Reading and managing email

The Everything view is where most people spend their time. Open it from Emails in the sidebar. It shows mail across every inbox, sorted into three sections: pinned at the top, unread next, read at the bottom. Each section is newest-first.

What an email row tells you

Every row carries the same set of signals:

• The left edge color is the email's category. Categories are how you tell at a glance what kind of mail something is. The Categories guide covers them in depth.
• A green dot in front of the inbox name means unread. Unread rows also use bolder text.
• A filled pin in that same leading spot means pinned. A pinned email floats to the top of every list view it appears in. A row shows the dot or the pin, never both.
• The time is when the email arrived, or when it was sent, for mail in Sent.

The three sections, in order

Every list view shows the same three sections when relevant, whether it's Everything, a single category, or a single inbox:

• Pinned sits at the top. Anything you've pinned stays here until you unpin it, regardless of read state.
• Unread is next. New mail you haven't opened.
• Read is at the bottom. Mail you've already opened, in case you need to find it again.

Sent mail is a flat list rather than three sections, because you don't read your own outgoing mail in the same way. In the iPhone app, Outbox specifically means messages still waiting for Jade to confirm; confirmed outgoing mail is under Sent.

Pinning, marking, and deleting

These are the daily actions. Most run from the bulk action bar that appears when you select rows, or by swiping a row on a phone.

• Pin or unpin works from the bulk action bar, a swipe on a phone, or the pin button when reading a message. Pinned mail floats above unread.
• Mark read or unread happens automatically when you open a message, and bulk operations let you sweep a category as read.
• Delete moves the email to Trash, where it can be restored for 30 days before it's permanently deleted. See Trash and archive.
• Archive moves the email out of your everyday views without deleting it, from the bulk action bar, a swipe on a phone, or the reading view. Archiving doesn't itself schedule deletion. Rules can also mark mail Archived and set an Auto-delete schedule. See Trash and archive.
• Change category by opening the email and using the arrow on its category chip to move it to a different category. The pick applies to that one email; rules and other mail are untouched.
• Reprocess applies the inbox's current rules to one email from its message menu, or to selected messages from the bulk action bar. It applies all matching actions, so it can override a category or status you chose manually. Reprocess is available for live received mail, not Trash, Archive, sent mail, or quarantined mail. See Apply changes to existing mail.
• Inbox settings is the gear on the email's inbox badge, also reachable as Inbox settings in its menu. It opens the rules page for the address that received the email. Use it when one wrong email means the whole inbox needs a rule or rule set, then Reprocess so existing mail picks up the change.

How the list groups conversations

By default, the email list groups each conversation into one row that shows its latest message, with a small count of how many messages the conversation holds. Open the row to read the whole conversation, oldest message at the top. To see every message on its own row instead, switch to Individual emails in Settings → Appearance. This grouping applies to the main email list; Sent, Archive, Trash, and Quarantine always list messages individually.

Reading a conversation

When several sent and received messages belong to the same conversation, Jade shows them together as one list, oldest at the top. Each message is a row. A closed row shows who the message is from, a one-line preview, and the date. Messages you sent read You.

Jade opens the messages you're most likely to want first: the one you selected, the newest message, and anything you haven't read yet. Opening a conversation takes you straight to the message you selected. An unread message shows the same green dot it has in the mail list, and Jade marks it as read shortly after it's been open on your screen.

To read another message, select its row to open it, and select it again to close it. When several older messages in a row have all been read, Jade tucks them behind a small numbered circle on the line between messages, so the conversation stays short. The number tells you how many are hidden. Jade always keeps the oldest message visible, along with anything unread, the message you opened, the newest message, and anything you've pinned. Select the circle to bring the hidden messages back.

Reply and Forward sit at the end of the conversation and continue it from the newest message. To reply to an earlier message instead, open that message and use its menu. The same menu has a Details option that shows the full envelope: everyone the message went to, the exact addresses, and the time it was sent.

Quoted text from earlier in the conversation stays behind Show quoted text, so each message reads cleanly. Deleted messages aren't part of the conversation.

Search

Search lives in the email list itself. On desktop, click the magnifier at the right end of the filter row (or press /) to open the search field; on a phone, tap the magnifier in the top bar. Type your terms and press Enter. The pinned/unread/read sections are replaced by a single Results section, ranked by relevance. Clear search in the results header (or the ✕ in the field) takes you back to the regular list.

Plain terms match against the subject, body, sender, recipient, and inbox name, case-insensitively. For example, pay finds payment, paypal, and payable. For sharper queries there are Gmail-style operators: from:alice, subject:"order shipped", has:attachment, is:unread, category:travel, before:2026-01-01, larger:5m. Terms AND together, a leading - negates (-from:noreply), and multi-word values go in double quotes. The ? button inside the search field shows the full reference.

A search runs within your current filter selection. If the list is narrowed to one inbox or a few categories, the search respects that scope. Clear the filters to search all your mail.

A search returns up to 100 of the most relevant matches. If you suspect more matches, narrow your terms by adding an operator or a phrase from the body rather than scrolling the result list.

Filtering by category

The sidebar lists every category. Click one to see only mail in that category, organized into the same pinned/unread/read sections. The Everything view respects categories you've hidden in settings. Hidden categories don't show up in Everything but still get their own filter view if you click them in the sidebar.

This is the lever for "I don't want to see Marketing in Everything but I still want it tagged so I can sweep it later." Hide the category and it disappears from the unified view but stays sortable.

Inbox-level views

Clicking an inbox name takes you to that inbox's own view. The name is a link wherever it appears, such as on the sender row, in the sidebar, or in a search result. Same three sections, scoped to that one address. Useful when you want to see the whole conversation history with one sender.