1684. Arrange Multiple Mailboxes in iOS

On my iPhone, I have multiple email accounts: one for Gmail, one for Hotmail, and one for Outlook.com. I would like to control the order in which they display on my phone. In addition, I have multiple folders in some accounts and would like them to display as if they were mailboxes, at the top level in the Mail app. Is there any way to control the display of these mailboxes in the IOS Mail application?

The Mail application in iOS is quite flexible, and it can do all you request, and more. First, let’s step back: I’m guessing that a lot of readers didn’t even realize that the Mail app supported multiple concurrent email accounts. I’m guessing a lot of readers might not realize that one can even have multiple email accounts: Doug and Ken each have quite a few, for various parts of their lives (work, personal, outside activities, and so on), and it’s a common behavior.

Note: Some of the steps and features that follow require a modern version of iOS—we have iOS 9 installed, and we can only refer to that particular version.

In iOS, you can add as many email accounts as you like by opening the Settings app, and selecting Mail, Contacts and Calendars. Select Add Account, and you can specify the specifics for (in iOS 9, at least) iCloud, Exchange, Google, Yahoo, AOL and Outlook.com email accounts. If your email doesn’t meet any of these basic types, you can select Other to supply the details for your particular mail servers.

Once you have specified all your email accounts, iOS Mail displays them in the order you added them, which may not meet your needs. In the Mail application, you’ll see a list of mailboxes. Select the Edit link in the upper-right corner, and you’ll be able to select or deselect any existing mailbox (effectively showing or hiding the particular mailbox in the Mail app). In addition, you can tap and hold the three gray lines next to any mailbox, and drag the mailbox up or down in the list—this step controls the order in which the mailboxes appear in the list.

If you want to treat a folder within a mailbox as a top-level mailbox, while you’re editing mailboxes, select the Add Mailbox… link at the bottom of the list. This allows you to select a top-level mailbox, and then a folder within that mailbox. Click Done twice, and now your folder appears in the list of mailboxes at the top level. You can show or hide it, or move it around in the list, just like any other top-level mailbox. (You’ll also find other useful “virtual” mailboxes in the list, like Today, Flagged, Unread, and more. Select any of these to display it, and see what information it contains.)

The iOS Mailbox app is highly configurable. It doesn’t have all the “bells and whistles” you might find in other third-party applications, but it does its job and does it well. For more information, check out the article here: http://osxdaily.com/2012/10/06/rearrange-order-mailboxes-ios/.

http://www.theinstructional.com/guides/mailbox-folder-management-ios-mail