Organize Outlook Express E-Mail Messages
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Outlook Express starts out with a basic framework of folders (shown below) to help you organize your e-mail messages. You can build your own e-mail filing system on top of this set of virtual file drawers. Outlook Express folders behave pretty much as they do in Microsoft Windows Explorer, so you should have no trouble storing messages and deleting them, as well as creating and moving folders.
On This Page
 | Create a Folder |
| Move Messages to Another Folder |
| Temporarily Delete a Message or a Folder |
| Permanently Delete a Message or a Folder |
Outlook Express Folders
[Inbox] The Inbox folder is home to incoming messages.
[Outbox] Every message passes through the Outbox folder on the way to its destination.
[Sent Items] Outlook Express stores a copy of every e-mail message you send in the Sent Items folder.
[Deleted Items] Delete any message and it goes into the Deleted Items folder.
[Drafts] In the Drafts folder, Outlook Express stores any messages that you saved before sending or that you were crafting when your computer shut down unexpectedly.
Create a Folder
To help you organize and keep track of all your messages, you can add your own folders to the ones that Outlook Express already has ready for you.
1. | If you don't see the list of folders shown below, on the View menu, click Layout, and then click the Folder List box to check it. |
2. | Right-click the folder in which you want to create a new folder, and click New Folder. For example, you can create a sub-folder (in Vacations in the illustration below), or a folder at the level of the Inbox by right-clicking Local Folders.  Right-click menu, New Folder |
3. | Type a name for the new folder, and click OK.  Folder name field on the Create Folder box |
Move Messages to Another Folder
Note that you can follow the instructions below to move a folder, too—but only one folder at a time.
1. | Make sure you see the destination folder in the Folder list. |
2. | Click the folder that contains the message you want to move. |
3. | Click the message you want to move, and drag it to the destination folder. To move more than one message at a time, press and hold the CTRL key while you click each message. |
Temporarily Delete a Message or a Folder
When you delete a message or a folder in Outlook Express, it goes to the Deleted Items folder where it awaits permanent deletion. (Note that you can’t delete the folders Outlook Express comes with—Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, and Drafts.)
1. | In the Folder list, click the message or folder you want to delete as shown below. |
2. | Click the Delete button as shown below. In this example, we deleted a folder (Taxes 2002) and all the messages in it.?/p>  Delete button on the Outlook Express toolbar |
3. | When Outlook Express asks for confirmation, click Yes. |
Tip: If you change your mind, click the Deleted Items
folder to find the folder or message you deleted, and move it out of that
folder back to its original folder—or any folder, for that matter.
Permanently Delete a Message or a Folder
If you get lots of e-mail, those messages can use up disk space, so keep your mailbox trim by deleting messages and folders permanently now and then. (If you find Outlook Express slowing to a crawl, this could be a sign to empty the trash.)
1. | Right-click the Deleted Items folder, and click Empty 'Deleted Items' Folder in the list. |
2. | When Outlook Express asks for confirmation, click Yes. |
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