Lion Mail: Use Smart Mailboxes

Use Smart Mailboxes

A Smart Mailbox displays in one location messages that are stored in other mailboxes, so you don’t have to move messages between mailboxes. The messages displayed by a Smart Mailbox are based on criteria you define, and are automatically updated to include new messages that match your criteria. For example, you might create a Smart Mailbox that displays all messages found in all mailboxes from a specific sender.

Create a Smart Mailbox

  1. Choose Mailbox > New Smart Mailbox, or click Add (+) at the bottom of the sidebar and then choose New Smart Mailbox.
  2. Use the pop-up menus and text fields to define the search criteria for the mailbox. If necessary, click Add (+) to add more search criteria.
  3. If you’re creating a Smart Mailbox for messages and you want to include messages from the Trash and Sent mailboxes in your Smart Mailbox, select the checkboxes.

Copy or edit a Smart Mailbox

To change the criteria, choose Mailbox > Edit Smart Mailbox. To copy a Smart Mailbox, choose Mailbox > Duplicate Smart Mailbox.

These commands are also available from the Action pop-up menu (looks like a gear) at the bottom of the sidebar.

View messages in a Smart Mailbox

If you change a message in a Smart Mailbox, such as marking the message as read or unread, or moving or deleting the message, the change is reflected in the mailbox where the message is actually stored.