Gmail Gives Labels The Folder Treatment

@DangerousLiberal: Have you tried to use the Quick Links labs feature to save a search for "has:red-bang"?
While this isn't exactly a folder - I would think this should do the job.

@UnderLoK: Google has such a good mail searching system, a lot of people have abandoned their labels and just searched. If your labels are out of control, you can still just search.

@DangerousLiberal: I think School/Fall08 is just as readable as School: Fall08, don't you think?

@EustaceTheDragon: Because I cannot have quick links and the calendar on the right side.

Essentially I have a wide monitor and I prefer to have what I need on the screen without having to scroll up and down (or pressing extra buttons).

With everything cluttering the left side I have to scroll up and down.

rmagere

I second all of the above. I was in tears today when I realized that my labels were no longer nested!!!

GeorgeProtoss

Gina get to work PLEASE!

For us label/folder freaks the drag drop seems busted in BetterGmail and or GoogleRedesigned. Worse however is that I have over 50 labels and the are NO LONGER NESTED. My list goes off the bottom of my window and the drag time to a lower label (with Better Gmail and Google Redesigned off)is really slow when you are dragging a message to a label that is off the window or a label to a message that is off the window.

hantran

@Ernesto Miquel: Where's the all mail? Click on settings and "unhide" it. It's still there. :)

neilw21

Where's "all mail"? It's gone now!!! At least the "G, A" shortcut still works, but I can't believe they removed "all mail".

I don't like that at all.

Ernesto Miquel

@DevourerKwi: the reasons companies use exchange and outlook (even small business) are so much further along than "folders" that I have to question whether or not you've actually used a properly setup Exchange/outlook implementation.

not too mention the simple fact that MANY businesses are REQUIRED to archive their communications (including email) and GMail does not meet the standards for archiving under SOX rules.

Now through in simple things like calendar integration (for more than just your appointments), integration with many third party software apps, and the simple fact of actually controlling your own mail server, and Exchange/Outlook for business is literally decades ahead of gmail.

i personally use google apps for my personal domains, but I'm not interested in it due to it's many shortcomings (not the least of which is it's lack of reliability) for a full fledged business usage scenario.

if anything, people will continue to use gmail/google apps for the free spam filtering and relay system that many small businesses do now.

Buddha916

I just saw this, and my first thought was to come here and see if there is a way to fix what they broke for me. I liked it better the other way. :(

@matilde: Agreed bring back the right side lables ... having everything on the left side means that I have to scroll to see any of the other widgets like calendar and such. To me this is a real pain.

Keep the same label implementation but give back the option of moving it back to the right side.

Fail

Garowetz

i want the labels to work like Delicious tagging. Create a text field i where i can type whatever comes to mind. Have it know what tags i've used before and suggest them or autocomplete them. i'd use the hell out of that. As the labels are, i used them a few years ago and haven't touched them since.

i can has multidimensional symbols?

Give me a pulldown that lets me select a symbol and another to color it.

Apeiron242

@darylgriffiths:

Great that makes 1 happy user vs everyone else.....

matilde

I quite like it. It's a very welcome change. It cleans up Gmail, and in the end it makes it easier/quicker to use.

Gmail labels (which, c'mon, are actually tags) are worlds more valuable than traditional folders. I had just migrated my work email over to gmail explicitly to take advantage of the great search, filters, labels and folders4gmail. Breaking my nested folders is a serious problem for me, as I use five main labels, each with two to ten sub-labels to stay on top of my zillion projects. Google, do you read Lifehacker? Nested labels, please!

Tangentially, I've read all the comments, and I still don't understand why it is so important to so many people to have right-side labels. Can somebody explain this explicitly, please?

EustaceTheDragon

Im not sure I agree with you. i have been using folders and subfolders in outlook for years for work projects ... and i find that no matter how disciplined I am - after a few weeks of tough deadlines, the inbox is a mess and i just chuck things in various folders. the multiple labels in google makes things stacks easier because often one mail contains issues relevant to many projects.

ShabariAtreus

I think Google should put their efforts elsewhere. I guess the reason why most Gmail users don't use labels it's because its search box makes them useless. Folders are a downgrade from labels, therefore I don't see the point.

SinsapaNimpy

I've got the "new" labels and it's great. Love being able to drag and drop (both label to message and vice-versa - genius!). I already had labels to the left, so I guess it's less of a change for me.

