How to use filters and labels in Gmail

Labels and filters keep Gmail tidy. Email from a client gets its own label, invoices skip the inbox, newsletters wait until you have time for them.

Here's how to create both, on a computer and on your phone, with three filters you can copy and a short list of things to check when a filter doesn't do what you expected.

Labels and filters: what's the difference?

A label is a tag on an email, like "Clients" or "Quotes". A filter is an instruction Gmail carries out for you: when an email comes in that matches something, do something with it. Giving it a label, for example.

• Labels aren't folders. One email can have several labels.
• Only you can see your labels. The people you email don't get them.
• Delete an email and it disappears from every label and from your inbox.
• You can create up to 5,000 labels.

1Create a label

On a computer

1. Open Gmail. On the left, next to Labels, click Create new label.
2. Type a name. To put it under another label, tick Nest label under and pick the parent label.
3. Click Create.

In the Gmail app on Android

1. Tap the menu at the top left.
2. Under All labels, tap Create label.
3. Type a name and tap Save.

In the Gmail app on iPhone and iPad

1. Tap the menu at the top left.
2. Under Labels, tap Create new.
3. Type a name and tap Save.

2Add a label to an email

• On a computer: tick the box next to the email, click Labels at the top and pick a label. To move it to another label, untick the current one and tick the new one.
• On Android: press and hold the email, tap More at the top right, then Label as. Tick the labels and tap OK.
• On iPhone and iPad: press and hold the email, tap More at the top right, then Labels. Tick the labels and tap Done.

3Create a filter in Gmail

Filters only exist in Gmail on a computer, in your browser. Once you've made one, it sorts your email everywhere, including in the app on your phone.

1. In the search box at the top, click Show search options.
2. Fill in which emails you mean, such as a sender in From or words in Subject.
3. Click Search first to check which emails match. Happy with the list? Open the search options again.
4. At the bottom, click Create filter.
5. Choose what Gmail should do, such as Apply the label or Skip the Inbox (Archive it).
6. Click Create filter again.

Faster, from an email you already have: tick the box next to it, click More (the three dots) and choose Filter messages like these. Gmail fills in the sender for you.

3 Gmail filters to copy

Copy the line, paste it into Has the words in the search options, and change the yellow parts to your own addresses and words.

4Edit, delete, export and import filters

1. At the top right, click Settings, then See all settings.
2. Open the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
3. Next to a filter, click Edit or Delete. After editing, click Continue, then Update filter.

To keep a copy of your filters, or move them to another account, tick them on that same tab and click Export at the bottom. You get a small file. In the other account, click Import filters, choose the file, click Open file and then Create filters.

Why your Gmail filter isn't working

• It only works on new emailA new filter leaves your existing email alone, unless you ticked Also apply filter to matching conversations.
• Replies don't matchA filter looks at each email on its own. A reply in the same conversation is only filtered if it matches the search criteria itself.
• Forwarding skips older emailA filter that forwards email only does so for email that arrives after you made it.
• The criteria are too wide or too narrowEdit the filter and click Search to see which emails it really catches.
• The email is still in your inboxThat's normal if the filter only applies a label. Add Skip the Inbox as well.

What filters can't do

Filters are great for email that's the same every time: invoices, newsletters, notifications. For email from customers, they need looking after. Every new client or supplier means another filter or label, and after a while it's hard to remember what each one does.

Filters also sort by pattern, not by meaning. A filter can label every email from a client, but it can't tell whether the email asks for a date, a price, or nothing at all. You still open each one to find out, and you still type every reply.

Soonbeam takes a different route. You connect your Gmail or Google Workspace mailbox and set up nothing: no filters, no labels. Instead of sorting, it looks at what the customer asks. If someone writes "Could it be ready before Christmas?", you tap "Yes, that works" or "Early January", and Soonbeam writes the reply in your own style. You read it and send it yourself, and if it isn't sure about an amount or a date, it asks you first.

Your email stays in Gmail, so your labels and the Gmail app keep working as they do now.

Questions