The key is to apply filters as they make sense. You can start with a handful, like those mentioned below, but you should always be willing to adapt your filtering strategy as new methods make sense, or new emails flood your inbox that don’t trigger any of your existing filters. This is a game of incremental improvement, and each filter should make your life just a little easier. Let’s get started. For all the tips below, you’ll start by clicking the gear icon near your account image in the upper right, clicking the “See all settings” button at the top, and choosing the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab. From there, just click “Create a new filter” toward the bottom and you’re ready to go.
Spam
Spam
Gmail already has great spam filters and you can mark messages as spam to help train the AI to spot new patterns. But there’s always that one company that manages to slip by undetected. You’ve tried unsubscribing from the list. You’ve tried marking it as spam, and somehow, without fail, it still manages to hit your inbox with each new mailing. Here’s how to fix it.
Make sure you see important emails
Make sure you see important emails
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the emails that you want to make sure you see, but are commonly buried beneath countless emails you don’t. You can fix this with filters too.
Create a new inbox with folders and labels
Create a new inbox with folders and labels
If you want to skip the inbox entirely, you can filter important emails to their own folder, automatically, giving you a de facto second (or third, fourth, etc.) inbox. This is handy for filtering work-related emails into their own folder, or perhaps you can use it for coupons, travel details and itineraries, or emails about school, family, or newsletters you subscribe to.
Categorize your spam
Categorize your spam
A little-known feature of Gmail is that it works even if you modify your email address. Try adding a period or a plus sign anywhere within your email address (before the @gmail.com suffix) and watch as these emails still manage to find your inbox. Now, the cool thing here is that you can filter these email addresses separately from your main one. I use it to filter email newsletters, automatically, without the need to set up new filters.
Kill calendar notification emails
Kill calendar notification emails
My inbox is flooded every day with notifications that so and so has accepted my calendar invite for a meeting. You can filter these too, which is especially useful if you are using a calendar app and you get these notifications on your phone anyway.
