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Are there folders in Gmail? (Plus answers to other popular Google searches)

When you're searching for answers, Google's autosuggest feature lets you know what other people are looking for when they start with the same search terms. In this week's installment of our Google Autosuggest series, we provide some answers to the most popular queries about Google's insanely popular email service.
Written by Ed Bott, Senior Contributing Editor
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Google's autosuggest feature lets you know, sometimes with spooky accuracy, what other people are looking for when conducting queries similar to yours. So, with Google's help, we provide answers to a few of the most popular searches about Gmail.

How much does Gmail cost?

The consumer version of Gmail is completely free. When you sign up for a new Google account, you get an email address in the gmail.com domain, along with 15GB of storage to be shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. (You can pay to increase that cloud storage.)

Businesses can get a paid version of Gmail called G Suite that includes central administration tools, support for custom domains, and increased cloud storage. The Basic plan ($5 per user per month) includes 30GB of storage per user account. Business accounts ($10 per user per month) include unlimited storage, archiving, and eDiscovery support. Enterprise accounts offer additional features at a custom price.

Are there folders in Gmail?

Not exactly.

Gmail supports labels, which can be attached to email conversations. They work enough like folders that Gmail's Move To button includes an icon that looks like a folder but really just includes a list of labels.

If you use one and only one label for each conversation, this has the practical effect of organizing those conversations into something that looks a lot like folders. To hopelessly confuse anyone used to traditional email clients, you can attach multiple labels to a single conversation so that a single conversation appears in multiple "folders."

If you're still confused, this Help topic might be useful: Organize your Gmail inbox using labels

Does Gmail work with Outlook?

Yes, but with a caveat. Google wants you to use its services through a web browser, preferably Google Chrome. If you use Microsoft Outlook, you'll lose access to some Google features, including labels (see the previous question), which are converted to folders in Outlook.

If you connect a free Gmail account to Outlook (or another third-party client program), it uses the IMAP protocol, which synchronizes messages and other items with an Outlook data store. In managed environments with paid G Suite accounts, you can use the G Suite Sync for Microsoft Outlook tool (GSSMO) to synchronize email, calendar events, and contacts.

Can I change my Gmail address?

Sorry, no. If you decide you no longer like your old Gmail address, the workaround requires three steps:

  1. Create a new account using the address you prefer.
  2. Import your current messages to the new account.
  3. Set up forwarding from the old address to the new one.

How do I block someone on Gmail?

If you've received a message from a sender you don't ever want to hear from again, open the message in Gmail and click the down arrow in the upper right corner, next to the date/time stamp. From that list, choose Block <sender>.

To see a list of all blocked addresses, go to Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses. The list of blocked addresses appears at the bottom of that tab.

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