Create Gmail filters step by step, and know their limits
Filters are Gmail's strongest built-in tool: a rule that files every matching email immediately. They cost nothing and work reliably. If you know their limits, you use them where they shine.
The criteria
In the search bar, click Show search options. Gmail offers:
- From and To: address or domain, for example
@energy-provider.com - Subject: words in the subject
- Has the words and Doesn't have: anywhere in the text
- Size and Has attachment
In the word fields, Gmail's search operators work: invoice OR receipt, phrases in quotes, -advertising to exclude. That makes a single filter surprisingly precise.
Click Search first: the results show whether the criteria catch the right emails. Only then click Create filter.
The actions
- Skip the Inbox (Archive it): the email does not appear in the inbox, only under its label.
- Mark as read
- Star it
- Apply the label
- Forward it to a verified address
- Delete it
- Never send it to Spam: important for senders Gmail wrongly puts in spam
- Always mark it as important or Never mark it as important
- Categorise as: puts the email into one of the category tabs
Managing, backing up and moving filters
All filters are under Settings → See all settings → Filters and blocked addresses. There you edit or delete them. With Export you save selected filters as an XML file, which you can read into another account with Import filters. Handy when moving to a new address, or for a team that should use the same rules.
Where filters hit their limits
Filters are rules, and rules need predictability. It gets difficult here:
- New senders. A new client's first enquiry matches no sender rule.
- Changing subjects. «Your order», «Receipt for job 4711», «Payment reminder»: invoices are not always called invoice.
- Meaning, not words. «Please send a quote for a renovation» is a client enquiry, even without the word enquiry.
- Too many filters. Every special case adds a filter. After a year, rules contradict each other and nobody knows which one applies.
- No in-between. A filter decides yes or no. There is no place for «maybe».
So it pays to split the work: filters for the handful of senders that always write the same way (bank, energy provider, accounting software), and content-based filing for the rest. How the two work together is in How to sort Gmail automatically.
