Filters in Google Mail

Google Mail filters allow you to manage and organise incoming messages. Using filters you can automatically label, archive, delete, star, or forward your mail, keep it out of the Spam section - all based on a combination of keywords, sender, recipients and other criteria.

 

Create a filter

1. Click Create a filter (next to the Search the Web button at the top of any Gmail page). Alternatively select a message by placing a tick next to it, then clicking the 'More actions' menu and selecting 'Filter messages like these'.
   

2. Enter your filter criteria in the appropriate field(s). You can use any of the optional fields to narrow down your search by specifying To, From or words in the Subject line along with words that should be included or those that should be excluded.
   
   

3. Click Test Search to see which messages currently match your filter terms. You can update your criteria and run another test search. Matching messages will be shown in a list below the filter options. In this example you can see the syntax of the filter that Google is constructing, i.e. from:(mail-noreply@google.com) access mail -monday. The keyword from: specifies the address in the From: field (the brackets delineate text), they searched keywords are then displayed with a minus ("-") symbol indicating NOT. Sometimes you may not be able to construct a filter that fully encompasses all of the criteria that you would like to use, in these cases you may need to create seperate filters that you can apply to message sequentially. Google Search supports boolean operators and other advanced syntax which can also be used in filters. For example, if you specify multiple words Googles assumes an AND but you can force use of OR if appropriate.
   
   
   
   
   

4. Click Next Step to proceed. You can now choose the action to be taken on messages that match your filter query.
   
   
   
   
5. Select one or more actions from the list. These actions will be applied to messages matching your filter criteria in the order in which the actions are listed. For example, you could choose to Forward matching messages to a specific email address, then Delete the messages.
   
   
   
   
   
6. If you'd like to apply this filter to messages already present in your account select the Also apply filter to x conversations below checkbox.
   
   
7. Click Create Filter.
   
   

Create a filter from within a message

1. Click the drop-down menu next to Reply.

2. Select Filter messages like this.

3. Enter your filter criteria in the appropriate field(s).

   
   

Edit or delete existing filters

1. Click Settings (at the top-right of any Google@Brookes page).

2. Click Filters.

3. Find the filter you'd like to change and click its edit link, or click delete to remove the filter.

4. If you're editing the filter, enter the updated criteria for the filter in the appropriate fields, and click Next Step.

5. Update any actions and click Update Filter.

For a demonstration of the basics of using filters you can view a brief demo (requires Adobe Flash).