Need help creating smart mailboxes

I am a seasoned MAC user- currently have a MAcbook pro with OSX 10.7.4-
I have a variety of mail servers that I use ( gmail mostly- 3 accounts, 2 old Aol accounts, and yahoo). I am in the process of reducing the servers but would like a way to organize all my incoming mail into categories.

I am confused about the difference between a Smart Mailbox and a Smart Mailbox folder which presumably goes into one of the smart mailboxes.

I spent about an hour yesterday trying to set up some new mailboxes and although I was able to get the mailbox names on the left panel, I couldn't actually get the mail to go into them. I know that probably most seasoned MAC users have been through this an figured it out but I need a step by step approach to do this,
Also, I have an iphone and an Ipad and wonder if I need to set it up 3 times. I do have automatic syncing setup via cloud.
Anyhow, any tips or leads would be much appreciated. So happy to have stumbled onto this forum so I can quit bugging my husband. ( he is a techie and he also couldn't figure out the Smart Mailbox issue!)
Ismcd58

Ismcd58 said:

I am confused about the difference between a Smart Mailbox and a Smart Mailbox folder which presumably goes into one of the smart mailboxes.

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No, you have this backwards. A Smart Mailbox folder is a container for a collection of Smart Mailboxes.

I spent about an hour yesterday trying to set up some new mailboxes and although I was able to get the mailbox names on the left panel, I couldn't actually get the mail to go into them.

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Sound like you created Mailboxes rather than Smart Mailboxes. Mailboxes need to have rules set in the Rules section in order to direct the incoming email to them. Smart Mailboxes have *conditions* set on them which automatically show all mail that meets those conditions.

The important thing to remember about Smart Mailboxes is that they DON'T actually move mail from your inbox or anywhere else. They are just a FILTERED VIEW of email that meets the criteria set for the Smart Mailbox. The actual mail stays right where it was originally.

Also, I have an iphone and an Ipad and wonder if I need to set it up 3 times. I do have automatic syncing setup via cloud.

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Then no.