The system label "unread" is a hidden label. You will not see it in any list of labels, as far as I know. I never have seen it listed, not even under System Labels in the master list of all your labels (gear icon -> Settings -> Labels).
Labels themselves do not "do" anything. They can be attached to messages, but you need to do that (aside from the built-in system labels). You can do that either manually, or using a Filter that you create. The name of a label is relatively unimportant; it should mean something to you, but it has no meaning to Gmail. Andy -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Gmail-Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-users. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
