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.