Finding and organizing messages

Find a message by sender or subject, review mail that needs attention, and keep your inbox organized without losing messages you still need. This guide covers search, read state, stars, message classifications, Archive, Trash, and Junk.

Open Email → Inbox. You can search the mailboxes your account can access. Changing messages requires inbox write access; ask your site administrator if an action is unavailable. In a shared mailbox, folder moves and work-status changes can affect what teammates see.

Find a message

1. Choose the folder to search. Inbox, Sent, and Archive have their own tabs. Open More for All, Junk, or Trash when they are not already shown.
2. If the mailbox selector is available, choose the intended address or All visible mailboxes. It appears when more than one mailbox is available. This does not grant access to other people's private mailboxes.
3. Enter a distinctive subject word, sender name, sender address, or phrase from the message in Search mail…. Wait for the results to finish loading.
4. Check the sender, subject, date, and mailbox on the matching row before opening it. Use Newest first or Oldest first to change the order.
5. If Load more messages appears, select it to see more results. The rows currently displayed are not necessarily the entire folder.

Search stays within the selected folder and mailbox scope. All includes received, sent, archived, and junk messages, but excludes Trash. Drafts and scheduled sends have separate views; see Writing and scheduling an email for those messages.

You can also try simple searches such as from Amazon, needs reply, or from Amazon that still need action. When Cedros recognizes a sender or a message classification, it shows an explanation such as Showing mail from Amazon or Showing Needs reply. Check that explanation: words such as important and needs reply can select a classification rather than search for those exact words in the message. If the interpretation is not what you wanted, clear the search and try a different distinctive term.

Use complete words from the subject or message when a partial name or address gives no results. Do not rely on attachment contents or a custom label name as your only search term.

Show the rest of your inbox

The Inbox's Needs attention view highlights messages classified as Action required, Needs reply, Important, or Awaiting response. Routine updates and other FYI mail may be outside this view.

Select All mail beside Needs attention to review the rest of the current Inbox. This control changes the attention filter; the All folder under More searches across folders. Your mailbox selection still applies in either case.

When category chips such as Needs reply or Action required are shown, select one to narrow the attention list. Select it again to return to Needs attention. The classifications help prioritize work, but you should still read the message before deciding what it requires.

Typing a search temporarily shows matching mail regardless of your previous attention selection. Clearing the search restores that selection. If a row disappears after you clear the search, switch to All mail or check the selected category before assuming it was deleted.

No messages flagged for attention does not mean that the mailbox is empty. Check All mail when you are expecting a message.

Manage read state, stars, and work status

For a received message, open the row's ⋯ menu, labelled Message actions, and choose Mark read or Mark unread. Opening a received message marks it read for you. In shared mail, a teammate's read state is separate from yours; being read does not mean that someone has replied or completed the work.

Use Star message in the row menu to mark something you want to recognize later. A star appears beside the message. Choose Unstar message to remove it. Starring does not move the message to another folder.

To record what needs to happen next, open the received message and use Message actions beside the subject:

• Mark done records that you have handled the work and removes it from Needs attention without archiving it.
• Waiting for response records that you are waiting on someone else and places it in the Awaiting response classification.
• Snooze for one day takes it out of Needs attention for a day. It remains available in All mail; after the snooze ends, its classification determines whether it needs attention again.
• Reopen clears a done, waiting, or snoozed status so the message can be assessed as open work again.

If the classification is wrong, use the available Classify this message: … action to select action required, needs reply, important, or FYI. Use automatic Focus classification removes your manual classification when that option is shown. A done or snoozed message may need to be reopened before a changed classification brings it back into Needs attention.

After changing a state, return to the list and check the result. A message disappearing from a filtered list can be the expected outcome. Use All mail to find it again, then open it to check its status.

Custom labels used by inbox rules are separate from these attention classifications. A label can identify a kind of message without moving it out of Inbox. When reviewing an existing rule, check its label and folder action separately; use Archive, Delete, or Mark as spam for the corresponding manual folder action. For automatic filing of new mail, follow Creating rules to organize your mail.

Archive mail you want to keep

Archive is useful for messages you want to retain without leaving them in Inbox.

1. Find the message in Inbox and open its ⋯ → Archive action. You can also select messages and use Archive in the selection bar.
2. Open Archive and check that the expected message is there. Search or select the correct mailbox if necessary.
3. To bring it back, use ⋯ → Restore, or select it and choose Restore in the selection bar.