I got 4 above the bar to start with, some of which are "old" labels, but it's easy enough to reorganise them to move some below the bar and promote others above the bar (dragging and dropping again!).

Overall it's a good improvement - nice work Google Mail team.

darylgriffiths

@DoxDox You mean the Chat menu item beneath Inbox and such? Gmail now allows you to turn off system labels, too. So if you only want inbox to show up above your labels, knock yourself out. Chat, by default, is hidden. However, a quick trip to settings > Labels can fix that if you wish.

ValdaLexis

This is the worst change ever to gmail.
I have about 50 labels handled by filters and grouped by folders4gmail (giving me about 6 label topics).
All of them were sitting nicely on my right hand side and gave me a true "folder like" system (while leaving the left side free for quick links and calendar)

Now I only have a mess on the left hand side and a waste of space on the right hand side.

Put me down as "not happy"

rmagere

On a related note, Better GMail 2 isn't compatible with Firefox 3.5. Please update it quickly!!

robinfrance

@Isaacquartz: Actually, you can do either.

robinfrance

@MattPadgett: I know.... I just took a look at the labels... I already hate it.. I miss my right side labels.... I really hope they come back with the right side labels..
(I do like the drag and drop)

priyankvira

@MattPadgett: I know.... I just took a look at the labels... I already hate it.. I miss my right side labels....
(I do like the drag and drop)

priyankvira

@MacRadge: For one thing: to filter out stuff you want to read, but don't want to immediately act on. I have a "review later" label that contains all the notices about new books in my field, newsletters, etc. I set a filter to have them skip the inbox and go to that folder, where I can read them at my leisure. Labels are often easier to work within than a search term.

DangerousLiberal

@tarrkid: Yes! Then I could have labels to the left, where they belong, and all the other stuff to the right. Bonus.

DangerousLiberal

@strabes: I think Tom804 means sort it in order, like "sort by date" or "sort by flag."

I wish that gmail let you create a folder based on superstars. I've never been able to make a filter for the red-bang star--this would be my "needs attention" folder.

DangerousLiberal

@Gyroscope352: These options exist already, and gmail doesn't have to create them. The options are

1. Use thunderbird or Outlook as an IMAP client (set IMAP on the gmail end first). Then just use Tbird/Outlook as the mail client.

2. Sign up for hotmail or yahoo mail, both of which use the fodlder metaphor and avoid threaded conversations. '

Threaded convos was a feature that differentiated gmail from the others. It takes some adjustment, but now I prefer it.

DangerousLiberal

@jayteemo: Or, in all mail, or your inbox, if you don't archive, select with the checkbox each email from a family member, then click on "create filter" and it will set up the OR expression for you. Not to worry, though--it seems that there's no limit to filters, unike Outlook. Google filters are quite easy one you get into it.

DangerousLiberal

It was a good effort on Google's part to change how we organize our email. With as many innovations as Google has made it only makes sense that a few wouldn't work out. My guess is they continue to call them labels and give them full folder capabilities. I hope Google Wave takes off and we don't have to worry about it.

@cisengineer: I just do this manually: School: Fall08, School: Spring09. I do this because I don't like scripts if I have to use another machine, and I want to keep everything in native gmail formats. But the collapsability of folders makes the better gmail script very compelling.

Overall, I like this new feature. I never really liked the right side labels, I just like everything on the left, I guess,

DangerousLiberal

@DevourerKwi: If you had x amount of folders in your previous mail solution just add the exact same number of labels, with the exact same names, and treat them in the exact same way, and surprise surprise... the work in the exact same way!

Regardless if I added a message to a folder or label, it will still be there when I click on that folder/label int he future, there is no difference in organizing, except of course that labels are superior since you can have an message in multiple labels without having to make redundant copies.

In this case the roses doesn't just smell just as sweet with a different name, they smell better.

TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H.

@gpzbc: i should add that I am 100% on board with labels as opposed to folders. I was slow to accept at first but now it seems like the only way to go.

gpzbc

I am enjoying this so far.

gpzbc

The Gmail blog states, "For those of you who created label names like _stuff or ++todo++ to force your most-used labels to the top of the list (come on, you know who you are, I did it too...), you don't have to come up with clever tricks like that anymore ;)..."

