Delete a folder in Hotmail

Windows Live Hotmail lets you delete any email folder you created, whether it is empty or not. Hotmail's five standard folders are the only exceptions: these folders are essential to the service, and cannot be renamed or deleted. Before you consider deleting one of your Hotmail folders, keep in mind that you can empty a folder without deleting the folder itself, and also rename a folder (in other words keep its content, and only change its name.)

Deleting a Hotmail Folder

Updated for the new Hotmail: the Windows Live team has (for now, hopefully) removed the ability to delete email folders through a right-click menu; the process now takes a bit longer.

• If needed, login to your Hotmail account
• Once you are inside your inbox, move your mouse above the "Folders" section in the left pane (as shown on the screenshot).
• Click on "Manage Folders" from the menu
• Windows Live Hotmail will now redirect you to a screen where all your email folders are listed, both the standard folders (Inbox, Junk, Drafts, Sent, and Deleted), as well as any custom folders you have created yourself.
• Locate the email folder you want to delete, and select its corresponding checkbox:
  
  
• Then, click on the "Delete" link at the top; Hotmail will give you a final confirmation message before deleting the folder: "Are you sure you want to delete this folder? Any mail in this folder will be moved to the Deleted items folder."
  
  
• Click "Cancel" to keep the folder and its email messages, or click "OK" to proceed with the folder deletion.
• Again, emails contained in that folder are not permanently deleted: you can go inside the Deleted items folder, and restore them to another folder of your choice.

Tip: notice that the five standard email folders do not have a checkbox next to them; this is because you cannot delete any of these folders: only the custom email folders you have created yourself in your account. If you want to quickly remove all emails a folder contains, consider the alternative, which is to manually empty a folder.

Deleting an email folder in the old Hotmail

The new Hotmail no longer lets you delete email folders with a simple right-click: hopefully, the extreme convenience of this method will make its comeback.