Restore uses the message's recorded previous folder where available; a received message archived from Inbox normally returns to Inbox. A sent record remains associated with Sent. If a restored message is not visible where you expected, check All and the relevant folder with the search cleared.

Archiving keeps the message and does not free mailbox storage. Cold storage is a separate feature for keeping eligible older mail off the local mail server while it remains readable in Cedros. See Managing mailbox storage for capacity checks and restoration to mail apps.

Move messages to Trash and recover them

Use Delete when you want to move a message to Trash. Use Delete forever only when you intend to remove it permanently from Cedros.

1. Find the message and choose ⋯ → Delete, or select it and choose Delete in the selection bar.
2. Open More → Trash if Trash is not already a tab. Check the sender and subject of the moved message.
3. To recover it, choose ⋯ → Restore, or select it and use Restore in the selection bar.
4. Look in the previous folder. A message deleted from Archive may return to Archive rather than Inbox; use All if you are unsure where it went.

For permanent removal, open Trash, select the intended messages, and choose Delete forever. Review the confirmation and selected count carefully. This cannot be undone in Cedros, so save any message content or attachments you still need before confirming.

For a connected Gmail account, permanent removal from Cedros does not mean the original has been permanently erased from Gmail. The confirmation explains that originals move to Gmail's Trash when Cedros has write access; otherwise they stay in Gmail. Check Gmail separately if you need to confirm its copy's state. See Connecting your Google Workspace account for connection permissions.

Junk and Trash are temporary folders. When the updated Cedros mail service is active, it reports 30-day cleanup for both. Recover wanted messages before they expire; check Settings → Site → Mail → Mail storage for the service status. For Google-hosted mail, check Gmail’s retention separately.

Correct messages in Junk

Use Mark as spam for unwanted received mail. To correct a genuine message that was classified as junk, use Not spam.

1. Open the message row's ⋯ menu and choose Mark as spam. The same action is available in Message actions when reading a received message.
2. Open Junk, using More if needed, and check the moved message.
3. If the message is legitimate, choose Not spam from its actions. For Cedros-hosted mail, this also submits feedback to the spam filter.
4. Check the resulting folder and broaden the Inbox to All mail if needed. A message recovered from Junk may still be outside Needs attention.

Use Not spam when you want to correct the spam classification. Restore is also available for folder recovery, but is not the same dedicated feedback action. Moving a message out of Junk does not guarantee that future mail from the sender will reach Inbox.

For repeated mistakes, see Why are my emails going to spam?. Do not open unexpected attachments or follow sign-in links simply because a message has been restored.

Organize several messages at once

1. Set the folder, mailbox, and search first so you can review the intended messages together.
2. Select the checkbox beside each message, or the list's select-all checkbox for the displayed rows. Select all applies to the current loaded list, not every matching message still waiting to load.
3. Check the selected count and the rows included. Use Clear in the selection bar to remove the selection if you need to start again.
4. Choose the available action, such as Mark read, Mark unread, Archive, Delete, or Restore. Available actions depend on the folder and your permissions.
5. Check the outcome in the destination folder or refreshed list. If an error appears, refresh and inspect the affected messages before retrying; some may already have changed.

For keyboard navigation while you are in the message list, J moves down, K moves up, Enter opens the current message, and X toggles its selection. Escape clears a selection. E archives an eligible received message in Inbox or All. These shortcuts do not apply while typing in a field or working in a dialog.

If a message is still missing

Work through these checks before changing mailbox settings:

• Clear the search and check the mailbox. Choose All visible mailboxes if available, then try a distinctive subject word. A search explanation may show an unintended sender or classification filter.
• Check both All mail and All. All mail broadens the current Inbox's attention view; the All folder includes other message folders. Check Trash separately.
• Check Drafts and Scheduled. An unsent draft or queued email is not an ordinary received message. Use Writing and scheduling an email to find it.
• Load additional results. Use Load more messages when shown. Folder counts can cover more messages than the rows currently loaded.
• Wait for loading to finish. If the inbox shows an error, use Retry. A failed load is not evidence that a folder is empty.
• Check delivery or sync. If a new message never arrived, use Why aren't my emails arriving?. For a stopped Google connection, use Reconnecting Google Workspace when syncing stops.

If the problem continues, contact support with the site, mailbox, approximate message date, expected folder, filters you tried, and the error text. Do not include passwords or unnecessary private message content.