A particularly nice way to set up a smart folder in Mac OS X Mail is to start with a search — like you probably often do when you are looking for a particular set of emails, all mail from your Norwegian friend, for example. You can save such a search directly to a Smart Mailbox in Mail, and the newly created smart folder will automatically and always contain all search results.
Save a Search to a Smart Folder in Mac OS X Mail
To set up a smart folder using search criteria in Mac OS X Mail:
- Press Command-Alt-F or click in the Search field in the main Mail window.
- Type the terms you are searching for.
- Optionally, choose a folder or a field to restrict your search to a particular mailbox or the From, To or Subject field.
- Click Save.
- Click OK.
- Optionally, give your smart folder a name different from your search terms under Smart Mailbox Name: and
- choose whether you want to include the Trash and Sent folders.
