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My iMac (macOS Monterey 12.6.6) runs Mail.app 16.0. Mail.app has a number of subfolders within a user-created folder called "Old Trips.” Each subfolder contains emails relating to a specific journey.

I would like to sort these subfolders so the subfolders list in the order of their creation, that is, with the most recent trips on top and the oldest trip at the bottom. A friend suggested renaming each of the subfolders with a unique starts-with-a-number name. I tried that, but even after quit and macOS restart no sorting occurred.

Is there another way to accomplish this sort?

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  • I have never seen an email client (Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc.) that allows you to sort folders. These are always alphabetical.
    – Allan
    May 26 at 14:58
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    You should be able to just drag to whatever order you want.
    – Tetsujin
    May 26 at 15:57
  • @Tetsujin Indeed, that's why I do now. The issue (am I committing an X-Y error here?) is that when I drag the most recent subfolder — from a just-completed trip — down into the "Old Trips" folder, the most recent subfolder is added to the bottom of the list within "Old Trips." There are pages and pages of old trips, and it has become tiresome to scroll up screen by screen to move the newly-added subfolder up to the top of the list.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    May 26 at 16:34
  • Open the folder first, then you can place it using the blue line between, rather than accept it will always sort to the bottom if you drop it right on a folder, & then have to move it all the way to the top. [You might have to drop it after the first item then move the first one down a step; there's always been a little quirk that it (sometimes) doesn't like either end of a list.]
    – Tetsujin
    May 26 at 16:40
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    @Tetsujin I did indeed have to drop it under the existing first item; then the newly-created subfolder appeared in second place. Easy to drag to the top. Turn it into an answer and I'll accept it. Thanks very much.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    May 26 at 16:49

1 Answer 1

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After comments…
The simplest way to do this is to just drag them to the order you need; then they will stay in place. You get a little blue line/box to show where it will drop - inside another folder, or between two.

There are, however, quirks as to how this works.

If you drop a new folder on top of an existing one when the folder is closed, it will sort to the bottom.
If you first open the folder you are dropping to you can drop to the top… except for the second quirk; it doesn't like you trying to squeeze between the container top folder & the first item in the list beneath. You have to drag to 2nd place in the list, then drag the first item below it.
Slightly irritating, but workable.

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