Using Virtual Folders

Figure 5.5. Tree View

Tree View

If filters are not flexible enough for you, consider the use of vFolders (virtual folders). If you find yourself performing the same search again and again then read on.

Explaining what a vFolder does is not easy at all. It looks like a folder, it acts like a search, and you set it up like a filter. In other words, while a traditional folder actually contains messages, a vFolder is a view of messages that may be in several different folders. The messages it contains are determined on the fly, when the user selects a vFolder, using a set of filter criteria you specified before.

It is important to note that when you delete a message in a vFolder, Columba will automatically remove the message from the message list and from the folder it actually exists in.

Imagine a university with overlapping and changing groups of faculty, staff, administrators and students. In this situation vFolders often make for a better organization because they can accept overlapping groups in a way that regular folders and file systems cannot.