Home Forums Peripherals & Multimedia iTunes, iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV iphone folder hell MAIL - expanded folders

Thanks JOe, good explanation. Is this hopeless or IOS can one day have as default folders collapsed was on normal computer?

Finder, including Spotlight, and true multi-tasking are the principal differences between MacOS and iOS/iPadOS. Eliminating those functionalities permits iPhones and iPads to get by with as little as 1GB of memory and 16GB of storage with sufficient battery capacity to last all day. Certainly it is possible that hardware size and power requirements capable of running full featured MacOS in an iPhone form factor will someday be available, but that will probably require an order of magnitude reduction in the size of the die and achieving that could potentially require a major change in the technologies used to manufacture the chip or in the chip itself. That will happen, the technological feasibility was demonstrated in the '90s, but no one has figured out how to manufacture it — yet.

THIS JUST IN: As I was writing this post, I was installing iOS/iPadOS 14.3 and decided to take another look at Apple's attempt at Finder for iOS/iPadOS, Find before posting. Find has definitely improved since the last time I looked at it. Lo and Behold it does offer some of the collapse & expand folder display features of Finder on the Mac — not all of them and not 100% the same but definitely usable. Therefore it would appear there may well be APIs that could provide a semblance of the functionality you desire if they were used in Mail or third part apps. Now all you need is for Apple to integrate those APIs into Mail. If you can get 1,000 to 1,500 or so, of your friends to request that feature, it could well appear in iOS/iPadOS 15 or 16.

If you have chosen not to use iCloud for Mail on your Mac (or vice versa with the iPhone), then the folder may not show up. Check your Settings>Apple ID>(sidebar) iCloud and see if Mail is checked under "Apps on this Mac using iCloud".

In Mail on MacOS on the the Mail menu bar under Messages there is an option to "Synchronize All Accounts" that is intended to clean up mis-matches like you are seeing on your iPhone. As I don't use Mail on my iOS devices I can't verify whether this option is available in that venue or not, but you might look for it in Settings > Mail.

Theoretically that should also be cleared up if all of your devices are set to synchronize Mail through your Apple ID (iCloud).

• ON YOUR MAC: look under System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud
• ON YOUR IPHONE: look under Settings > Your Name > iCloud

and be sure Mail is checked (✓) in both places. But be aware that synchronization is not necessarily immediate and can sometimes take up to a day or two. 🤷‍♂️

I don't see that under Messages but under Mailbox there is an option to "Synchronize (my wife's account)". What does that do? I could not find an answer in Mail Help. (Her account is IMAP and mine is POP, if that makes any difference.)

It makes all the difference. POP is an elderly protocol designed to support a single user on a single device. In that environment, synchronization is a non-sequitur. IMAP is deigned around the assumption the user will be accessing the account from multiple devices and wants each of them to have all of the same content, so synchronization is the point. It assures that what your wife sees in Mail on her iPhone is exactly what she would see in Mail on her Mac at home, her PC at the office, and in the webmail interface at an internet café.

My iMAC does not have anything called APPLE ID in System Preferences.

Doesn't really matter, though, since I have never signed up for iCloud in the past, nor do I wish to do so in the present.

You don't see this or maybe something similar depending upon your version of macOS?

No. There is a "sign in" button in the upper right-hand corner. When I click on it, I am asked to create an iCloud Account - which I do not want.

The image you provided, I suspect, only shows up for those who have created an account, then; subsequently, sign in.

Maybe. It's been ages, and I"ve got no idea what I saw originally.

If you have an Apple ID, purchased an app from the App Store, purchased or played a tune in Music, registered an Apple Device, sent an iMessage (as opposed to an SMS/MMS text), or activated Find my… on any Apple device; you have an iCloud account including 5GB of iCloud storage space. The net cost to you for all of this is $0.00.

That doesn't appear to be true in all cases.

I can login to the Apple Store. BUT, if I want(ed) to use the iCloud, I cannot just sign in there. I am asked to CREATE an iCloud account, which I have not done - according to Apple. So it would seem that while I have an Apple account, I do not automatically become an iCloud member unless I open an iCloud account.