With Mail's columns, you can choose any the priority in how you sort your messages. Also, you can use Filters to organize your mail. Filters steer incoming mail straight into the folders you want.

Date

At first, Yahoo! Mail organizes your messages by date. The most recent emails you've received appear at the top. By clicking "Date," you can flip the order from newest-to-oldest to oldest-to-newest, so your oldest messages are on top. Click "Date" again to switch it back.

Message Status (read or unread)

Going from left to right, the first column has a small "i" at the top. Click the "i" once, and all your unread messages (in bold) rise to the top, with the newest listed first. Click it again, and your unread messages re-sort from oldest to newest.

From

"From," the next column, tells you who messages are from! Nice how that works. Click it to alphabetize senders from Z to A (descending order), or click again to list them from A to Z.

To

Next is the optional column we mentioned. It's the Recipient column, which is handy if you've got more than one address (an extra email address, forwarded mail, or disposable addresses in Yahoo! Mail Plus, etc.) funneling mail into your Inbox. Under the column heading "To", you'll get a quick look at which address an email was sent to. Want to show this column? Here's how:

• Click Options in the upper-right corner of your Mail page and select More Options or Mail Options depending on what version of mail you are using.
• From the list on the left, select General.
• Find "Recipient column", and select "Show a recipient account column…"
• At the top of the page, click Save Changes.

Subject

The "Subject" column works the same way as "From", and can be alphabetized backward or forward by clicking "Subject", then clicking it again.

Date

We've already covered "Date". This is the usual way people sort messages, either by newest-to-oldest or by oldest-to-newest.

Attachments

Continuing to the right, at the top of the next column you'll see a paperclip!—the world-famous icon for attachments. Click the paperclip and you'll group together all your messages with attachments. One click, and all messages with attachments get listed up front, from the most recent to the oldest. Click again, and messages with attachments appear up front again, but this time from the oldest to the newest.

Flag (for follow-up)

Flags give you a quick way to remind yourself what messages need attention. Add a flag to a message simply by clicking in the Flag column next to the message.

Now, to sort messages by their flagged status, click the flag at the top of the column. With one click, you can see all your flagged messages rise to the top, with the newest listed first. If you click the flag again, the messages re-sort to the bottom, with the most recent flagged message listed last.

Filters

Finally, you can sort your messages as they arrive into different folders. It's the "Filters" feature! To set up a new filter:

• Click Options in the upper-right corner of your Mail page and select Mail Options or More Options if you are using the new mail interface.
• From the list on the left, click Filters.
• Click Create or edit filters.
• Click Add, give the filter a name, and choose from a variety of options to automatically direct certain messages into a specific folder. For example, send any messages you get from your family into a folder called "Family." Handy! When you're done, click Add Filter.