Unable to rearrange mail folders and subfolders

What I try/want to do is rearrange/relist/customize my mail accounts list in the Mail Settings. It would be so much easier to drag and drop custom sigs for the appropriate accounts. Both my Mail accounts list and Sig lists are so long that I have to scroll, drag and drop. Often, I overshoot, delete, repeat, repeat, then resign myself to the Today’s Village Idiot award. However, I can't even do that anymore. Am I missing something?

I welcome your solutions and idiot-proof instructions.

I had this same problem with Monterey and now Sonoma. I just notice that the folder list appears twice in the left menu bar. I cannot move folders in the first list (they just snap back). I condenced this list and scolled down. The folders all appear again and I am able to drag them into the order I want.

I had this same problem with Monterey and now Sonoma. I just notice that

the folder list appears twice in the left menu bar. I cannot move

folders in the first list (they just snap back). I condenced this list

and scolled down. The folders all appear again and I am able to drag

them into the order I want.

I'm having the same problem with rearranging Mail folders. It began when I updated to Ventura, which I deeply regret. It was accompanied by my machine returning to the same state every time I reboot - the same slate of apps open, Apple's apps all with intro messaging - regardless of reinstalling Ventura and everything I tried before resorting to that. Including a marathon session with Apple phone support for the 1000+ keychain files being written every day, eventually choking my machine to a halt.

A Ventura update for this would be welcome.

This is solved.

Just click on the mailbox names on the left side in mail and slide the name up or down. When you do this you’ll see a black line but you won’t see it as soon as you click the account name. You have to click and hold on the mail account name and then slide down or up far enough before you see the black line to signify that the account is moving.

using the black line as a guide slide to where you want the account dropped and then let go of the track pad.

Mail accounts are now rearranged.

This seems to occur when using multiple accounts and a "common inbox" view. This results in multiple listings of all subfolders belonging to each account. One of these lists cooperates with respect to moving folders around, whereas the other subfolder list does not. Thus, if you don't succeed in moving folders around, look for the other folder list belonging to your mail account on the left side of the mail window and try the same action again.

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

Try restarting Mail and see if it works. It was not somehow removed.

Sometimes it is very hard to drop the folder in the correct place for it to register (however, I think they fixed that problem).

If they are in On My Mac, they are no longer associated with any IMAP account.

All of my mail folders are now alphabetical (which I don't want).

Oddly, there have been thousands of people clamoring for that "feature."

Have you tried dragging above or below a little more from where you actually want the folder to move to?

I came to this thread because I was having trouble trying to arrange my Mac Mail folders and I wasn't able to move them at all and then I found this thread that says to click on the mailbox that you want to move and then just drag it and you will get a blue line showing you some indication that it can move. It took me a few tries but I have all of my mailboxes arranged now like I like them.

Thanks for your feedback. You can indeed do this but it doesn't work all the time. You can't drag and drop a mailbox into a mailbox folder. You have to open the folder and then drag it in (as long as one isn't at the top and the other at the bottom in which case you have to make sure you don'3t drop it accidentally elsewhere). Once in and you close and reopen the folder it doesn't sort alphabetically (but again it has done so sometimes). At best it is flakey..

On Catalina, at least, this is still very flaky. It usually does not work at all - that is, usually the mailbox does not move in the list. Sometimes it moves. Usually when it moves it ends up somewhere other than the place shown by the blue line with the circle on the left end.

Old thread but problem persists. My workaround for moving folders into other folders is to create a new, empty folder inside the folder that where you want the folder that you are moving to go. Name that folder the same name as the folder you'd like to move. Then copy all of the emails from the original folder that you want to move into the folder you just created, and delete the copy of the original folder that you wanted to move. A pain compared to drag and drop, but it has the desired result. This is how I manage it with Sonoma.

This is a really annoying problem. If we were in the '90s I would understand but this is a fundamental basic that needs sorting by Apple now !! Don't just focus on selling stuff, focus on keeping your customers!!! It is making my job much more difficult.

Upgraded to Ventura a few months back and am now experiencing the same issue. I can no longer manually move any Mac Mail folders or subfolders AND they are all automatically sorted alphabetically... very frustrating indeed!

Not solved for me...