How to Move Emails to a Folder with a Gmail Shortcut

Want to organize your messages in folders, not just rely on Gmail search? Find out here how to move emails to a folder (or label) in Gmail using mouse and keyboard shortcut.

First, Let’s Play a Bit with Speed

Let’s do it like Gösta Holmér did in the late 1930s: run some 7.5 miles (12 km), around three of them sprinting, the rest at long-distance pace, all the while “playing” with and changing our pace in intervals.

Holmér is from Sweden, so he played in Swedish, of course: lekte med fart. Consequently, the interval runs he invented as Swedish national coach, are still known as Fartlek (“speedplay”) today.

Now, with that in mind, let’s play with the moving not our feet and body but emails in Gmail:

How to Move Emails to a Folder in Gmail with Mouse, App or Keyboard Shortcut

Copy, not move? How to “Copy” an Email in Gmail

In a Desktop Browser Using the Mouse

Automate it: How to Automatically Move Emails to a Folder in Gmail

Using the Gmail “Move to Folder” Keyboard Shortcut

To move a message (or a group of messages) to a different folder using the Gmail “move to folder” keyboard shortcut:

1. Open or check the message you want to move in Gmail.
   The Gmail keyboard shortcuts: Press Enter to open a message and X to select it in the message list.
   More than one message: To check more than one email, use J and K to move the message highlighter, then press X for each one you want to include.
2. Press V.
3. Use the up ↑ and down ↓ keys to highlight the folder into which you want to put the messages.
   Search: You can type in the search field to filter the folder list, of course.
4. Press Enter to move.

Move Emails to Folders Using Drag and Drop in Gmail

To move an email to a different folder using dragging and dropping (using a desktop browser):

1. Open the folder that holds the message you want to move.
2. Move the mouse cursor over the message you want to move.
   Handle: A handle appears in front of the message in the list; you need not grab the email by its handle, though.
   More than one: To move more than one message, check all emails you want to move, then move the mouse cursor over one of them.
3. Click and hold the left mouse button.
4. Drag the message (or messages) to the left over the desired folder in the folder list.
   Expand: Move the messages over the collapsed list or over More to expand the list.
5. Release the mouse button.

Move Emails to Folders in the Gmail App (iPhone and Android)

To use the Gmail app for Android or iPhone to move an email to a different folder:

1. Open the message you want to move.
   Move more than one: To move multiple emails, tap the avatars or initials in front of all the emails you want to move.
2. Tap the three dots menu button.
3. Select Move in the menu that appears.
4. Now tap the folder to which you want to move the email (or emails).

How to Move Emails to a Folder in Gmail with Mouse, App or Keyboard Shortcut: FAQ

What happens when I move an email in Gmail?

Gmail uses labels to implement its folders. Every folder shows all emails that have the label attached.

When you “move” an email, Gmail removes the current label and attaches the new one.

Examples

• If you open an email in the Inbox and move it to the “Trips” folder, the label “Inbox” is removed, and the label “Trips” is added.
• If you open an email in the “Planning” folder (and it is also in the “Côte d’Azur” folder) and move it to the “Trips” folder, it will then no longer show up under “Planning” but under Trips (still in addition to under “Côte d’Azur”).

Can I move an email using Basic HTML Gmail?

While you cannot move emails to different folders or labels directly using Basic HTML Gmail, you can, of course, go the way of labels:

1. Add the new label (of the folder to which you want to move the email) to the email.
2. Remove the old label (of the folder from which you are moving the email) from the email.

(How to move emails to a folder in Gmail tested in a desktop browser and the Gmail app for iOS; updated May 2024)