I've recently switched my Dad to IMAP so that he can have his email on his new phone as well as the computer. However, he previously had a rather (overly) complex folder system on Outlook and now he;s frustrated by just having an Inbox with everything in it. I'm assuming there's a way to sort this out, but I have no clue as just having an Inbox hasn't really bothered me with the low volume of email I get. Help....?

I think it depends on what phone he's using?

Who is his email supplier?
I think With gmail you can specify what folder are synced.
Also, I think the folder may be displayed differently, though its been years since I've used anything other than IMAP.

You should be able to create folders on the imap account (under the inbox) and work as he did before.

Who is the email account with and what mail clients is he using?

If he used rules in Outlook before, then he's best off using rules on his provider. Folders created on client or server can be synchronised.

It's not a good idea to use client-side rules in Outlook to move messages because this may cause clients to lose sync and also increases network traffic. I had one "customer" with so much email, his rules saturated his broadband and cost him a fortune in over-usage.

The Gmail client and service certainly give you plenty of power in regard to both applying rules (filters) and managing folders (labels). Since that's what I use I may be able to help, but the on-line help is fairly self explanatory. Just set up everything you want in the webmail and tell the devices to sync.

Microsoft's offerings are also pretty powerful, but I'm less familiar with them.

Most IMAP enabled accounts will offer similar services.

It's with Plusnet. But he may also have an address from work soon and I don't know who that's with.

In general then, if he creates a folder in Outlook under the Inbox and just manually moves things without rules - that will create the same folder on the server and therefore show the same on his phone? Or am I missing something in Sas' far too straightforward explanation?!

Phone is an Android with the standard preinstalled mail client.

It's that straightforward.

Folders created under the correct IMAP inbox via Outlook should appear on the server, provided it fully supports it.

On Android you can select which folders to sync. You usually just have "inbox" set but you can choose others in settings / send&receive. You then select which folder to view from the menu at the bottom of the main email screen.

Once the folder is showing on both devices, yes you should be able to just manually move messages around and see them soon after on the other device. Be aware it may take a while if he has a lot of mail. A gig could take more than a day to fully sync.

Thanks guys. I'll give that a go...

Note that by default, the Android Mail app only displays mail from the last 3 days. This is to keep storage requirements down and prevent massive data bills.

So it won't show up emails from ages ago even if they've just been moved to a new folder.

If you use a 3rd part email app such as the gmail one, things may be very different. I much prefer the gmail app which I use on my personal tablet because it gives full access to all mail, but obviously it's for gmail accounts. I have to use the default app with my Outlook account...

Is there an Outlook app?

There's an official Microsoft app for Outlook.com on Android. I don't think it works with corporate accounts on 365 though, and it doesn't get great reviews anyway.

The default app is fine for me. I only need recent emails while I'm on the go.

Yes it does perfectly I've been using it since last autumn on a Nexus 7 tablet and a HTC desire phone.

Oh, cool. I may give it a try on my tablet. I was put off even trying by the 1 star rating!

I've just tried it (Outlook.com by Microsoft & Seven) on my Nexus 7, and it won't recognise my corporate account at all. That's the account I log in to http://office.microsoft.com/ with, using the "Organizational account" option. Is there some trick to it?

It does recognise my Hotmail account though.

I don't think I like it much. It only shows a maximum of one month's messages, the same as the default app, and I find it rather clumsy by comparison. I see no advantage to using it.