Easy Ways to Move Email to a Folder in Outlook (2020)

Last Updated: October 22, 2020

This wikiHow will teach you how to move emails to another folder in Outlook using Quick Steps on a Windows desktop client. When you set up a quick step, you'll be able to move emails with one click. Mac users will need to use a keyboard shortcut to move emails.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using the Mobile App

1
Open Outlook. This app icon looks like a white "O" on a blue background that you'll find on one of your Home screens, in the app drawer, or by searching.
- Outlook on mobile phones and tablets already filters unread emails into two categories: Focused and Other. This method aims to show you how to move messages that are in the "Other" inbox to the "Focused" inbox.
2
Navigate to and tap on the email you want to move. You'll want to open the email as if you're reading it.

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3
Tap ••• . It's at the top of the message next to the trashcan icon.
4
Tap Move to Focused inbox. You can also go to an email in the Focused inbox and move it to the Other inbox using the same steps.
5
Tap Always Move, Move Once, or Cancel. If you want all emails similar to the one you're moving to appear in the Focused inbox, select Always Move. If, however, you're just moving a single email and don't want similar emails to appear in your other inbox, select Move Once. Of course, if you tapped by mistake, tap Cancel.^{[1]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using Outlook for Windows 2019-2013 and Office 365 Outlook

1
Open Outlook. You'll find this in your Start menu.
2
Click the Home tab. This is in the editing ribbon next to File, and Send/Receive.
3
Click Create New in the Quick Steps grouping. You'll see this centered in the application window between Respond and Move.
4
Click the "Choose an Action" drop-down and select Move to Folder. This is the first drop-down you'll change.
5
Click the "Choose folder" drop-down and select a folder. This will set this quick step to move your email to the selected folder.
6
Click Add Action. A blank action will appear.
7
Click the "Choose an Action" drop-down and select Mark as read. Now any email you move with this quick step will not only move to the desired folder, but also be marked as read.
- If you want to create a keyboard shortcut for this quick step, click the drop-down next to "Shortcut key" and select a keyboard combination.
8
Click Finish. When you're done setting those rules, click Finish to close the pop-up.
- To use your quick step, highlight the email message(s) you want to move to another folder and click the quick step or press the keyboard combination that you set as a shortcut.^{[2]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using a Mac

1
Open Outlook. You'll find this in the Applications folder in Finder.
- Since Mac doesn't have the ability to create quick steps, you can create a rule to send all emails from one sender to a specific folder.
2
Click Tools. You'll see this inside the "Home" tab next to "Move" and "Junk".
3
Click Move messages from or Move messages to. If you click "Move messages from," you will send all the emails sent from a specific sender to the desired folder; if, however, you choose "Move messages to," all the emails sent to a specific email address will go into a folder. That's highly useful if you have multiple Outlook addresses.
4
Select the folder you want to send your emails to and click Choose. You'll be able to type the folder's name in the search bar
- After you select a folder destination, your rule is setup.^{[3]
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  Technical support and product information from Microsoft.
  Go to source}