Exchange, Android, and multiple folder synchronization

[Garby]

Hello hello. I have a couple hopefully simple questions. I'll preface the post by saying I'm using a Galaxy Nexus, rooted, on a mostly stock ROM, and my work uses Exchange 2007.

My major concern I have is that only my Inbox keeps synchronized with the server, not the other folders. I've messed with the Sync Settings for them, but even so, if I want to make sure the folders are concurrent I have to actually open them individually. Also, more problematically, I don't get notifications for emails that come to those folders. I get tons and tons of email every day, so stemming the tide into neat folders is really helpful. I don't want to have to go back to the wild wild west. If I have to replace the stock Email app then I'm okay with that, but ideally I would like to keep it stock. I'm aware of Touchdown, but I tried the trial and, while better, it was still letting stuff go un-syncd all the time. It's also crazy expensive for a mobile app.

Also, I had an issue I had to solve in a clunky way: for no reason I could discern, one of the folders in my Inbox wouldn't sync with my phone. My folder browser looked like this:

Backup Alerts wouldn't open; my understanding is that the triangle at the end of the line signified that it had subfolders, but it didn't, except for just a second, when I dragged one in by mistake in Outlook. I fixed the issue by removing the entire email account and re-adding it, but was there a more efficient way to have done that?

Thanks in advance for the help.