Want to get more out of Google apps at work or school? Sign up for a Google Workspace trial at no charge.
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.
Create a filter
- Open Gmail.
- 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.
Note: When you create a filter to forward messages, only new messages will be affected. Additionally, when someone replies to a message you've filtered, the reply will only be filtered if it meets the same search criteria.
Use a particular message to create a filter
- Open Gmail.
- Check the checkbox next to the email you want.
- Click More
.
- Click Filter messages like these.
- Enter your filter criteria.
- Click Create filter.
Edit or delete filters
- Open Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings
See all settings.
- Click Filters and Blocked Addresses.
- Find the filter you'd like to change.
- Click Edit or Delete to remove the filter. If you’re editing the filter, click Continue when you’re done editing.
- Click Update filter or OK.
Export or import filters
If you have a backup of your filters, you can import the filters in Gmail. You can also export your filters.
- Open Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings
- Click Filters and Blocked Addresses.
- Check the box next to the filter.
- At the bottom of the page, click Import filters.
- Choose the file with the filter you'd like to import.
- Click Open file.
- Click Create filters.
- At the bottom of the page, click Export.
- This will give you a .xml file, which you can edit in a text editor if you'd like.