They make it sound like you can now drag and drop your labels in the order that you want them to appear (other than alphabetically). This doesn't seem to be the case, at least not for me. Thoughts?

nka

There must be an option to show labels with unread messages before the remaining labels.

mesuth

This is the worst change I've seen in gmail yet. The change they *really* needed to make was to support folders; instead everything is flattened into a big list again, which I can't even get to easily. I have too many to display them all the way it is now; instead I have to pick some arbitrary one to display so I can get to the rest with the "More" link. This is so terrible. I hope they put it back asap.

ShaktiCranaus

I'm not digging the move of Contacts, below the labels list. Why won't they let me move Contacts to below the labels?

nka

@MattPadgett: Agreed! Although...i suppose I can survive with the keyboard-based g+l label shortcut, providing i can remember what all my labels are called.

Theborg3of5

Hmm... nice idea, but unfortunately Folders4Gmail is now broken, as is the "better gmail for chrome folders4gmail" script using Google Chrome.

I have quite a lot of labels (over 200), all arranged in a hierarchical fashion, and now all I get is a huge list of my folders instead of being able to expand/collapse parts of the hierarchy as necessary. :(

rkml67

Awesome.. Thank you so much ya'll!

Dilpickle1

Why not a layer or two of sub-labels?

MimiPers?phon

I didn't like it either, because I lost my Folders4Gmail...

Well, there goes GM Folders4Gmail.

Huh?... "users aren't actually using the ... labels"? (1) not true; (2) for those who don't--they won't care. They're still labels, and they still work like labels; Google has simply/mostly just changed the arrangement/layout and added drag&drop. If Google were ever to replace labels with folders (and while they're at it, drop conversation view), then I might as well use Yahoo or Hotmail... or a client (Thunderbird, of course).

GlennA

@tombuch: That's in the Better G-mail 2 extension for Firefox. In settings, under the "Messages" tag, check "Hide Labels in Message Row". They show up only on mouse-over. It's glorious.

EustaceTheDragon

@[lifehacker.com]

cisengineer

Poll: for Right side [poll.fm]

amdou

@[lifehacker.com] Once enabled, you name a group of folders school/fall08, school/spring08 etc. and they will become a main school w/ "subfolders" fall08, spring08 which will be a collapsible menu.

cisengineer

@Asian Angel:

oh dear, you should try folders :-D I bet you'll never look back to labels anymore ;-)

I do not use lables. Why should I? The search funktion works just so well.

MacRadge

@Dilpickle1:
yup filters are the bomb, I got labels for my inlaws, my family, one for my wife and about 30 others. It takes a minute to make a filter for each 'from' address but once set getting stuff out of your inbox is a quick hit of the archive button.

Marc Dobson

I use Gmail labels all the time. It's way quicker for me since I use Gmail filters to auto label emails. When I want something out of my inbox I hit archive, it's gone and know exactly where it went. Previous to Gmail I used Outlook and Yahoo email. Via Gmails IMAP 'sync' all labels are turned into folders in Outlook. I still use to Outlook to archive emails over a year old and add to my complete pile of emails dating back to 1999. I think my system is the bomb.

Like other users I wish for additional sub-folders/sub labels.

Marc Dobson

Hopefully they will bring the 'old' system of labels back. Please Gmail:)

matilde

@amdou:

It was a bad idea to remove them and the changes are not good. Now it feels a bit like trying to be Yahoo, and the functionality crippled.

matilde

As mentioned above, right-hand side labels are very good for an extensive use of labels :/. I hope it remains an option...

GeraldineCelsus

Lots of people didn't liked the idea of left side, check out gmail discussion: (all 3 threads)
[tr.im]
[tr.im]
[tr.im]

amdou

We should have the possibility to drag the labels to the emails and not the emails to the label/folder.
It's more logical to me.

Isaacquartz

Google first disabled my right side label menu, but I still don't have new label features. Anyone knows why?
[from Italy]
ciao

paolino

I like my labels (which I use a lot) just the way they are. I would like to see something like Folders4Gmail implemented in Labs though.

Interestingly, this coincides with RescueTime dropping tags after discovering that the vast majority of their subscribers weren't using them. I wouldn't be surprised if, after checking their analytics, most web services that feature tagging found that users weren't taking advantage of it.

@lash:

What's still unbelievable to understand... if one has 50 .. 100 or more folders ... labels or whatever we can call it... why the heck isn't a folder hierarchy possible?

@twins8791:

why should one do that? And I thought Gmail's search would be fantastic? So no real need for weird labels.

