMail uses the 'subscription' facility of the IMAP server to determine which folders to display. This is similar to the 'Favourites' facility in Windows. This facility is very useful if you have access to many folders but do not need to access all of them via webmail.
Please note: unsubscribing does not delete a mailbox or remove your access to it irretrievably; all you are doing when unsubscribing is stating a preference not to view that particular mailbox. You can subscribe again to any unsubscribed mailbox at any time.
Screenshot: select folder and press the Subscribe button to add it to your subscribed folders list
Definitions:
Subscribe: to register your preference to access a folder, allowing you to view it in the folder listings.
Unsubscribe: the opposite of subscribing; this ‘de-registers’ a folder with the mail server.
You may choose as many folders as you wish from either the Subscribe or the Unsubscribe box, then click the button under the box to make the action take effect.
You will notice that the folders move to the other box. You can then re-subscribe to them, or unsubscribe again as you wish.