Gmail Filters: The Complete Guide

How Do I Create a Filter in Gmail?

Do you dream of a world where your emails sort themselves, where your important correspondence is immediately accessible, and where spam is nothing more than a bad memory? That world is possible, thanks to Gmail filters!

Whether you want to intercept advertising emails or organize your emails into the right categories, these simple settings will make your life easier.

Here is our complete guide to creating Gmail filters, your best allies for boosting your productivity and streamlining your correspondence.

What Is a Gmail Filter?

Many actions can be automated using Google filters, such as:

• Archiving non-urgent emails;
• Deleting unwanted emails or spam;
• Assigning labels according to certain criteria to facilitate categorization;
• Automatically forwarding emails to other email addresses;
• Marking important emails or adding stars.

5 Advantages of Gmail Filters

Gmail filters: they take 5 minutes to set up and save you hours of time. And that's not all! Here are 5 good reasons to set them up in your Gmail inbox.

With Gmail filters, you can automatically categorize your emails according to various criteria, such as the sender or certain keywords. This makes it easier to search and process your correspondence according to priority.

Archiving and deletion filters reduce clutter in your Gmail inbox, reserving space for essential correspondence.

Finally, with forwarding filters, you can immediately include your colleagues and teams in correspondence of your choice, for example based on the subject, sender, or specific terms in the body of the email.

In short, these small adjustments will help you work more efficiently! Here's an extra tip for better email management: consider creating Gmail aliases.

By setting up sorting filters, you ensure better visibility of your important correspondence.

First, the "noise" of repetitive emails (such as newsletters) and superfluous emails (such as advertisements) is reduced. These are automatically deleted or blocked when they enter your inbox.

Labels, those small customizable and colorful tags, allow you to classify your emails by theme (for example: "Customers," "Team," or "Follow-up"). This gives you a clearer view of your correspondence.

Finally, because you can never be too organized, you can also configure the sorting of incoming emails into different folders in your inbox, such as the main folder, promotions, or social networks. Here again, there are many possible sorting criteria, such as the sender, specific terms in the email subject line, or even the size of the email.

This improved visibility ensures that you never miss an important email, whether it's customer feedback or an announcement about your favorite artist's next concert!

Certain filters can be specifically configured to identify advertising emails and other spam, or to block suspicious senders, which improves security.

Once identified, these messages are automatically deleted or sent straight to the junk folder.

This gives you better protection against phishing attempts, scams, and dangerous links.

Your personal data is also less likely to be compromised by emails containing trackers.

An important criterion for your professional email inbox: your company's sensitive data deserves the best protection! In fact, to ensure that your important information is preserved, it's also good to know how to save an email.

As you can see, thanks to the power of filters, you spend less time managing and searching for your emails by significantly reducing manual operations.

Filters allow you to automate repetitive tasks such as archiving, transferring, or filing correspondence. You save precious minutes in your workday and have more energy to devote to more important or urgent tasks.

Not to mention a significant reduction in the stress associated with a disorganized inbox and increased reading comfort thanks to better visibility.

Want to save even more time when writing your professional messages? Here are some professional email examples and best practices to overcome writer's block.

With labels and filters, you can more easily identify important exchanges and never miss a reply. This reduces the risk of forgotten or unprocessed emails!

What's more, thanks to customizable filters, you can organize your follow-up according to topics, clients or colleagues, or specific subjects.

The result: more efficient and accurate management of your correspondence, ensuring customer satisfaction and fruitful exchanges with your colleagues. Speaking of professional communication, find out how to write a professional email!

How Do I Create Rules in Gmail?

Now that you're convinced of the benefits of Gmail filters, all you have to do is set them up in your Gmail inbox. Here are different ways to do this!

The most logical and comprehensive method for setting up your Gmail filters is to go through... the settings! This technique gives you access to all available criteria (sender, keywords, subject, age and size of the email, etc.), allowing you to configure complex filters.

To create a Gmail filter from the settings:

1. In Gmail, click on the gear icon in the upper right corner.
2. Select See all settings from the menu that appears.
3. Go to the Filters and blocked addresses Gmail tab.
4. Select Create a filter.
5. Choose the actions/criteria you want to automate.
6. Save your new filter by clicking Create filter again.