@lash: can't put the same email in two folders = broken.

twins8791

@strabes: Have you tried other mobile versions?
Try one of these links:
[mail.google.com]
[mail.google.com]
[mail.google.com]

@jayteemo: Incorrectly, perhaps. Or maybe inefficiently? I didn't find it very intuitive. I have Gmail and Thunderbird IMAPed to one another and do all my organizing in Thunderbird. I find it a lot easier to find everything, for some reason. Labels just... seemed like a jumbled mess, I guess.

I want labels on right side!!!! I import all my other emails(Yahoo, hotmail, aol) to gmail, i also get news feeds in gmail and to manage all these i use labels, now left side labels means lot of scrolling, up and down which is most irritating part.

amdou

@[userscripts.org]

Let's hope the author upgrades it for when the new version hits.

Pasha

@tnoetz01: It's a slow rollout, just like all the other GMail features. It hasn't shown up for me yet either. Be patient.

Pasha

Like others, labels were strange at first. Now, I detest Outlook and it's lack of labels. Folders are crippling and myopic. Any given email can fit into any number of categories (labels). As long as I don't lose the ability to see all my labels at once, all the time - and the ability to apply multiple labels to a single email, I don't care what they do. 75% of my email doesn't even go to my inbox. It is labelled and archived automatically with filters. I use a similar setup for work, but Outlook lacks labels, so I am stuck with keeping any given email in only one folder. The strength of labels is that they work EXACTLY like folders, but allow to you do more - if you choose.

CurtNareen

I used right-side labels so that my quicklinks would be easy to access. Having the list of labels on the left pushes the quicklink box down the page where I can't see it without scrolling.

GwynethValentin

@Dilpickle1: you can do multiple in one, just use OR...
mom@email.com OR dad@email.com OR cat@email.com

@DoxDox: They took it out for the time being because it was conflicting with regular mail they said. It should come back as soon as they fix the issues. I never had any issues with the SMS conflicting with regular Gmail, but I guess there were some with problems.

Horia Kraus

I often wish I could suppress the labels when viewing mail. Too often they take up so much of the subject line that I can't tell what the message is. Heck, even better than suppressing labels would be variable subject/sender lines.

tombuch

@MattPadgett: I am really going to miss right side labels as well. I did see you can move the chat box over there now, but I don't use chat much. :/

Now they REALLY need to get the ability to move any of the other widgets (not just Chat) over to the right. Calendar, Documents, even custom ones (ToodleDo really belongs on the right side).

tarrkid

Grrr.

MrBloggerificHimself

Somewhat unrelated, but has anybody else seen the Text from Chat feature disappear? It is suddenly no longer an option for me, and I can't find it in my Gmail labs, either.

Anyone else?

DoxDox

now if only they had the nested folder structure

*All these features and functionality will be "rolling out gradually" to Gmail users.* That's what I get for not reading closely.

i really wish you could put a label within a label, much like folders

Is this not working for anybody else? My labels is now no longer on the left side (thanks, Gmail), but it's certainly not updated, either... Tried clearing my cache and using Chrome, FF, and *gasp* even IE.

*bangs head on table*
Just last night I finished updating my GMail Compactor greasemonkey script. I was gonna hold of on the release because i wanted to make sure it's bug free. Looks like this will impact the script heavily. Back to coding i go (once it shows up on my GMail)
Oh well, it was on my to-do list to add label support anyway.

Pasha

Hmm, my gmail is still exactly the same as before, minus the right side label labs feature. I guess they're rolling this one out in sections, like usual.

@tom804: You mean like filters? You can use a filter to apply a label and skip inbox, effectively putting it into a folder since the message doesn't show up in your inbox but the label will add the message to its unread count.

@winshape: I agree. In general I think Gmail needs to work a little bit more like every other e-mail client by default (that is, have conversations off, make labels more like folders, etc.). I think that these features are extremely powerful but not desired by everyone, and it would be nice to have settings (like in Postbox) that can turn different features on or off.

@lash: Until I switched to Gmail a couple of years ago, I had only ever used Outlook and so was completely wedded to folders. The initial adjustment took a while, but once I'd got used to it, I loved labels, and still do. In fact, I find it impossible to imagine going back to a folder system now. The key advantages of labels, for me, are (i) the ability to apply as many labels as you want to any message, and (ii) the ease with which labels can be applied and removed - I've found this to be much quicker than moving messages between folders. I now use labels extensively as part of my workflow, with different labels denoting different stages in a job being processed.

