Hide Hotmail folders
HotmailUniversity
As you create folders and create subfolders in your Windows Live Hotmail account, the listing you see on the left side of the screen can become quite overwhelming. But, as you'll learn in this tutorial, Hotmail actually gives you an option to temporarily hide email folders from the screen, which allows you to see more content inside the left pane, including Quick Views active views, Windows Live Messenger features, etc.
Hide and unhide your Hotmail email folders
The command to show or hide email folders and subfolders in your Hotmail email account is actually the same, and has been introduced as feature in a relatively recent version of the webmail service. While all email folders and subfolders will be showing on the left of the screen by default, it is possible that you (or another authorized user) has already hidden the folders - either voluntarily or accidentally.
This screenshot shows the default Hotmail folders, all visible inside the folder pane:
Notice how all email folders beside the Inbox are displayed under the label "Folders", which shows a tiny triangle on the left of its name. To hide your Hotmail folders, simply click once on the disclosure triangle, as shown on the screenshot below:
As soon as you do, Windows Live Hotmail will collapse and hide all folders and subfolders, and you'll see a different triangle, just like this: (the fact that you see "Quick views" right below "Folders" tells you that your email folders are currently hidden). Notice that the screen appears much less "busy" and crowded, now that you've hidden all folders inside the folder pane.
Windows Live Hotmail will "remember" that setting, and automatically show or hide your folders the next time you sign in to your email account. If you are sharing a Hotmail account with other people, make sure that they know that you have hidden these folders, otherwise they may well be puzzled and think that all their folders and email messages are gone!