How to Filter Emails by Group in Gmail for Better Email Management
- by admin
One of my most wished for features in GMail is to filter based on group membership. We have a number of internal groups at work for whom this feature would be very handy in labelling messages by filter. It would also be very useful if you have groups with whom you collaborate regularly. As an example – I have about a dozen colleagues I correspond with on the regular as they have a similar role and are really very smart. We bounce ideas around and give feedback to one another.
Imagine I have an email contact group set up for these folks, let’s call it “Extraordinary Colleagues” so whenever I need their opinion I just type XC in my to:field and they automatically pop-up.
Unfortunately, as mentioned above, I cannot label these email replies based on their group membership so that I can tag and manage these messages. If we have a robust discussion on an issue it could generate 30-40 emails. If GMail had this feature all these emails would be labelled “XC” and I could archive and further label them “en masse”
Enter a special filter that accomplishes the same goal and makes managing discussions related to these groups very quick and easy and only requires a little bit of work in the initial setup (detailed below) and then keeping it up to date.
Step by Step Guide to Creating the Filter by Contacts
- Get your emails together. Here is my hypothetical XC group:
jimdorr1234@example.com
sarah.connor2024@mailbox.com
emily.smith88@fakemail.org
al.jones5678@webmail.net
claire.martin1971@inboxmail.com
- Prepare your emails for the filter:
Paste your emails into Google Docs.
Press Ctrl + H to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
In the “Find” field, enter \n
Ensure “Use Regular Expressions” is checked.
In the “Replace with” field, type a space.
Click “Replace all”.
If you are a Notepad++ user you can simply highlight all and use the “Join” feature (Ctrl-J).
You will be left with a single line of emails with each separated by a space. Gmail seems to be able to handle up to about 40 emails per filter. If you have larger groups you will need to create multiple filters with the same actions.
jimdorr1234@example.com sarah.connor2024@mailbox.com emily.smith88@fakemail.org al.jones5678@webmail.net claire.martin1971@inboxmail.com
- Create your filter:
Open Gmail Settings:
Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of your Gmail inbox.
Select “See all settings.”
Navigate to Filters and Blocked Addresses:
Go to the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab.
Click on “Create a new filter.”
Set Up Filter Criteria:
In the “From” field use the following text which includes curly braces {} to group all your emails together:
{jimdorr1234@example.com sarah.connor2024@mailbox.com emily.smith88@fakemail.org al.jones5678@webmail.net claire.martin1971@inboxmail.com}
Click on “Create filter.”
Select the actions you want to apply to these emails, such as “Skip the Inbox (Archive it),” “Mark as read,” “Apply the label,” etc. In this case I would apply the label “XC”.
Click on “Create filter” again to save it.
Custom label and URL for Gmail
This will ensure that emails from any of the specified addresses are filtered according to your chosen actions. Then when our conversation about the Canada Post strike or Taylor Swift tickets are all wrapped up I can enter “label:inbox AND label:XC” in my search box, select all and archive in about 2 seconds. If you have category tabs enabled you might also have to add “AND category:primary”. Another tip – after you execute a search query you can bookmark them for easy cleanup or followup later. Here are a few I use often:
Show emails in inbox that are older than 7 days:
label:inbox older_than:7d category:primary
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/label%3Ainbox+older_than%3A7d+category%3Aprimary
Show unread emails in inbox that are older than 3 days:
label:inbox older_than:3d category:primary is:unread
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/label%3Ainbox+older_than%3A3d+category%3Aprimary
Show internal emails only
category:primary label:inbox from:yourcompany.ca
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/category%3Aprimary+label%3Ainbox+from%3Ayourcompany.ca
Show Extraordinary Colleague emails in my inbox
category:primary label:inbox label:XC
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/category%3Aprimary+label%3Ainbox+label%3AXC
Examples for Email Management using Multi-address labels and filters
Here are some examples of where this type of labelling methodology might be useful for email management using filters and labels:
Project Management: A project manager can create a filter for emails from all team members involved in a specific project. This helps in organizing and labeling all project-related communications, making it easier to track progress and follow up on tasks.
Event Planning: An event coordinator can set up filters for emails from vendors, sponsors, and participants. This ensures that all communications related to an event are labeled and managed efficiently, aiding in smooth event execution.
Departmental Coordination: An HR manager can use filters to manage emails from different departments. For instance, emails from the recruitment team can be labeled separately from those of the payroll team, streamlining internal communications.
Academic Collaboration: A researcher collaborating with colleagues from various institutions can create a filter for emails from their research group. This helps in keeping all collaborative discussions and document exchanges organized and easily accessible.
Hope you find this trick helpful in your own work!
One of my most wished for features in GMail is to filter based on group membership. We have a number of internal groups at work for whom this feature would be very handy in labelling messages by filter. It would also be very useful if you have groups with whom you collaborate regularly. As an…