If you already know your filter criteria, whether it's the sender or a specific subject/keyword, you can also create a Gmail filter from the search bar. This faster method allows you to create your filter directly from your search.

Here's how to do it:

1. In Gmail, click on the search bar at the top of the window.
2. Select Show search options.
3. Enter your various filter criteria:
   • From: to filter messages by sender
   • To: to find messages by one or more recipients
   • Subject: to find emails based on words in the subject line
   • Contains words: to find emails based on keywords in the body of the text
   • Does not contain: to find emails that do not include certain terms
   • Size: to find larger or smaller emails based on a reference size
   • Date in: to find emails sent during a specific period
   • Search: to search for emails in a specific folder or section
   • With attachment: to find emails that include an attachment
   • Do not include chats: allows you to exclude chat conversations
4. Select Search.
5. Click on Create a filter.
6. Select the actions to apply.
7. Click Create filter.

Want to quickly block a sender or automatically sort similar emails? You can also create filters from an existing email. With this method, the necessary information is pre-filled, which can save you a lot of time.

To create a filter from an existing email:

1. Open the email from which you want to create a filter.
2. Select the three vertical dots in the top right corner.
3. In the menu that appears, choose Filter messages like these.
4. Enter your criteria.
5. Click Create filter.
6. Select the actions to apply.
7. Click Create filter again to save your new filter.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to create advanced Gmail filters on the Gmail mobile app, except to add labels to emails according to certain criteria. To create other filters, you will need to use the methods described above.

However, you can manage your labels and the different categories in your inbox, in particular by changing the display settings.

This feature can at least help you see your messages more clearly.

Here's how to do it:

1. In your Gmail mobile app, click on the three vertical bars at the top left.
2. Select Customize Inbox.
3. To customize the display of categories, click on Inbox Categories, then enable/disable the different categories ("Social Networks," "Promotions," "Discussions," and "Notifications").
4. To customize the display of labels and change their names, click on Labels. You can also assign labels to emails based on certain criteria, such as the sender, subject, and the presence or absence of certain terms.

How Do I Filter Emails by Sender in Gmail?

To filter messages by specific senders in your Google Gmail accounts:

1. Click Show search options next to the search bar.
2. In the From field, enter the sender's email address.
3. Add additional criteria if needed.
4. Click Create filter.
5. Choose actions like mark as read, apply labels, or add stars.
6. Save your filter.

How Do I Automatically Move Emails to a Folder in Gmail?

Gmail uses labels instead of traditional folders. To automatically move emails to a folder-like structure:

1. Create a label for your "folder"
2. Set up a filter with your desired criteria
3. In the filter actions, select "Apply the label" and choose your label
4. Optionally, select "Skip the Inbox" to automatically archive the email

This effectively creates Gmail auto-sorting functionality.

How Do I Automatically Label Emails in Gmail?

To automatically label emails:

1. Use the filter creation process described above
2. In the filter actions, check "Apply the label"
3. Select an existing label or create a new one
4. Your filter will automatically apply labels to matching emails

Sort Emails in Gmail by Various Criteria

You can sort emails in Gmail by date, size, and other factors using advanced search options and filters. Access these through the search bar's "Show search options" feature.

Use the "Date within" option in advanced search to find emails from specific time periods, then create filters based on these criteria.

In advanced search, use the "Size" field to find emails "greater than" or "less than" specific sizes, helpful for managing storage in your Gmail accounts.

How Do I Edit or Change Filters in Gmail?

To edit Gmail filters:

1. Go to Settings > See all settings
2. Click on the "Filters and blocked addresses" tab
3. Find the filter you want to modify
4. Click "edit" next to the filter
5. Make your changes and save

Advanced Gmail Filter Options

Advanced Gmail filters allow you to:

My Gmail Filter Isn't Working: What Should I Do?

Is your Gmail filter not working? Check that you have used the correct spelling, email addresses, and keywords. Also make sure that the filter is enabled. If necessary, you can delete and recreate the filter.

If none of these measures work, please contact the help community in the section dedicated to filters.

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Now you know how to create a filter in Gmail! And for Microsoft users, find out how to create Outlook rules.