I've tried a few desktop e-mail clients that access Gmail via IMAP - most recently Postbox earlier this week - but the lack of equivalent label functionality has been a dealbreaker for me every time. Seems like I'm stuck with Gmail webmail for the time being!

robinfrance

@Jack: My labels just got moved to the left as well. They are not integrated into the mail boxes yet though, Google just took away the Right Side Labels lab.

MattPadgett

I've ALWAYS been a HUGE fan of Gmail's Labels. Anything that can improve on it is most welcome! I just like being able to apply more than one Label to an email if needed.

@Gina Trapani: I don't know about bets, but I really hope that the Advanced IMAP Controls become standard (or at least that they don't go away). For those of us that use things like Mail.app, Thunderbird and the like, this is kind of necessary so we don't have folders like "All Mail" confusing our unread counts and the like.

@libbybee: Will i have to have a different filter for each email or can i set multiple in one filter?

Dilpickle1

@Gina Trapani: Tasks would be very nice. How about a native tasks app for Android? Using the browser is a pain when I just want to quickly add 1 task to my list.

Grr Gmail, I wondered why my goddamn labels changed sides, now they are f**cking useless to me.

Justin Clarke

I wish they would include a feature to sort mail.

tom804

@jayteemo: Agreed. I used my labels as folders and never understood why people were so bothered by the fact that gmail doesn't have actual folders.

@Dilpickle1: Set up a filter. You can have the filter set up so that emails that come from a specific address can be auto-tagged with a label.

This is all well and good...but I'd really prefer to have an option to turn off the "conversation mode" for specific subject lines. It's way to easy to miss an email when a bunch of people are replying to an email, or if your website contact form has a specific subject line for easier filing.

winshape

The Labels feature has been a wonderful way for me to keep my e-mail organized... ^__^

I just got gmail...yesterday and labels confuse me. I want emails from several different people to be under my "family" label when i receive them. Any help?

Dilpickle1

@Balaji: It's way too far gone. I've had the account since gmail started sending out invites.

Thanks though

It would not surprise me to see this new 'improvement' of GMail screw up the use of that greasemonkey script; we'll have to see. The idea of not offering us folders is the number one most stupid thing that I have seen Google make. Why not give us what we want? Why not give us what works? The reason people did not use labels is because they suck, not because of their placement...

FentonPompeii

@libbybee: In addition, this makes the calendar gadget useless since I now have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see them unless I put it on top of the labels, which means I have to scroll to the bottom to see my labels.

This is utter crap, Gmail.

@Jack: I love those custom colours. XD ^__^

Thankfully I'm still seeing labels in my Google Apps account...for now. I like how labels work, and wish other email apps had them as well. Am sad to see them changing.

saffyre9

@MattPadgett: Hmm. Weird, mine is now on the left but still shows all 15 of my labels. From what I've read here and elsewhere it seems like eventually you'll be able to "pin" the labels you want to see/use a lot to the list and then expand to see the remains. I wonder how this sort of function will interact with people who might have filters set up to Label & Archive an email when it comes in (as I do for my Bacn emails). Will those labels with new unread messages always show in the list?

Personally, I would have preferred that Google offer us the choice: Labels on the right with the "Move to..." function, or Labels on the left with drag & drop. I doubt I'll ever use the d&d functionality now that I've gotten in the habit of "Move to..."

Jack

I like these label changes. However, when will Google work on being able to change the default font when composing emails? It's the one thing that really gets to me...

ShuchismitaKnulf

Hmm...they've taken away my right-side labels but haven't enabled the new functionality yet. That's a lose-lose for the moment. I'm curious to see how the new system works, I have 20+ labels and did like the right-side labels a lot!

Josh Weiss

Ugh. I already miss my right-hand labels. I have a LOT of labels and all of them are used pretty extensively (that's what happens when you're using gmail to handle 6 different email accounts), so even with right-hand chat I'm going to have to scroll no matter what.

Bring right-hand labels back, gmail! You have made me a sad panda today.

Oh man! I loved right-side labels! My Gmail looks so sad now...

LombardNarballs

I am happy to see Google getting close to joining the rest of reality. Labels are okay but they are time consuming for active email accounts. Drag and drop is a smart move.

thelastnamehere

The 'gmail labels will change location' part seems like a potential major problem for the folders4gmail greasemonkey script, which is loved by many users - including me. The update haven't been pushed to my Apps account yet, but can anyone confirm that there is a problem?

@DevourerKwi: i'm not sure how you used them, but labels act just like folders, with the advantage of having multiple labels on one message. how are they useless for organizing?

