A 2021 Mailbird survey found that every four out of ten respondents receive 60-200 emails a week. Of those emails, only 10% are business critical; the rest is clutter.

With an overflowing inbox, you're likely to miss important messages, which can add pressure to an already stressful day. But if you’re using Gmail, here’s the good news: you can use its handy automatic filtering feature that helps you manage incoming emails.

Using the search bar

When you open Gmail, you’ll see a search box on top of the page.

1. Type the filter keyword

2. Enter filter criteria

To further refine your search criteria, click on the slider icon on the right side of the search bar. It will show a menu where you can add specific parameters.

Once you're done, click “Create filter.”

3. Choose an action

After you click on “Create filter,” Gmail will load the messages that fit the criteria.

It will also give you choices on what to do with those messages. You can choose to:

• Skip the inbox (Archive it)
• Mark as read
• Star it
• Apply the label
• Forward it to someone
• Delete it
• Never send it to Spam
• Send template
• Always mark it as important
• Never mark it as important
• Categorize as
• Also apply the filter to X matching conversations

Once you’ve chosen the appropriate action, click “Create filter” to finalize your action for the filtered messages. 

Using a specific message to create a filter

You can also create rules on Gmail using a particular message.

1. Choose the message you want to filter

To start, click on the checkbox next to the email you want to filter.

Then, click on the three vertical dots (⋮) on the toolbar to show more options. From the options shown, choose “Filter messages like these.”

Gmail will redirect you again to choose filter criteria.

2. Establish your filter criteria based on a specific message

The "From" field will likely be pre-filled for you. Update the criteria based on the author of the message, subject, or contains/omits certain words.

3. Choose an action

Choose what to do with the messages that fit your criteria.

Voila! You’ve just learned how to create rules in Gmail to filter your inbox.

Notes:

• Should you choose to forward your filtered messages, only the new messages will be affected.
• If someone replies to a filtered message, Gmail will only filter the reply if it fulfills the criteria.