I use Mailspring for a while now and recommend it occasionally to friends. Today I recommended, installed and configured Mailspring for a friend on Windows 10. He has very specific archiving methods in multiple accounts with multiple folder and subfolder structures. So I stumbled upon an issue, that should be addressed and fixed:
Unlike me, many users archive their emails not in the dedicated archiving feature, but in an own subfolder structure. Yes, there is a way to handle extra folders per account, but it’s not possible to create subfolders in the account or move folders into another folder. It’s also not possible to move folders with multiple emails from one account to another. Not to mention that I didn’t find any local storage, so that some emails (or folders with emails) don’t appear at the mail server anymore.
This should be fixed, since almost every other email client provides such features.
It’s worth mentioning that it is possible to create subfolders, but the process is less than obvious. You have to click the + button next to the account you’re creating a folder in, and then specify the whole path. That is, if you want 2021 under an existing Archives folder, you have to type Archives/2021.
While the behavior is here, it’s less-than-obvious (clearly), so the design needs to be adjusted.
I would love to switch to Mailspring, but I have created for myself a complex tree of subfolders (shared between 8 different email accounts), so without the ability to work with local folders I can’t use mailspring. Such a shame
I’ve tried your solution as outlined but it didn’t work.
Hey folks - this is now better supported in Mailspring 1.20.0 (April 2026)! You can create new folders and subfolders (or labels / sublabels) directly from the left sidebar — right-click a folder to see a “New Subfolder…” option, or use the new “•••” menu on sidebar items. The UX for creating nested folders has also been significantly improved and the app will auto-detect the separator you need to use.