Organizing messages

Messages can be marked as read or unread, flagged, assigned to categories, moved, deleted and marked as spam. This article describes the menu for a message, multiple selection and the effect of each action.

1. Right-click a message in the list. Alternatively, open the message and choose ⋮ Weitere Aktionen (More actions) in the reading pane; the menu is the same.
2. The Aktionen zur Nachricht (Message actions) menu opens.

With the keyboard: put the focus in the list and press the context menu key or Shift + F10.

Entries from top to bottom (some only in certain folders):

• Entwurf bearbeiten (Edit draft): only in the Entwürfe (Drafts) folder. Opens the draft so you can continue writing, see Writing an email.
• Antworten (Reply), Allen antworten (Reply all), Weiterleiten (Forward): see Replying, forwarding and drafts.
• In eigenem Fenster öffnen (Open in separate window): see Messages in separate windows.
• Als Termin anlegen (Create as appointment), Als Aufgabe anlegen (Create as task), Als Notiz speichern (Save as note): copies the subject as the title, plus the sender, date, subject and text of the message, into a new appointment, task or note.
• Absender zu Kontakten (Add sender to contacts): creates a new contact with the sender's name and address.
• Als gelesen markieren (Mark as read) or Als ungelesen markieren (Mark as unread): depending on the current state.
• Markieren (Flag) or Markierung entfernen (Remove flag): sets or removes the flag.
• Verschieben … (Move …): opens the Verschieben nach (Move to) list.
• Kategorie … (Category …): opens the Kategorie (Category) menu. Only present if the mailbox has categories.
• Als Spam markieren (Mark as spam): not in Entwürfe (Drafts), Gesendet (Sent) and Geplant (Scheduled).
• Kein Spam (Not spam): only in the Spam folder, instead of Als Spam markieren.
• Löschen (Delete): moves the message to the Trash.

1. Open the message menu.
2. Choose Als gelesen markieren (Mark as read) or Als ungelesen markieren (Mark as unread).

• The row changes immediately: unread messages carry the colored bar on the left, and the counter on the folder adjusts.
• When you open a message, it is automatically marked as read.
• For a whole folder: in the list header, Alle geladenen Nachrichten als gelesen markieren (Mark all loaded messages as read) (double check mark), see Message list, search and filters.

1. Open the message menu.
2. Choose Markieren (Flag). The orange flag appears in the row.
3. To remove it, choose Markierung entfernen (Remove flag).

Flagged messages can be displayed via the Markiert (Flagged) filter.

1. Open the message menu and choose Kategorie … (Category …).
2. In the Kategorie (Category) menu, click a category. A check mark shows which categories the message already has.
3. Clicking a category with a check mark removes it again.
4. Alle Kategorien entfernen (Remove all categories) (only if the message has categories) removes all of them at once.

• The change is visible in the row immediately. If it fails, it is reverted and "Kategorie nicht gesetzt" (Category not set) appears.
• The categories available are those of the mailbox the folder belongs to; in a shared folder, therefore, the other person's categories.
• Creating and renaming categories and changing colors: see Categories.

1. Open the message menu and choose Verschieben … (Move …).
2. In the Verschieben nach (Move to) list, choose the target folder. Subfolders appear as a path, for example "Projekte › Prüfstand Garching".

• Feedback: "Verschoben" (Moved) with "nach „[Ordner]“." (to "[folder]".); for several messages "[n] Nachrichten nach „[Ordner]“." ([n] messages to "[folder]".) If it fails: "Nicht verschoben" (Not moved) with the reason.
• Geplant (Scheduled) and the currently open folder are not offered as targets.
• Alternatively, drag the message with the mouse onto a folder in the expanded navigation, see Folders.

1. Open the message menu and choose Löschen (Delete).
2. The message disappears from the list without confirmation and is placed in the Papierkorb (Trash).

