How to Move Hotmail Messages in Outlook.com

This article explains how to organize and move Hotmail and other email messages in Outlook.com through a web browser.

How to Set up Folders in Outlook.Com

When you want to organize your email, move messages to folders that contain similar or related messages. For example, use folders to divide email into work and personal folders, or set up folders for each of your interests and responsibilities. You can set up one Hotmail folder for all the mail addressed to your Hotmail address to keep it separate from your Outlook mail or several Hotmail folders.

1. Sign in to Outlook.com.

2. In the Navigation pane, expand the Folders list to expand it.

3. Select New Folder at the bottom of the Folders list.

4. In the text box, enter a descriptive name for the folder and press Enter.

5. Repeat this process for as many folders as you want to use to organize your email. The folders appear at the bottom of the folder list in the navigation pane.

Move Mail in Outlook.com Manually

Each time you open Outlook.com and go to your Inbox, scan the email and move messages to the folders you set up. Make liberal use of the Delete and Junk icons on the toolbar as you sort.

1. Open the Outlook.com Inbox.

2. Hover over a message you want to move and select the checkbox. To move several emails to the same folder, select the checkbox for each message.

3. Select Move to in the toolbar and choose a folder. If you don't see the folder name, select All folders and choose the folder from the list.

4. Repeat this process with emails destined for other folders.

Move Mail in Outlook.Com Automatically

If you frequently receive emails that aren't important and that you don't want to see immediately, use the Focused Inbox. The Focused Inbox shows important emails and emails that you interact with frequently. Unimportant emails are put in the Other Inbox.

1. Open the Outlook.com Focused inbox. If you don't see the Focused Inbox, go to Settings and turn on the Focused Inbox toggle switch.

2. Hover over an unimportant, junk, or spam email and select the checkbox.

3. Select Move to at the top of the screen.

4. Select Always move to Other inbox.

5. Email from that individual or sender address is moved to the Other inbox automatically, leaving your important emails in the Focused Inbox.