How to organize your Apple Mail with categories using Mailbutler

Imagine sifting through hundreds of messages in your inbox because you need to find a specific email message. Wouldn’t that waste time and affect your productivity? 

However, categorizing your emails with tags can help avoid this problem. With the right descriptive text and a suitable color code, you can easily search and locate a specific email message even with so many emails in your inbox.

In this article, you will learn how to categorize your emails in Apple Mail using Mailbutler. 

What is Apple Mail email categorization?

Apple email categorization is the process of sorting your emails into distinct categories using built-in features like Smart Mailboxes, Rules, and VIP lists. This process is particularly useful for people who need to find a specific message. After all, the number of emails sent and received daily is estimated to grow to 361.6 billion in 2024. With this volume, it’s ideal to categorize your emails for easy navigation and quick location of emails. 

Benefits of Apple Mail email categorization

Here are some reasons why you should organize your Apple Mail into categories:

1. Boosts Productivity

Categorizing different emails based on urgency or importance helps identify and deliver timely responses to more critical messages. This enables you to focus on more important tasks and work more efficiently.

For example, an efficient Apple email inbox management can help you avoid missing important communication, meetings, or deadlines, which could affect your productivity. However, with a categorized inbox, you can easily sift through unimportant or irrelevant emails, concentrating on more demanding tasks and boosting productivity.

2. Reduces Stress

A cluttered inbox can overwhelm you, making it difficult to concentrate on important tasks and work in general. However, categorizing your emails can help you quickly navigate to specific emails, even amid the high volume of emails.

This makes finding the information you need easier and prioritizing messages based on their importance or urgency. As a result, you don’t feel overwhelmed with many messages, reducing stress and enhancing your overall well-being.

3. Improves Communication

Categorizing your emails helps you find information faster, keeping you updated on relevant issues and promoting appropriate email communication. You can stay informed on important matters and address the problems with colleagues, friends, or clients. This, in turn, helps you communicate more effectively while strengthening your relationships.

4. Saves Time and Efforts

Categorizing your emails organizes your inbox, enabling you to set clear priorities and allocate time effectively. You won’t have to deal with clutters or waste time searching for important emails. This allows you to manage your time better and focus on more important tasks. 

5. Enhanced Security

Email categorization allows you to detect and filter out spam or phishing emails. With the ever-growing threats of cyber attacks, it’s essential to have a reliable spam detection mechanism to safeguard your inbox, protect sensitive information, and avoid security risks.

Categorizing these malicious emails as spam helps identify and reduces the chances of interacting with them. This ensures you don’t fall victim to fraudulent activities that could create damages. 

How to categorize your Apple Mail with email tags

Many email services offer features to help you categorize and organize your emails. These features may range from filters to folders and tags. Of all three, email tags remain the most effective in categorizing your emails.

These tags allow you to assign specific keywords or labels to an individual email or the entire conversation. They provide an additional layer of categorization, enabling you to filter emails for specific information faster.

Depending on the tag categories and color, you can organize your inbox and stay on top of your email communication. Some common email tag categories include project-based tags, priority tags, frequency tags, status tags, and more. 

Tagging Emails in Apple Mail

Mailbutler’s email tag is an incredible feature that can help categorize your inbox in Apple Mail. They enable quick search for specific information and enhance your workflow. Here is how to primarily tag an email with Maibutler: 

• Install Maibutler for Apple Mail
• Open an email you intend to tag
• Select “Add Tag” in Mailbutler’s menu bar
• Input the desired tag name (work, travel, client, etc) and choose a color for easy identification in the Preferences tab
• Press the enter button on your keyboard to save the tag
  

Tagging Emails in Apple Mail with Mailbutler

Now that you can tag an email, you can customize these tags to help with email categorization. This customization process takes place in two ways: 

• Color-coding: Every tag comes with a specific color which enables you to visually recognize emails at a glance.
• Creating Descriptive Tag Names: Assign a descriptive or specific name to a particular tag to help you easily locate the emails relating to that subject. For example, you can use a “client” tag for all email correspondence related to your clients. 

In the example below, the tag “goods” was used to label emails relating to some specific goods. This makes it easy to identify and categorize these emails accordingly.

Label emails in Apple Mail with Mailbutler

Other ways of using Mailbutler’s Email Tags in Apple Mail

Mailbutler’s email tag goes beyond email messages. You can also use the tags for other items in your inbox. These items include:

1. Contacts

With lots of professional contacts, tags serve as a quick reference for identifying contacts easily. Whether it’s a “Client,” “Lead,” or “Vendor,” these tags help to ensure proper identification which prompts you to deliver an appropriate and accurate response to your recipients.

For instance, here is an example of how the tag “client” is used to identify specific contacts in the address book.

Tagging clients in Apple Mail

2. Tasks and Notes

Keeping track of tasks and notes can be overwhelming during daily operations. In worse cases, you could even miss out on important duties. However, tagging these tasks and notes keeps you updated on important information, ensuring nothing gets overlooked.

3. Email Templates and Signatures

Using email templates and signatures is quite common in the professional world. Tagging these items based on scenarios or departments can help you find the right template or signature to use, saving you time and effort. 

