The built in Mail client in iOS 6 is packed full of features to help you get the most out of your email experience. You can set up multiple email accounts from multiple providers. To setup your email account on your iOS device, simply go to Settings –> Mail, Contacts, Calendars –> Add Account. Then, choose your provider and enter all of your setup information in the prompts that follow. The Mail app has template setup services for iCloud, Microsoft Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft Hotmail, and you can add any other service using the “Other” category. You can add as many email accounts as you want. If you have the option, I recommend setting up all your email accounts as IMAP or Exchange accounts and not as POP accounts (click here to read What’s the Difference between POP3, IMAP and Exchange Accounts). An IMAP or Exchange account setup will store your emails on the server so that all your emails and folders are synced across all of your devices. Then if you read a message and file it on one device, it will show the message as read and filed on all your devices.

Once you have setup your email account, open up the email app and you are ready to learn some tips and tricks. Here are 5 to get you started:

1. Checking for New Messages

There are two ways to check for new messages. When you are viewing messages in the inbox of any email account, you can simply drag down on the messages until you see the little grey circular arrow at the top. After you drag down, release. That account will then check for new messages.

The second way to check for new messages is by tapping the left top button until you see all of your inboxes (if you have multiple accounts). From this screen, simply drag down on the screen and release. This will check for new messages in all of your accounts at once.

2. VIP

iOS 6 introduced the ability to designate certain people as VIPs. To set someone as a VIP follow these steps. Whenever you are reading a message, navigate to the very top of the message where you see the From/To fields. Tap on the person’s name that you would like to designate as a VIP. Their contact information will appear on the screen. Scroll down till you see “Add to VIP”. From that point forward, this persons messages will appear in the VIP section where all your Mailboxes are listed. This will let you know if you have any messages from people who are “very important”. Your messages will still appear in their normal inboxes as well but will be marked with a Star to the right of the message.

3. Shortcut to Draft Messages

Whenever you need to quickly access your draft messages, just tap and hold on the compose button at the bottom right of your screen for a couple of seconds. From here, you can tap on any of your draft messages to open it up, edit it, and send it.

4. Quickly Move Recipients between the “To”, “Cc”, and “Bcc” fields

If you are sending an email to multiple people, you can easily drag and drop their names between the “To”, “Cc”, and “Bcc” fields. To access the “Cc” and “Bcc” fields, tap right under the “To” field where you see the from address and “Cc/Bcc”. The fields will expand so that you can move contacts into the various fields. Once you have activated these fields, simply tap and hold on the contact you want to move. Then, drag the contact to the field of your choice.

5. File an email in a different account

There are times that you receive and email in your personal Inbox that is work related. On your iOS device, you can easily file this email in your work email Inbox or any other account Inbox. To do this, find the email you need to move. Don’t tap on the email itself but rather tap on the Edit button in the top right corner. You will notice that little circles appear to the right of all your emails. You can select an email (or multiple emails) by tapping on the circle next to the email of your choice. Then, tap on “Move” at the bottom middle of the screen. Once you do this, you will see all of your folders for that respective account. At the top left of the screen, you will see an “Accounts” button. Tap on this to see all of your active email accounts. From here, you can select any account and file the email(s) wherever they should go.

For other tips to help you get the most out of your email experience on the iPhone, iPad (Mini), and iPod Touch, check out these posts:

1. How to insert a photo or video directly into an email message
2. Add Smiley Face Icons to your emails and text messages with Emoji Keyboard Toggle
3. Quick Tip: Hold down the backspace key on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch to begin deleting whole words
4. Quick Tip: Instantly scroll to top of page by tapping on the menu bar on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch