How to Create Gmail Labels and Filters

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By cadence
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Create labels in Gmail.

Gmail has a lot of features beyond just sending and receiving email. These include the ability to create filters and labels to organize your email. We all receive lots of email each day - we might as well keep our Gmail accounts organized. So go ahead, get started by making your first label and filter!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Create a new label.

Gmail allows users to create email filters to organize their email. Labels allow you to keep track of emails based on how you label them. You can label emails from certain people, on certain topics, etc.
To create a label, click on New Label under the 'More Actions' tab. Name the label. For example, you can call it 'Important Bills.' After this, you can select emails and then apply the label. Do this by selecting or opening the email, then going to the 'More Actions' tab and clicking on the label of your choosing. You take this a step further by setting up an email filter, which will automatically label qualified emails with the label.
Step 2

Create your filter.

To set up a mail filter in Gmail, click on Create Filter, which is a small link to the right of 'Search the Web.' Enter the email address or other information which you would like to filter by. Click Next, and choose what you would like to happen to the filtered email, such as skipping your inbox, applying a label, starring it, etc. Decide whether or not to apply this to previous or only upcoming emails, and click 'Create Filter' to complete the process.
Step 3

Choose label colors.

Gmail gives you the ability to make your labels colorful. Once you have created your labels, go to your Gmail inbox. Mouse over the name of your label. A little down arrow will appear. Click the down arrow, and color choices for your label will appear. Have fun with this - you may want to make bill payment labels green like money, and make your best friend's emails show up in their favorite color.
Step 4

You can view your inbox or all of your mail.

When you create labels, you can remove emails from your inbox and leave them in the labeled folder only. This will help to keep your inbox from becoming too full and confusing. If you want to see only mail in a label, click the label's name on the left side of your inbox. If you want to see all of your mail together, not just mail that is in your inbox, click 'all mail' and you'll see your filtered mail and the mail in your inbox.