Using Filters (Not Rules)

Filters in Gmail are what other email systems may call Rules. They’re simple to set up and quite powerful once mastered. They’re great if you regularly receive emails you don’t need to

You can ask for all emails from a specific person or company to be marked as read and go straight to the junk for example, or when an email comes in you can mark it with a ToDo label until you are ready to action it.

To create Filters start by having the idea of what you want to do in your head then do the below:

  1. Click the Settings cog.
  2. Click Settings.
  3. Click Filters and blocked addresses.
  4. Click Create a new filter.
  5. The first screen here lets you pick what you want Gmail to look for in an email.
    1. For example, emails from a specific person or to a group.
  6. Once you’ve selected your criteria, click Create filter.
  7. Now you pick what you want Gmail to do to that email.
    1. For example, forward the emails to a different account or categorise the email.
    2. If you want this filter to go back through all your previously received emails and apply the filter, select the bottom tickbox.
  8. Once happy with your selections, click Create filter.

The video below takes you through creating a filter in Gmail.