If you receive a lot of mail in your Gmail inbox, you can create filters and categories to automatically categorize your messages.
Gmail’s inbox is a real catch-all where messages arrive in chronological order. It is therefore difficult to differentiate them and sort them, but you have tools to organize your mail more easily. Here’s how to do it:
1 – Create labels
Gmail allows you to create categories, accessible by clicking in the tree structure on the left. These categories use a concept of “labels” assigned to messages. So these are not mailbox folders, as they are in other mail systems. Gmail has four predefined categories (Social Networks, Notifications, Forums, and Promotions), but you can create more. To do this, click on Create a label in the tree structure on the left.
Type the name of the label and optionally indicate whether it is part of an already existing category. Click on the button To create to validate the creation.
In our example, we create an SNCF label for the mails linked to electronic train tickets. Click on the icon of the three small vertical dots to the right of the name to change the parameters of the label, in particular its color.
Use the function Manage labels in the tree view to see the full list of labels and decide whether you want to show or hide them (click on the image below to enlarge).
Once you have finished creating your labels, you must assign them to the messages concerned. For this we will use filters.
2 – Filter your messages
To create a filter, use Gmail’s advanced search. Click on the triangle icon at the end of the search box to access the appropriate form. Once the various fields have been filled in, remember to click on the button Create a filter instead of the Search button.
In our example concerning the SNCF, we filter by the sender and use the word ” GOLD »(Which can be replaced by the special character |) to choose between several different senders (sender1 or sender2 or sender3…). Indeed, if you enter several words, Gmail considers that all the words must be present (word1 and word2 and word3…). This constraint is particularly important if you fill in the field Contains the words. It is therefore necessary to use the OR operator to specify the notion of “or”.
After clicking on Create a filter, a window appears with checkboxes depending on the action you want to perform, for example automatically deleting certain messages. In the example below, we assign the wording SNCF to mails coming from SNCF. Check the box Also apply this filter to … matching conversations to also process mail already received. If you want to remove the messages from the inbox, check the box. Don’t show in inbox. Finally click on Create a filter.
If you want to quickly create a filter from an existing message that you have opened, click on the icon of the three small vertical dots, then on Filter similar messages. A filter will be created based on the same sender.
To manage the filters you have created, click on the Gmail settings icon (shaped like a gear), located at the top right, then on Settings.
Click on the tab Filters and blocked addresses, then on to modify Where to delete to act on one of the existing filters.
Finally, we recommend that you first use simple concepts to create your filters. For example, type amazon in the field Of to filter out all senders who have the word amazon in their email addresses (Gmail does not distinguish between lowercase and uppercase). However, you must type complete words, not portions of words. You have many parameters to refine your filters, in particular the fields Contains the words and Does not contain. Do not hesitate to first do a test in ” Research Before creating the filter to verify that your settings are achieving the desired results.