@UnderLoK: Use Folder4gmail Greasemonkey script and group ur labels.

Balaji

@dwdawson: PLEASE let it be tasks. My workflow is also very Google-centric, and there is so much potential for useful Tasks integration, it just isn't up to snuff yet.

I hope they're listening.

Eric Sellars

@Jack: I have a lot of labels. In the pictures above you see:
Personal
Travel
4 more

So its hiding 4 labels. My right side label feature does not. I don't know if ticking the dropdown will keep all labels visible but I do know that it is going to make the whole left side of my GMail window very long. Probably long enough that I will have to scroll down to get to my bottom labels. :(
And it won't be even with the right side which will not house anything anymore.

MattPadgett

@lash: When I first start using gmail so many moons ago, I found the lack of folders to be disconcerting. I didn't really understand the advantage to labeling vs. putting something into a folder.

However, here's the power of labels.

Let's say you have an email come in from a family member that's about an upcoming vacation to Europe. That email may reference some airline deals, some hotels, and some cities in Europe you may visit. What folder do you put this exclusively into? "Family," "Europe," "Travel," etc.? With labels, you can label (i.e. - tag) this email for its contents. That way, if in the future you plan to take another trip to Europe, you can reference the email under "Europe." Or, if you want to remember the airline you took, you can reference the email under "Travel."

I've found this system of labeling/tagging to be very useful in my organization.

FabianArmstrong

This is just Awful. I was very happy with my right side labels.

matilde

If you use Gmail as your main email hub then I strongly recommend using Firefox + Greasemonkey + Folders4Gmail script. That combination, coupled with Gmail's filtering functionality goes a long way to automated email organization.

LorenzoEquidistance

@mattdonders: I lost the labs feature to move right-side labels back to the left side as well. Just turn off right-side chat, and the labels box will move back to left side with it.

FabianArmstrong

@MattPadgett: i'm with you. right side labels is one of my favorite things about gmail.

and i'm still waiting on the voice invite too.

@MattPadgett: I'm gonna miss 'em too. Though for the life of me I can't figure out how a positioning issue interferes with a functionality issue, but oh well... at least I can still have Chat over on the right side.

Jack

@lash

There is no way I can go back to folders now which is really unfortunate because my mail is just too far gone to be bothered now. Folders should have been an option in the beginning, but instead, now I have what seems like 50000000 labels that aren't grouped (as folders and sub folders would be) and are virtually useless.

Hey labels are great with filters, it doesn't seem that these changes will change that much.

@Gina Trapani: Well I do think tasks is amazing but keeping in mind that custom color labels is a lab feature right now it may be that.

This is a welcome change, one that will get more (small) businesses to go to Gmail instead of the pricier (yet more standardized) Outlook/Exchange format. Not having folders for organization is crippling, and even as a private user, I found labels next to useless for organizing.

@dwdawson: Me too! Tasks would definitely be my choice (and best guess).

An update to the label system?! About time.

Labels are OK, but I never understood why Gmail abandoned typical folder-style file management - if it ain't broke, you know?

@MattPadgett: GoOgle doesn't necessarily have a history of recognizing "user tastes" in rolling out changes: witness Notebook and left-side Start Page tabs.

My right-side labels is still active and I can't turn it off. Maybe my labels will always be stuck to the right side!

@Gina Trapani: I'm hoping Tasks. After using Todoist and RTM I found Google Tasks to be the simplest and best integration into my heavily-Googled project flow.

Looking forward to this.. a very welcome change. I have occasionally started to use labels, but they never worked particularly well. So long as we can reorganize them other than just alphabetically I'll be happy.

cutcopypaste

I use labels extensively, and this seems to be a good improvement. Will there be any way to make something like sub-folders? That I would really like.

LorettaHizello

Any bets on which Labs feature will graduate to a regular one? That was a heavy-handed hint they dropped there.

@Gina Trapani: Figures. One of my favorite things and Google tramples it. Just like they won't send me a Voice invite. I think Google hates me.

MattPadgett

@MattPadgett: Doesn't look that way. From their post:

"All of these changes also mean the end of Right-side Labels, an experimental Gmail Labs feature. This is the first Labs feature we're retiring. (The idea behind Labs was always that things could break or disappear at any time or they might work so well that they become regular features. More on that soon...)"

I am going to miss right side labels. Is that still going to be a choice?

MattPadgett