How To Edit Gmail Filters

If you're like most professionals, you're sending and receiving dozens, if not hundreds of emails a day.

Did you know that you lot tin can establish automatic sorting rules and workflows in Gmail (chosen Gmail filters), so y'all spend less fourth dimension managing email and terminate upwardly with a much better organized inbox?

In this article, I'll explicate what Gmail filters are, how to ready them upward, and show you some advanced Gmail filters tricks to supercharge your productivity.

Table of Contents

What Are Gmail Filters?
How to Create A Filter in Gmail
- Phase I
  - Option 1
  - Option 2
  - Selection 3
- Phase II
- Phase Three
How to Delete and Edit Gmail Filters
Gmail Filters Tips & Tricks
- 1. Automatically ship newsletters to certain categories or labels (or the trash).
- ii. Identify spam and junk it.
- iii. Brand unimportant app notifications featherbed your inbox.
- 4. Stop getting messages from annoying people.
- 5. Delegate tasks automatically.
- six. Characterization your Calendar (and other) reminders.
- 7. Automatically mark to-do messages as important.
- 8. Automatically send big attachments to a characterization so you lot can observe (and delete) them later.
- 9. Filter emails with media.
- 10. Automatically back upwards important emails.
- 11. Automatically sort emails from certain projects/clients into appropriate labels.
- 12. Accept action on all emails from a specific domain.
- Related posts:

What Are Gmail Filters?

What are Gmail filters? A Gmail filter is simply a set of rules applied to incoming e-mail. Yous can customize these rules as you lot meet fit, making sure that certain types of emails finish up somewhere other than your inbox.

Most people use Gmail filters to become rid of or properly categorize emails that are predictable or repetitive, similar email marketing newsletters, social media notifications, or automatic notifications from your project management app.

Only the only limit to their utility is your creativity—there are plenty of hacks and tricks to make them do pretty much anything yous need.

How to Create A Filter in Gmail

Okay, fix to learn how to create Gmail filters?

You tin think of setting up Gmail filters as a 3-phase process: in phase 1, you lot'll initiate the creation of a filter, in phase 2, yous'll choose filter criteria, and in phase 3, you'll choose how the filter handles emails matching those criteria.

Phase I

You tin can create filters in Gmail in one of 3 main ways. No matter which manner y'all choose to initiate this process, you lot'll exist met with the same options in phase 2 and 3.

Option 1

Create a filter from scratch. To do this, caput to the Settings carte and click on "Filters and Blocked Addresses." You can so click "Create a new filter" to begin the process. This will bring you to Phase II.

create new filter

Option 2

Open the filter criteria options just by clicking the downwardly arrow on the Search bar at the height of your inbox. This will as well bring yous to Phase Ii.

create new filter method 2

Option 3

Open an electronic mail, then click the vertical ellipses in the upper-right corner. And then, click "Filter messages like this."

create new filter method 3

When you lot practise this, you'll be brought to Stage Ii as well, but some filter criteria will already be filled in. You tin can modify these to your liking.

Phase Ii

In Phase Ii, you'll be able to select the filter criteria for your new filter. No matter how you got hither, you'll be met with the same options in a screen that looks similar this:

edit filter

Virtually of these parameters should be obvious, but just in example:

From allows you lot to filter emails from a specific email address (or multiple addresses).
To allows y'all to filter emails sent to a specific email accost. All emails in your inbox include y'all as a recipient, but yous may wish to filter emails also sent to a colleague or someone outside your organization.
Field of study allows you to filter emails with specific keywords in a field of study line, or a specific subject line.
Has the words allows you lot to filter emails with specific keywords and phrases in the body.
Doesn't have allows yous to filter emails that are missing specific keywords and phrases in the body.
Size refers to the total size of the email, including the attachment (come across our post on the Gmail attachment size limit). You may want to use this in combination with the "Has zipper" option.
Date within only appears when you access this option from Search; information technology bears no relevance on the filter you eventually create.
Search only appears when you admission this option from Search; it bears no relevance on the filter you eventually create.
Has attachment and Don't include chats allow y'all to farther specify which types of letters are included.

