On, and on, and on, and on it goes!  On the Google Operating System blog, the author writes “So When Do We Get Folders In GMail?“.  The article is clearly designed to stir discussion (as if that were needed) and it has done so in the comments.  The article runs thus:

- OK, I followed your advice and switched to Gmail. It’s great, but when do we get folders in Gmail?
- Gmail already has something similar to folders: labels. The main difference between folders and labels is that you can add more labels to a message.
- Oh, I see, but I don’t think it’s very useful to add a message to more folders. I mean, labels.
- You could create labels to categorize your mail and some of the messages will certainly fit in more than one category.
- It doesn’t work. I created a label for “Invitations” and I added the label to one of my messages, but it’s still there in the inbox.
- That’s because “inbox” is also a label and adding another label doesn’t remove the other ones.
- So now I have to click on “Delete” to remove the message from my inbox, right?
- No, to remove a message from the inbox, click on “Archive”.
- I thought “Archive” compresses my messages to save space.
- I’m sure that Google stores your email efficiently.
- Thanks for your help. Now I know how to use folders in Gmail. I select the message, click on “Archive” and then… Hey, wait a minute! My message has disappeared!
- You can still find it in “All Mail”, one of the sections bellow Gmail’s logo. “All Mail” includes all the messages, except those from the trash or flagged as spam.
- That’s too complicated! So when do we get folders in Gmail?

Whilst the fictional exchange illustrated is probably indicative of plenty of real conversations, I believe it also explains the problem rather well.  Namely, that proponents of folders mostly don’t understand what labels are.  After all, if they did, they would note that folders constitute a subset of labels’ capabilities.

Now, before anyone launches into the same old arguments here, let me concede that the behaviour of the two is different.  When you put something in a folder, you expect it to disappear from where it was.  Not so with labels – at least not in a single action.

Now here is my argument in favour of labels.  The key thing that labels allow is multiple “filing” of a single (in this case) email.  Here’s the rub.  Every person I have ever come across at work who has a reasonable number of folders can rarely find an email they are looking for by consulting one folder – the first one they think of.  It’s a fact.  Sure there are some types of job where work is clearly pigeonholeable, but most office environments do not have this feature.

So, if you are unable to find an email by looking in one folder, then why don’t you use labels and tag the email with all possible topics.  That way, the first topic that enters your mind when you go to find it will make the match! Better still, if you search on more than one label, you can refine your search and find the email even quicker.  Also, if your work is truly pigeonholeable, you can simply apply one label and get the same result!  So labels work for everyone.  And please don’t whine for folders “because you’re used to it”.  That’s never a good argument.

So back to the article and its comments.  The lamest comment:

Here’s my reason for wanting folders:
Imagine I have three labels:
- Things to Read
- Things to Write back about
- Things to Call someone about
I never, ever want an e-mail in all three of these labels. Hence, folders.
Of course, “grouped labels” would do the same for me. So I could also add the mutually exclusive group:
- Very Important
- Important
- Take Care of Someday

And absolutely the best comment.  Brilliant!

So When Do We Get Labels in Yahoo! Mail?
- OK, I followed your advice and switched back to Yahoo! Mail. It’s great, but when do we get labels?
- Yahoo! Mail already has something similar to labels: folders. The main difference between labels and folders is that a message can only exist in one folder.
- Oh, I see, but I don’t think it’s always useful to add a message to only one category. I mean, folder.
- You could create folders to organize your mail in very specific categories, so all of your messages will certainly fit in a particular folder.
- Let’s see. I created a folder called “Receipts” and I am adding this message to the “Receipts” folder and then… Hey, wait a minute! My message has disappeared!
- That’s because you moved it. You can now find it in the “Receipts” folder.
- I didn’t want to move it, I just wanted to classify it. So, you mean before I categorize my messages I have to be finished with them first?
- Or you just have to remember where you put them.
- Well, that last message was a receipt, but it was also for a business expense. I’d like to also have a folder for all business-related emails.
- Just create folders called “Business – Receipts”, “Personal – Receipts”, “Business – Other”, “Personal – Other”, and so on…
- I also like to indicate expenses that I need to reference for tax purposes for next year.
- In that case, just create folders called “Business – Receipts – Deductible”, “Business – Receipts – Non-deductible”, “Personal – Receipts – Deductible”, “Personal – Receipts – Non-deductible”, “Business – Other”, “Personal – Other”, and so on…
- Egads. I’ve also got 2 businesses I am involved in. I’ll figure that out later. What happens if I just want to move a message out of my Inbox and I don’t have a folder that is appropriate for the message, but I want to keep the message?
- Well, you could create a folder called “Archive” or something like that. Maybe you could call it “All Mail – Except for messages put into other folders”.
- This is all too complicated! So when do we get labels in Yahoo! Mail?