Your own mail folders
Make folders and sub-folders in Mail, two levels deep. The names are encrypted on your device, they are free on both plans, and a mail is in one place.
Beside the six built-in folders you can make folders of your own and file mail into them. A folder may hold sub-folders, but only one level deep, and its name is encrypted on your device before it is stored — our server keeps the shape of your filing, never the words you chose for it.
Folders are free on both plans. Nothing here is a Private.Ki Plus feature.
Make a folder
- Open the folder list. On the web it is the sidebar; on the phone, the menu ☰ at the top left.
- Press New folder under the list of folders.
- Type a name and confirm. The folder appears in the list straight away.
- For a sub-folder, open the row menu of an existing folder — right-click on the web, press and hold on the phone — and choose New sub-folder.
The row menu of a folder also has Rename and Delete.
A name may be up to 64 characters and may contain any script, punctuation or emoji; only line breaks and control characters are refused. Two folders in the same place cannot share a name — the app says A folder with this name is already here and nothing is created. You can have up to 200 folders in total, counting sub-folders.
Two levels, and no third
A folder can be at the top of the list, or inside one folder that is. There is no third level, and the app does not pretend otherwise: New sub-folder appears in the row menu of a top-level folder and is simply absent from a sub-folder's, rather than being shown greyed out.
Put mail into a folder
Everything that reaches Archive reaches a folder of yours as well:
- the row menu's Move to, which lists Archive, Trash and your folders;
- the selection bar, to move several conversations at once;
- selection mode on the phone, for several conversations at once — see Bulk selection, and what a swipe does now.
On a desktop browser you can drag a row, or a whole selection, onto a folder in the sidebar. See Drag emails between folders.
There is no drag gesture on a phone, by design. Press and hold the row and use Move to instead.
Filing is exclusive with Archive and Trash: a conversation you file leaves the Inbox and is in that one folder, and archiving or trashing it later takes it out of the folder. It is never in two places at once, and there are no labels.
Moving mail into a folder does not change how much room your account uses. The mail is in the same mailbox, in a different drawer.
Rename or delete a folder
Renaming changes the name on every device you are signed in on, as soon as they refresh.
Deleting is the one action worth reading twice. The confirmation says exactly what will happen and counts it:
- the folder is deleted;
- its sub-folders are deleted with it;
- its mail moves to Archive, not to Trash — the whole subtree, counted in the confirmation, so you can see how many messages will be archived before you press Delete.
Nothing is deleted with the folder. If you want mail gone, delete the mail — see Delete emails and restore from Trash.
Finding filed mail
Filed mail is searchable like everything else. Two details are worth knowing:
- A search hit from a folder is labelled "Folders" rather than with the folder's own name. The names live on your device and the search index does not know them.
- Mail you filed in this session is found after the next time the index refreshes, not instantly.
Opening a folder shows its conversations in the ordinary list, with the same row menus and actions as the Inbox.
A name this device cannot read
If a device cannot open a folder name — after a password recovery, which gives you a new key — the row is drawn as Unreadable item rather than being hidden. A folder with mail in it is never dropped from the list just because its name cannot be read.
What our server sees
Cannot see
- The name of any folder, now or in the past — it arrives as ciphertext and a value derived from it that can only be compared, not read
- The subject, body or attachments of anything you file
- The folder name in any web address — the address bar carries an identifier, so a name never lands in browser history
Can see
- How many folders you have, and the shape and order of the tree — which folder sits under which
- How many messages are filed in each, and when each message was filed or unfiled
- When a folder was made, renamed or moved — a rename is visible as a rename, although the new name is not
That last group is the same kind of information the conversation list already exposes, and we would rather write it down here than imply the server knows less than it does.
Common questions
Do I need Plus for folders?
No. Folders, sub-folders, moving mail into them and the 200-folder limit are the same on the free plan and with a Plus subscription.
Can I put a folder inside a sub-folder?
No. Two levels is the limit. New sub-folder is offered on a top-level folder only, and the server refuses a third level as well, so no client can create one.
What happens to my mail if I delete a folder?
It moves to Archive, including the mail in any sub-folders. Deleting the drawer is not a decision about the letters, so nothing goes to Trash and nothing is removed.
Can I file a chat, a note or a Drive file?
No. Folders are for mail. Chats, notes and the Outbox have no folders.
Are there labels, colours, icons or automatic filing rules?
Not today. A conversation is in one place, folders have no colour or icon, and nothing files mail for you — every move is one you made.
Can I share a folder with someone?
No. A folder is yours alone, and its name is encrypted to your key, so there is nothing to share it with.