• Feedback: "Gelöscht" (Deleted) with "Die Nachricht liegt im Papierkorb." (The message is in the Trash.), for several messages "[n] Nachrichten liegen im Papierkorb." ([n] messages are in the Trash.)
• There is no undo function. Find an accidentally deleted message in the Papierkorb (Trash) and put it back with Verschieben … (Move …).

Messages are permanently deleted with Papierkorb leeren (Empty Trash), see Folders.

1. Open the message menu.
2. Choose Als Spam markieren (Mark as spam). The mail server places the message in the Spam folder. Feedback: "Als Spam markiert" (Marked as spam).
3. For a message in the Spam folder that is not spam, choose Kein Spam (Not spam). The mail server puts it back. Feedback: "Als kein Spam markiert" (Marked as not spam).

For several messages, the feedback adds "[n] Nachrichten." ([n] messages.) The list and counters are then reloaded. How to recognize suspicious senders is described in Sender check and external images.

• Ctrl + click (Mac: Cmd + click): add a message to the selection or remove it. A message that is already open is included in the selection.
• Shift + click: select all messages from the last one chosen to the one clicked; together with Ctrl or Cmd, add them to the existing selection.
• Checkbox at the bottom right of the row: starts multiple selection; after that, each click on a row toggles its selection.
• Alle auswählen (Select all) in the list header or Ctrl + A (Mac: Cmd + A) with the focus in the list: all displayed messages.
• Touch: press and hold a row for about half a second; multiple selection starts with a short vibration.
• Esc or Auswahl aufheben (Clear selection) ends the selection.

During multiple selection:

• The list header shows "[n] ausgewählt" ([n] selected), ⋮ Aktionen zur Auswahl (Actions for selection) and Auswahl aufheben (Clear selection) (X).
• The reading pane shows [n] Nachrichten ausgewählt ([n] messages selected) with the hint "Die Aktionen gelten für alle ausgewählten Nachrichten. Esc hebt die Auswahl auf." (The actions apply to all selected messages. Esc clears the selection.) and the action buttons. The widget column stays empty.
• On a smartphone, the list stays visible; the actions are in the ⋮ menu of the list header.
• Right-clicking a selected row opens the menu for the selection. Right-clicking a row that is not selected clears the selection and opens the menu for that single message.

1. Select messages.
2. Choose an action button in the reading pane, or open ⋮ Aktionen zur Auswahl (Actions for selection) in the list header.

• Als gelesen markieren (Mark as read)
• Als ungelesen markieren (Mark as unread)
• Markieren (Flag)
• Markierung entfernen (Remove flag)
• Verschieben … (Move …): list "[n] Nachrichten verschieben nach" (Move [n] messages to).
• Kategorie … (Category …): menu "Kategorie für [n] Nachrichten" (Category for [n] messages). A check mark appears only if all selected messages have the category. A click sets the category on all of them; if all already have it, the click removes it from all. Only present if the mailbox has categories.
• Als Spam markieren (Mark as spam): not in Gesendet (Sent), Entwürfe (Drafts) and Geplant (Scheduled); in the Spam folder, Kein Spam (Not spam) instead.
• Löschen (Delete) (red): moves all selected messages to the Trash.
• Auswahl aufheben (Clear selection)

Large selections are sent to the mail server in parts; this may take a moment.

• Read, unread and flag changes are visible immediately. If the mail server rejects them, the change is reverted and "Nicht ausgeführt" (Not carried out) appears with the reason.
• "Der Mailserver ist gerade nicht erreichbar." (The mail server cannot be reached right now.): the connection to the mail server is disrupted; try again later.
• "Der Mailserver hat den Vorgang nicht angenommen." (The mail server did not accept the operation.): the mail server rejected the action.
• "Die Nachricht liegt schon in diesem Ordner." (The message is already in this folder.): target and source are the same.
• "Dieses Postfach ist für dieses Konto nicht freigegeben." (This mailbox is not shared with this account.): the action is not allowed for your account.

More help: Error messages and limits.

• Message list, search and filters
• Folders
• Categories
• Keyboard shortcuts