If you’re like most professionals, you send and receive dozens, if not hundreds, of emails a day.
Did you know you can set up automatic workflows and classification rules in Gmail (called Gmail filters), so you spend less time managing email and end up with a much better organized inbox?
In this article, I’ll explain what gmail filters are, how to set them up, and show you some advanced gmail filter tricks to boost your productivity.
what are gmail filters?
what are gmail filters? a gmail filter is simply a set of rules that are applied to incoming email. you can customize these rules as you see fit, making sure certain types of emails end up somewhere other than your inbox.
Most people use gmail filters to get rid of emails that are predictable or repetitive, like email marketing newsletters, social media notifications, or push notifications from your project management app, or to categorize them correctly.
but the only limit to their usefulness is your creativity – there are plenty of hacks and hacks to make them do pretty much anything you need.
how to create a filter in gmail
okay, ready to learn how to create gmail filters?
You can think of setting up gmail filters as a three-stage process: in stage 1, I’ll start creating a filter, in stage 2, I’ll choose the filter criteria, and in stage 3, I’ll choose how the filter handle emails that match those criteria.
phase i
You can create filters in gmail in 1 of 3 main ways. Regardless of which way you choose to start this process, you’ll be faced with the same options in phases 2 and 3.
option 1
create a filter from scratch. To do this, go to the settings menu and click on “filters and blocked addresses“. you can then click “create a new filter” to begin the process. this will take you to phase ii.
option 2
open the filter criteria options by simply clicking the down arrow in the search bar at the top of your inbox. this will also take you to phase ii.
option 3
Open an email, then click the vertical ellipses in the top right corner. then click “filter messages like this“.
When you do this, you will also go to phase ii, but some filter criteria will already be filled in. you can modify them to your liking.
phase ii
In phase ii, you will be able to select the filter criteria for your new filter. no matter how you got here, you’ll find the same options on a screen that looks like this:
most of these parameters should be obvious, but just in case:
- from allows you to filter emails from a specific email address (or multiple addresses).
- to allows you to filter emails sent to a specific email address. all emails in your inbox list you as the recipient, but you may want to filter out emails that are also sent to a colleague or someone outside of your organization.
- subject allows you to filter emails with specific keywords in a subject line, or a specific subject line.
- has the words allows you to filter emails with words specific keywords and phrases in the body.
- does not have allows you to filter emails that do not contain specific keywords and phrases in the body.
- >size refers to the total size of the email, including the attachment (see our post on gmail’s attachment size limit). you may want to use this in combination with the “has attachments” option.
- the date inside only appears when you access this option from search; it has no relevance to the filter you eventually create.
- search only appears when you access this option from search; it has no relevance to the filter you eventually create.
- has attachments and does not include chatsallows you to specify what types of messages are included.
Note that you can include multiple filter parameters for each filter you create. When you’re done, click “create filter” in the bottom right corner and proceed to step iii.
another important note: as with the basic search function of gmail, filters allow you to apply boolean operators: search terms such as and, or and not.
This allows you to greatly customize your search parameters, excluding any emails within those parameters that you wish to categorize differently.
phase iii
phase iii is where the magic happens. Now that you’ve specified specific types of emails to filter, you’ll decide what gmail should do with them.
There are several options available and you can apply multiple options if they are compatible with each other:
- skip inbox (archive) will automatically archive incoming messages that match your filter criteria.
- mark as read automatically mark those messages as read.
- marking it will mark those messages with a star.
- applying the tag will allow you to apply an existing or new label to these incoming messages, helping you easily categorize them.
- forward it allows you to forward it to a specific email address.
- delete automatically deletes these emails. use with caution.
- never spam whitelisted emails that match these criteria.
- always mark as important and never mark important allow you to automatically add or remove an importance marker (the chevron symbol) from these messages.
- categorize as: allows you to choose a category such as main, social, updates, forums or promotions where you can send incoming emails like this. Google does a good job of detecting these types of emails to begin with, but an additional filter can help you in marginal cases.
- Also apply the filter to matching conversations. Filters will generally only apply to emails that are in the future. this option allows you to correctly flag or categorize the emails in your inbox that currently match your criteria.
At this point, you should have everything you need to create filters at your discretion.
how to delete and edit gmail filters
At some point, you may want to edit a gmail filter to reflect your current needs or remove it. If this is the case, go to the settings menu once again and select the filters and blocked addresses tab.
There, you’ll see a complete list of all the filters you’ve created. you can click “edit” to go back to phase ii and phase iii and customize your filter.
