Overview
Create rules to filter your emails
On your computer, you can manage your incoming mail using Gmail’s filters to send email to a label, or archive, delete, star, or automatically forward your mail.
Steps
- Open Gmail (google.sju.edu)
- In the search box at the top, click Show search options
.
- Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search.
- At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
- Choose what you’d like the filter to do.
- Click Create filter.
You can filter by:
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From – Filter emails by sender address.
Example: from:boss@example.com
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To – Filter messages sent to a specific address (useful for shared inboxes or aliases).
Example: to:support@example.com
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Subject – Filter by words in the subject line.
Example: subject:invoice
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Has the words – Filter emails containing specific words anywhere in the message.
Example: has the words:meeting agenda
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Doesn’t have – Exclude emails containing certain words.
Example: doesn’t have:promotion
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Size – Filter by message size.
Example: larger:5M or smaller:1M
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Has attachment – Filter only messages with attachments.
Once the filter matches, Gmail can automatically:
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Skip the inbox (Archive it)
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Mark as read
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Star it
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Apply a label
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Forward it to another address
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Delete it
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Never send it to Spam
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Always mark it as important or Never mark as important
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Categorize (Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, Forums)
Note: When you create a filter to forward messages, only new messages will be affected. Please be sure to check "Also apply filter to matching conversations."
Additionally, when someone replies to a message you've filtered, the reply will only be filtered if it meets the same search criteria.
Full instructions from Google can be found on their support website.
If you have any questions, please contact the Technology Service Center at 610.660.2920.
Non-Gmail Clients:
Outlook instructions
Apple Mail instructions