Note that you can include multiple filter parameters for each filter you create. When you're washed, click "Create filter" in the bottom correct corner, and take yourself to Stage III.

I other important note: like with Gmail's basic search function, filters allow you lot to apply Boolean operators—search terms like AND, OR, and Non.

This allows you greatly customize your search parameters, excluding whatever emails within those parameters yous might wish to categorize differently.

Phase Iii

Phase III is where the magic happens. Now that yous've specified specific types of emails to filter, you lot'll make up one's mind what Gmail should do with them.

edit gmail filter action

There are several options available, and y'all can use multiple options if they're compatible with each other:

Skip the Inbox (Archive it) will automatically archive incoming letters that friction match your filter criteria.
Mark as read volition automatically marking those messages as read.
Star it will mark those letters with a star.
Apply the label will permit yous to apply an existing or new label to these incoming messages, helping you hands categorize them.
Forward information technology lets yous forward information technology to a specific email address.
Delete it automatically deletes these emails. Use this one cautiously.
Never send it to Spam whitelists emails that lucifer these criteria.
Always marking it equally important and Never mark it as of import allow you to automatically add or remove an importance marking (the chevron-like symbol) from these messages.
Categorize equally: allows you to choose a category like Primary, Social, Updates, Forums, or Promotions where y'all tin send incoming emails similar this. Google does a practiced job of detecting these types of emails to begin with, but an extra filter tin assistance you out in fringe cases.
Likewise apply filter to matching conversations. Ordinarily, filters volition only utilize to emails moving forward. This choice allows you to properly mark or categorize emails in your inbox that currently friction match your criteria.

At this indicate, you should have everything you need to create filters at your discretion.

How to Delete and Edit Gmail Filters

At some signal, you may want to edit a Gmail filter to reflect your electric current needs, or remove it. If this is the case, head to the Settings card once once more, and select the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.

There, y'all'll meet a full list of all the filters you've created. You can click "edit" to bring yourself back to Phase II and Stage Three, and customize your filter.

Yous can also simply click "delete" to become rid of it forever.

edit remove gmail filter

Gmail Filters Tips & Tricks

Now that y'all know how to create a filter in Gmail, let's accept a await at some of the ways you lot can use Gmail filters to heave your productivity (or only help you lot stay sane):

1. Automatically send newsletters to certain categories or labels (or the trash).

Nigh of us subscribe to multiple newsletters, staying informed about the latest deals from our favorite stores or simply learning more than near a specific field like marketing.

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These can be useful, so you may not want to unsubscribe from them birthday, but at the aforementioned time, they can accept upwards your fourth dimension if you're forced to delete them on a regular footing—or if they arrive the way of your more than important emails.

Set upward a filter based on the email addresses sending you these newsletters, and either archive them automatically, or put them in a specific category.

two. Identify spam and junk it.

Google has a built-in spam filter for Gmail, so you shouldn't e'er have to run across some of the most egregious offenders (i.e., Nigerian Prince scams).

Withal, some spam emails inevitably get through. If they're consistent enough that you can identify them with a specific marker, yous should be able to ready a filter that directs them where they belong—the trash.

For more info, come across our post on why emails go to spam.

three. Brand unimportant app notifications bypass your inbox.

If you're like me, you're constantly getting notifications from the broad range of apps and platforms you apply on a daily basis. You have productivity apps, social media profiles, project management platforms, and other miscellaneous accounts all sending you lot email alerts for events that range from significant to useless.

You tin can usually control what types of emails you lot become and when, but if you lot'd like to keep receiving them, you can manage them better with filters.

Send them to a different category or under a new label, so you can hash them out properly. For example, I don't need an e-mail in my inbox every time someone follows me on Twitter.

4. Stop getting messages from annoying people.

Some people on your contact list will inevitably annoy yous, either because they send you dumb chain letters on a regular basis or because they never seem to accept annihilation of import to say.

