The manila folder is a file folder

File folder

A file folder is a kind of folder that holds loose papers together for organization and protection. File folders usually consist of a sheet of heavy paper stock or other thin, but stiff, material which is folded in half, and are used to keep paper documents...

 designed to contain document

Document

The term document has multiple meanings in ordinary language and in scholarship. WordNet 3.1. lists four meanings :* document, written document, papers...

s. It is generally formed by folding a large sheet of stiff card

Card stock

Card stock, also called cover stock or pasteboard, is a paper stock that is thicker and more durable than normal writing or printing paper, but thinner and more flexible than other forms of paperboard. Card stock is often used for business cards, postcards, playing cards, catalog covers,...

 in half. Though traditionally beige

Beige

Beige may be described as an off tan color or an extremely pale brown color.The term originates from beige cloth, a cotton fabric left undyed in its natural color...

, sometimes other color

Color

Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...

s are used to differentiate categories of files.

The manila envelope is an envelope

Envelope

An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card....

 designed for transporting documents. It is made of thick, durable paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

 and sized so that full sheets of paper can fit inside without being folded. As with the manila folder, it is traditionally beige

Beige

Beige may be described as an off tan color or an extremely pale brown color.The term originates from beige cloth, a cotton fabric left undyed in its natural color...

, and often has a mechanism on the closing flap that allows it to be opened without damaging the envelope so that the envelope can be re-used. There are two main methods to achieve this—the first incorporates a metal clasp of two prongs, which are put through a reinforced eyelet in the flap and then bent apart to hold. The other has a cardboard "button" secured tightly on the flap and a piece of string fastened on the envelope body is wound around it to form a closure. In a more general sense, envelopes made of brown, unbleached paper, used for cheapness, are described as manila envelopes.

The manila component of the name comes from manila hemp

Manila hemp

Manila hemp, also known as manilla, is a type of fiber obtained from the leaves of the abacá , a relative of the banana. It is mostly used for pulping for a range of uses, including speciality papers. It was once used mainly to make manila rope, but this is now of minor importance...

 or abacá

Abacá

Abacá, Musa textilis is a species of banana native to the Philippines, grown as a commercial crop in the Philippines, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. The plant is of great economic importance, being harvested for its fibre, once generally called Manila hemp, extracted from the trunk or pseudostem. On...

, from which manila folders were originally made. "Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

" refers to the capital of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, one of the main producers of abacá.

Dimensions

Manila envelope dimensions as accepted by US Postal Service are:

• Maximum length: 15" (381 mm)
• Maximum width: 12" (305 mm)
• Maximum thickness: 3/4" (19 mm)