How to Automatically Move Emails to a Folder in Gmail

Automatically Move Emails to a Folder in Gmail

by | Jan 8, 2024 | Gmail Tips and Resources

Want Gmail to help you organize your emails—your way? Want all emails from a certain sender in one place—automatically? Find out here how to automatically move emails to a folder in Gmail with rules and search operators.

First, Smells Like Coffee-in-the-Making

In Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia, you can smell the coffee before you smell the coffee.

For in the birthplace of coffee and its neighbor by the Red Sea, frankincense, myrrh and other incenses accompany the wonderfully elaborate steps to a cup of deeply black buna. Light the incense before you wash and then roast the green coffee beans, and keep the scents going throughout. Brewing coffee wholly means lighting incense.

Now, if an email from Mikal in Eritrea means brewing a cup of coffee for you, lighting incense and moving the message to a folder every time, Gmail can help you with the latter of the three:

How to Automatically Move Emails to a Folder in Gmail

Time needed: 5 minutes

To set up Gmail to move certain emails to a folder automatically using a rule:

  1. Open Gmail in a desktop browser.

  2. Click Show search options in the Search mail field.

  3. Choose the criteria that will let Gmail decide which emails to move to the folder automatically.

    The Fields
    From: Filter by sender (using name, email address or part of either).
    To: Filter by recipient, e.g., a Gmail email alias or a mailing lists’s address.
    Subject: Look for specific words or phrases in the email’s subject line.
    Has the words: Filter by the contents of the message; it must contain all the words. (With Gmail search operators, you can use this field for anything.)
    Doesn’t have: The messages filtered must not include these words in their body text.
    Size: Filter emails exceeding or not reaching a certain size.
    Has attachment: Filter emails with attachments.
    Examples
    From: @ladedu.com: Move all emails from anybody with an email address that ends in @ladedu.com.
    To:me@gmail.com and Has attachment: Move all messages sent to me@gmail.com that include an attached file.
    More Advanced
    You can set up more advanced filters using the regular search field and Gmail search operators. Any search excluding those using dates will work to set up a filter to move incoming mail automatically.

  4. Click Create filter.

  5. Select both Skip the Inbox (Archive it) and Apply label:.

  6. Now choose the folder to which you want the emails moved under Apply label:.

    All new: Select New Label… to create a new Gmail label.
    To “All Mail”: Skip this action to have Gmail archive email automatically (without moving it to a folder).

  7. Click Create filter.

    Retroaction: Optionally, check Also apply filter to matching conversations. to move existing emails to the Gmail folder in addition to emails arriving from now on.
    Click “Create filter” to have Gmail move incoming emails automatically to a folder with a rule

Manual mode: How to Move an Email to a Folder (Label) in Gmail

Edit a Gmail Rule that Moves Mail

To change a rule set up in Gmail to move messages to a certain label:

  1. Click the Settings gear icon in Gmail.
  2. Select See all settings from the menu that has appeared.
  3. Go to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
  4. Select Edit for the rule you want to edit.
  5. Change the filtering rule as when you would set it up fresh.
    Saves: The changes you make will overwrite the existing rule.

How to Automatically Move Emails to a Folder in Gmail: FAQ

Can I negate a search criterion, e.g., emails not to a specific address?

Yes.

To negate any search term in Gmail,

  • surround it with () parentheses and put - (minus sign) or ! (exclamation mark) in front of the opening parenthesis.
    Example: from:ladedu.com -(to:me+nl@gmail.com) will filter all emails from an address that includes “ladedu.com” and anything but me+nl@gmail.com in the To or Cc fields.

Can I combine multiple criteria in my filtering rule?

Yes.

You can combine filter criteria in Gmail with the following:

  • Separate conditions that should both be true by a simple whitespace character ( ); Gmail defaults to only acting on emails that match all criteria.
    Alternative: To make your rule more explicit and easier to understand, you can use AND instead of the whitespace.
    Example: from:ladedu.com AND cc:me@gmail.com
  • Use | to have a rule match either criterion or both.
    Alternative: Again, to make a rule easier to read, you can use OR instead of the pipe character.
    Example: from:ladedu.com OR to:me+ladedu@gmail.com
  • Group criteria using parentheses; use them like in a mathematical equation. Gmail evaluates from the inside out.
    Negating: You can exclude a whole group with a minus sign (-) in front of it.
    Example: (from:ladedu.com AND cc:me@gmail.com) OR (!(has:attachment AND filename:pdf) AND !from:((gmail|yahoo).com))

Can I set have Gmail in Basic HTML move emails to a folder automatically?

Yes.

You can set up the same filter in Gmail Basic HTML:

  1. Set up the Gmail label that will act as the receiving folder for the filtered messages.
    Do it now: Basic HTML Gmail will only let you pick from existing labels for a rule.
  2. Click Create a filter in Gmail Basic HTML.
  3. Enter search criteria in the form as above.
  4. Click Next Step.
  5. Check both Skip the Inbox and Apply the label:.
  6. Select the label to which you want incoming messages moved.
  7. Click Create Filter.

(How to automatically move emails to a folder in Gmail tested with Gmail in a desktop browser; updated January 2024)

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