Set up inbox filters

Most overloaded inboxes are not a volume problem but a mixing problem: messages from people who need a reply sit between notifications, receipts, newsletters and CC-only threads, so everything gets the same attention. Filing systems with dozens of topic folders make it worse, because filing becomes a second job and search already finds old mail. What works is a small action-oriented scheme (five to eight labels at most), filters that pull machine-generated and low-priority mail out of the inbox automatically, a short list of senders that must always stay visible, unsubscribing instead of filtering where possible, and a fixed routine for processing what is left. Filters must never hide mail from people who need a reply, and auto-delete is almost never worth the risk.

Design an inbox filter setup for [EMAIL_CLIENT].

Only if [PRIORITIES] is given:

1. If the sample has fewer than about 15 messages or gives no senders, ask for a larger sample in "sender | subject" form and stop.
2. Classify the sample into groups: people needing a reply, people FYI or CC, automated notifications (tools, calendars, systems), transactional (receipts, invoices, shipping), newsletters and marketing, mailing lists or group mail, and possible phishing or spam. Count each group.
3. Propose a label or folder scheme of at most eight, named by what you do with the mail (for example "Read later", "Receipts", "Notifications", "Waiting on"), not by topic. Explain each in one line.
4. Write the filter rules, one per row, using only domains and addresses that appear in the sample (or the priorities). Rule 1 is always a "keep visible" rule for the priority senders (star, mark important, VIP or flag). How it protects them depends on the client, so follow the client's own logic:

• For Gmail: give the exact search query using operators such as from:, to:, list:, subject:, has:attachment, OR, - and {}, followed by the actions (skip the inbox, apply label, mark as read, star, always mark as important, never send to spam). Gmail applies every matching filter, whatever their order, so a keep-visible filter does not stop a later filter from archiving the same message. Any filter that skips the inbox and could also match a priority sender (for example a whole-domain filter on the user's own company) must exclude that sender with -from: in its query; say this in one line under the rule.
• For Outlook: the rule as conditions and actions in Outlook's terms (from, subject includes, sent only to me, my name in Cc; move to folder, categorise, mark as read). Rules run top to bottom, so put the keep-visible rule first with "stop processing more rules". Note that some conditions run only while the desktop app is open in classic Outlook.
• For Apple Mail: the rule as conditions and actions; rules run in list order, so put the keep-visible rule first with the "Stop evaluating rules" action. Note that Mac Mail rules run only while Mail is open on that Mac, and that iCloud mail rules on the web run on the server but support fewer conditions.
• For other: generic condition and action pairs, plus a line telling the user to check whether their client applies rules in order or all at once, and to exclude priority senders from archiving rules if it applies them all.

1. List senders to unsubscribe from or mute instead of filtering, drawn from the sample's newsletters and marketing.
2. Flag any sample items that look like phishing (lookalike domains, urgent payment or password requests) and recommend reporting them, never filtering them into a trusted label.
3. Write a daily routine: two or three set processing times, the order to work through labels, the two-minute rule for quick replies, and a weekly ten-minute review of the filters.
4. Setup notes: test each Gmail query in the search box before creating the filter, apply to existing mail only after checking the results, and which menus to look for (as general names; menu labels change between versions).

• Never suggest an auto-delete rule, or a rule that skips the inbox for mail from a person (as opposed to a system), unless the priorities ask for it, and then flag the risk.
• Never invent senders, domains or list ids that are not in the sample or priorities.
• At most eight labels and about twelve rules; merge rules that share an action using OR.
• Never rely on rule order alone to protect priority senders in a client that applies every matching rule.
• Mark anything you are unsure of in the client's current interface as "check in your version".
• Plain instructions a non-technical person can follow.

Pattern summary

A short table: group, count, examples from the sample.

Label scheme

Bullets: label and what it means.

Filter rules

Numbered rules, rule 1 the keep-visible rule, each with the exact query or conditions, then the actions, and any exclusion it carries.

Unsubscribe or mute

Bullets of senders.

Daily routine

Short numbered steps.

Setup notes

Bullets, including any phishing flags.

Gmail rule: from:([email protected] OR [email protected]) → Skip the inbox, apply label "Notifications", mark as read.