You can also just click “remove” to get rid of it forever.
gmail filter tips & tricks
Now that you know how to create a filter in Gmail, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can use Gmail filters to increase your productivity (or just help you stay sane):
1. automatically send newsletters to certain categories or tags (or to the trash).
Most of us subscribe to various newsletters, stay informed about the latest deals from our favorite stores, or simply learn more about a specific field like marketing.
These can be useful, so you may not want to unsubscribe from them entirely, but at the same time, they can be time consuming if you are forced to delete them regularly, or if they get in the way of your emails. major electronics.
Set up a filter based on the email addresses that send you these newsletters and automatically archive them or place them in a specific category.
2. identify spam and send it to the trash.
google has a built-in spam filter for gmail, so you should never have to see some of the more heinous crooks (ie nigerian prince scams).
However, some spam emails inevitably get through. if they’re consistent enough to be identified with a specific flag, you should be able to set up a filter that directs them where they belong: the trashcan.
For more information, see our post on why emails go to spam.
3. make notifications from unimportant apps bypass your inbox.
If you’re anything like me, you constantly receive notifications from the wide range of apps and platforms you use on a daily basis. you have productivity apps, social media profiles, project management platforms, and other miscellaneous accounts that send you email alerts for events ranging from significant to useless.
Usually you can control what types of emails you receive and when, but if you want to keep getting them, you can better manage them with filters.
send them to a different category or under a new tag, so you can parse them properly. For example, I don’t need an email in my inbox every time someone follows me on Twitter.
4. stop receiving messages from annoying people.
Some people on your contact list will inevitably annoy you, either because they regularly send you dumb chain letters or because they never seem to have anything important to say.
If they’re constantly cluttering up your inbox, you can identify them as senders in your filter parameters and then escort their messages directly to the archive folder.
5. delegate tasks automatically.
You can also use filters to delegate certain tasks, assuming they hit your inbox consistently enough. For example, if you receive notifications of new leads that need to follow up, you can automatically forward those leads to someone on your sales team.
It’s hard to get right, especially since your incoming emails are likely to vary, but if you can identify them with a specific subject line, keyword, or sender, it can be helpful.
6. tag your calendar (and other) reminders.
Labels are one of the most useful organizational features built into Gmail, assuming you use them consistently. they can help you find emails more easily with more intuitive searches and make sure important emails don’t get lost.
They’re especially useful for sorting reminders, like emails about important upcoming dates on your calendar.
simply create a filter that applies a tag based on the subject line and/or the sender.
7. automatically mark task messages as important.
If you know that certain messages are associated with a to-do, you can automatically mark them as important by applying a certain filter. for example, you can mark as important all emails from a specific person, or those that include an attachment or key phrase.
then, you’ll be responsible for marking them as unimportant when you’re done with them. do this consistently and you’ll be amazed at how much more productive you’ll be.
8. automatically sends large attachments to a tag so you can find (and remove) them later.
Over time, your attachments can clutter your inbox. they can slow down your inbox speed and eventually you will hit the upper limit of your account storage.
You can manage your attachments by manually categorizing them, but it’s helpful to apply a filter to emails with attachments larger than a specific size, so you can categorize them for easier organization.
9. filter emails with media.
Using the “filename:” search parameter, you can set a filter for all emails with a specific type of attachment. for example, you can identify emails with filename:mov for .mov files or filename:jpg for .jpg files.
from there, you can apply a single tag or group them all into a specific category.
10. automatically back up important emails.
If certain types of emails are more important than others, or if you just want a personal copy of those emails, you can set up a filter to forward them to a personal (or alternate) email address.
For example, you can send emails with sizable attachments to your alternate email address for when you work from home or if you’re concerned about the security of your main account.
For a full overview, check out our guide on how to back up gmail.
11. automatically classifies emails from certain projects/clients into the appropriate labels.
Use filters to easily distinguish emails associated with different projects or different clients. depending on the urgency of these clients and projects, you can mark some as important and send the others to the corresponding tags.
12. take action on all emails from a specific domain.
For various reasons, you may want to specifically delete, archive, or label all incoming email from a specific domain. to do this, you can use an asterisk to complete all emails within a specific domain; for example, *@yourdomainhere.com.
If a particular website seems to be spamming you, or if one customer is more important than everyone else, you can take greater control of their incoming messages and sort them automatically.
These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. use them as a template and modify your own custom gmail filters, or create some completely from scratch. the more you learn about your own email habits, the more filters you’ll be able to create effectively.
Creating and managing comprehensive gmail filters is one of the best steps you can take to master your gmail productivity. but they may not be enough if you still have persistent bad email habits, especially if those bad habits run throughout your organization.
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