Using tags
A tag is a keyword on an email: “Project Lightwork”, “Clients”, “Taxes 2026”. Unlike folders, one email can carry any number of tags: a client’s invoice simply is both “Clients” and “Accounting”. What separates folders, tags and smart folders in principle is covered in the overview.
Assigning a tag
Section titled “Assigning a tag”Several roads lead there:
- From the email: the tag symbol in the action bar (shortcut
L), then pick an existing tag or Create new tag. - From the list: right-click the email (or several selected ones) → Tags, then tick the tags you want.
- Automatically: a rule with the Add tag action assigns tags on its own from then on: newsletters, invoices and order confirmations sort themselves.
Every tag has a color. In the message list its name appears as a small colored label in front of the subject.
Finding tagged mail
Section titled “Finding tagged mail”- Sidebar: in the Tags section every tag has an entry with a counter, one click shows all mail with that tag across all accounts.
- Dashboard: the tags tile shows your tags with counts.
- Smart folders: the Tags / labels condition combines with others, say “tag Clients, from the Work account, in the last 30 days”. Search itself does not know tags.
Tags travel with you
Section titled “Tags travel with you”Tags are stored as IMAP keywords on the server (as labels on Gmail). Name and assignment survive a reinstall, appear on your second machine, and remain when you open the mailbox with another program (provided that program understands keywords); many simply do not display them, but they do not delete them either.
A tag’s color, on the other hand, stays on this device. On another machine, carried-over tags first appear without a color. On Gmail, every existing label also becomes a tag automatically.
Managing tags
Section titled “Managing tags”Right-click the tag in the sidebar for Edit Tag… (name and color) and Delete Tag…. To edit several tags at once, go to Settings → Mailboxes → Tags: delete, color or merge them.
- Deleting removes the keyword from all mail, on the server too. Nothing happens to the emails themselves.
- Renaming applies only on this device. On the server and on other devices the mail keeps the old name, and on the next sync the old name may reappear as a tag of its own. If you use several devices, better create a new tag and delete the old one.
If you don’t need tags, turn them off under Settings → Mails → General with Enable tags.