Similar Post: Shared Mailbox in Apple Mail

Filtering and Sorting Apple Mail Tags

With a high volume of email messages, tags can help to filter and sort these emails. Here are a few ways you can use Mailbutler’s email tags for this purpose:

• Finding Specific Emails: Tags can speed up the search process in your inbox. Rather than scrolling through tons of messages, these tags can help navigate through emails, contacts, tasks, templates, signatures, and more, finding exactly what you need. 
• Project-based Filtering: With project-based tags, you can manage multiple projects and work more efficiently. They allow you to sift through messages, contacts, tasks, notes, or signatures, enabling you to remain focused.
• Priority-based Filtering: You can also use tags to distinguish email messages based on their priority. With high, medium, or low-priority tags, you can channel your efforts on more demanding matters or email messages. 

Flagging in Apple Mail vs Maibutler’s Tags

Flagging email implies color-coding an email with a flag to help with easy identification and retrieval. On the other hand, Mailbutler’s email tags add labels to your emails based on specific criteria or conditions.

While both features can help categorize your emails, they function slightly differently: 

Flexibility

Apple Mail’s flagging feature offers a color-coding scheme, usually seven colored flags, to identify emails. While this feature can sort emails, it has its limitations. 

First, all flagged emails are grouped in the same folder, making it difficult to identify their specific purposes. Next, you can’t filter the flagged emails to pinpoint the exact email you’re searching for.

On the other hand, Mailbutler’s email tag offers more customizable options. Its custom tag consisting of descriptive text(s) and color codes helps to categorize your emails and aid quick retrieval. For example, you can create an “invoice” custom tag for all emails relating to invoices in your inbox. This allows more flexibility for your emails. 

Multiple Tags

Apple Mail only restricts you to one flag per email. This can become limiting especially when the email serves more than one purpose. However, Maibutler’s email tags support multiple tags per email. This allows more nuanced categorization, encouraging versatility and a better organizational experience. 

Search Functionality

Apple Mail doesn’t feature a search function. In other words, you can’t search for a specific email among several others. As a result, you end up scrolling through the flagged folder to find the email.

Meanwhile, Mailbutler offers a search function in its toolbar. This enables you to locate an email based on its tag easily.

Integrations 

The flagging feature only works in Apple Mail and is unavailable in other email services such as Gmail or Outlook. On the other hand, Mailbutler’s email tags work across all email platforms, whether Apple Mail, Outlook, or Gmail. This makes it versatile for users who use different email apps. 

In conclusion, while flagging and tagging can help categorize your emails, Mailbutler’s tag offers a more customizable solution suiting the user’s needs. It can help identify specific email messages, contacts, notes, templates, signatures, and more, making it more versatile for advanced email organization.

Summary

Using Mailbutler’s tagging feature in Apple Mail transforms inbox management, reducing clutter and ensuring faster navigation. Thanks to the various functionalities it offers, you can organize your inbox efficiently and boost productivity.

Level up your Apple Mail experience by tagging your emails using Maibutler today. Try for free now!

Apple Mail Categorization FAQs

Can you Categorize Emails in Apple Mail?

Yes, you can categorize and sort emails in Apple Mail on your Mac, making it much easier to find what you need. By sorting your emails based on various attributes such as sender, date, or size, you can quickly organize your inbox to suit your workflow. To do this, simply open the Mail app, select "View" in the menu bar, then choose "Sort By" and pick the attribute you'd like to sort by, like "From" or "Size," and the order you prefer.

For users who prefer a more detailed view, if you're using the column layout, you can also Control-click on a column header. From there, you can select "Sort By," choose your desired attribute, and set your sort order. This method not only helps in finding messages faster but also provides a customized way to manage your emails according to your specific needs, making your inbox more efficient and less cluttered. By combining sorting with other features like Smart Mailboxes or Mailbutler tags, you can create a highly organized email system tailored to your style.

What are the Benefits of Apple Email Categorization?

Organizing emails into specific categories in Apple Mail provides several benefits. It allows for easier retrieval of important messages, saving time that might otherwise be spent searching through a crowded inbox.

This organization also helps prioritize tasks by enabling you to focus on crucial emails first and ensuring that key communications don’t get overlooked. For those managing a high volume of emails daily, categorization is essential in maintaining an orderly inbox, which can lead to increased productivity and reduced stress.

What Tool Can I Use to Categorize my Emails in Apple Mail?

Mailbutler’s email tags offer an effective solution for categorizing emails in Apple Mail. This tool allows you to create custom labels, helping you organize and identify emails quickly.

By applying tags, you can sort your emails by project, client, or any other category that fits your workflow. Mailbutler integrates smoothly with Apple Mail, providing a simple way to manage your inbox more efficiently and ensure that important messages are always easy to find.

Can I Set Up Folders in Apple Mail?

Yes, you can set up folders in Apple Mail to help organize your emails. Creating folders allows you to sort your messages into different categories, making it easier to find specific emails when needed.

You can create as many folders as you like and even nest them within each other for more detailed organization. This feature is particularly useful for managing large volumes of emails or keeping track of ongoing projects and communications.