Google Mail: Organize Labels

Labels are Google's version of folders. They do everything that folders do, except you can apply more than one label to a message. You can organize what and how labels appear in the mail sidebar in a variety of ways.

For more information about labels, see the following articles:

• Google Mail: Create and Apply Labels: This help page includes information on creating sub labels. Sub labels are another way you can organize labels in Google Mail. A sub label is simply a label that is nested under another label. 
• Google Mail: Edit and Delete Labels

Show/Hide Labels

Google sets up "system labels," including "Important," "Drafts," "Starred," and more, so if there are ones that you won't use often or at all, you can choose to hide them from the sidebar. You can also hide custom labels.

1. In Google Mail, click the gear-shaped "Settings" icon and click “Settings” from the resulting menu.
2. Click the "Labels" tab.
3. Click "show" or "hide" next to each label to determine whether it will be shown in the sidebar of your mail screen.

Move Labels to/from the "More" Section

Another way to organize labels is by placing labels you don’t use often in the “More” section of the label sidebar. To view the “More” section, click “More” immediately below your labels. To hide the “More” section, click “Less.”

• To move a label to the “More” sidebar section, hover over the desired label and click and drag it to the word “More.” If the “More” section is open, drag the label anywhere beneath the word “Less.”
• To move a label from the “More” sidebar section, hover over the desired label and click and drag the label anywhere above the word “Less.”

Order Labels

Google Mail does not allow you to simply drag labels to where you want them to be in the sidebar. But because Google Mail orders labels alphabetically and numerically, you can add either a letter or a number to the beginning of each label to make Google Mail order them as desired.  

• Letters: Add a letter to the beginning of each label. Add “A” to the label you want at the top, “B” to the label you want directly below that, and so on. For example, change “Work” to “A-Work and "Home" to "B-Home." 
• Numbers: Add a number to the beginning of each label. Add “1” to the label you want at the top, “2” to the label you want directly below that, and so on. For example, change "Work" to "1-Work" and "Home" to "2-Home."