If they're cluttering up your inbox consistently plenty, you lot can identify them as a sender in your filter parameters, then escort their letters directly to the archive folder.

5. Consul tasks automatically.

You can also utilise filters to delegate sure tasks, bold they enter your inbox consistently enough. For example, if you get notifications of new leads that need to be followed upward with, you could automatically forward those leads to an individual on your sales squad.

This is tricky to get right, especially because your incoming emails will probable vary, but if yous can identify them with a specific subject line, keyword, or sender, it tin be helpful.

6. Label your Calendar (and other) reminders.

Labels are one of the most useful organizational features built into Gmail, assuming yous're using them consistently. They tin can help you lot find emails easier with more than intuitive searches and make certain important emails don't go lost.

They're especially useful for sorting out reminders—like emails about of import dates coming upwardly in your Calendar.

Simply create a filter that applies a label based on the bailiwick line and/or sender.

seven. Automatically mark to-do letters equally of import.

If you know sure messages are associated with a to-do detail, you can automatically marking them every bit of import by applying a certain filter. For case, you can marker important all emails from a specific person, or those that include an attachment or keyword phrase.

So, you lot'll be responsible for mark them not of import whenever you lot're done with them. Do this consistently, and y'all'll be amazed how much more productive y'all'll be.

8. Automatically send big attachments to a label then you can find (and delete) them afterwards.

Over time, your attachments can ataxia your inbox. They may ho-hum the speed of your inbox, and eventually, yous'll come up up confronting the upper storage limit for your account.

You tin manage your attachments by sorting through them manually, just it's helpful to utilize a filter to emails with attachments above a specific size, so you lot can categorize them for easier system.

9. Filter emails with media.

By using the "filename:" search parameter, you can set up a filter for all emails with a specific type of file attached. For example, y'all can identify emails with filename:mov for .mov files or filename:jpg for .jpg files.

From at that place, you tin can apply a unique label, or lump 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 re-create of those emails, yous tin set a filter to frontward them to a personal (or alternate) electronic mail address.

For example, y'all might transport emails with sizable attachments to your backup email accost for when you work from habitation, or if you're worried near the security of your primary account.

For a total overview, encounter our guide to how to backup Gmail.

11. Automatically sort emails from certain projects/clients into appropriate labels.

Utilize filters to easily distinguish emails associated with different projects or different clients. Depending on the urgency of these clients and projects, you might marking some as important, while sending the others to appropriate labels.

12. Take action on all emails from a specific domain.

For various reasons, you may wish to trash, annal, or specifically label all incoming emails from a specific domain. To do this, you tin can use an asterisk to fill in for all emails within a specific domain; for example, *@yourdomainhere.com.

If a particular website seems to be spamming y'all, or if one customer is more of import than all your others, y'all can accept greater control of their incoming messages and sort them automatically.

These ideas are but the tip of the iceberg. Use these as a template and change your own custom Gmail filters, or create some entirely from scratch. The more you larn nearly your own email habits, the more filters you'll effectively create.

Creating and managing comprehensive Gmail filters is one of the all-time steps you tin have toward mastering your Gmail productivity. But they may not be enough if you lot yet accept persistent bad electronic mail habits—particularly if those bad habits are organisation-broad.

If you want to acquire more than most how you're using Gmail (and how you tin can meliorate), give EmailAnalytics a try. With EmailAnalytics, you'll larn how often you're emailing, your average response times, your busiest times and days, and dozens of other metrics, all with in-depth visuals to brand your analysis even easier.

Jayson is a long-time columnist for Forbes, Entrepreneur, BusinessInsider, Inc.com, and various other major media publications, where he has authored over i,000 articles since 2012, roofing applied science, marketing, and entrepreneurship. He keynoted the 2013 MarketingProfs Academy, and won the "Entrepreneur Blogger of the Year" accolade in 2015 from the Oxford Middle for Entrepreneurs. In 2010, he founded a marketing agency that appeared on the Inc. 5000 before selling it in January of 2019, and he is now the CEO of EmailAnalytics.