Organizing Gmail with labels & filters
How to use Gmail labels and filters in Google Workspace to automatically sort, tag, and manage incoming email — keeping your inbox clean without effort.
- Difficulty
- Beginner
Gmail doesn't use folders like traditional email programs. Instead, it uses labels — color-coded tags you can apply to messages. Combined with filters (automatic rules), you can keep your inbox tidy without doing it manually every time.
Quick summary
Labels are tags you apply to emails to organize them. Filters are automatic rules: "if an email is from invoices@, apply the 'Finance' label and skip the inbox." Set up a few filters and your inbox practically organizes itself.
What are labels?
A label is a tag you attach to an email. Unlike a folder, you can apply several labels to the same email, and Google is explicit that labels are not folders. Labels appear in the left sidebar of Gmail, where folders would be in other email programs.
Two things follow from labels being tags rather than folders. They're private — only you see your labels, and the people you email never do. And deleting an email removes it from every label, not just the one you're looking at.
You can create up to 5,000 labels, so you won't run out.
For example, you could have labels called:
- Finance — for invoices and receipts
- Clients — for email from clients
- Action needed — for emails you need to respond to
- Read later — for newsletters you'll get to eventually
Creating a label
In Gmail, look down the left sidebar for "Labels" and click Create new label next to it. You may need to click "More" to expand the sidebar first.
Enter a label name. If you want it to sit inside another label, tick Nest label under and pick the parent. Then click Create.
Optionally give it a color. Hover over the label's name in the sidebar, click More, then Label color, and pick one — or click Add custom color to mix your own. Gmail allows up to 100 custom colors.
To rename or remove a label later, hover over its name, click More, then edit it or choose Remove label.
Applying a label manually
Tick the checkbox next to the email you want to label.
At the top, click Labels (the tag icon).
Select the label you want to apply. To move an email from one label to another, untick the old label and pick the new one.
The email stays in your inbox AND appears under the label in the sidebar — you can access it from either place.
Creating a filter (automatic rule)
Filters save time by doing the labeling for you. Here's how to set one up:
In Gmail, click the search box at the top of the page.
Click Show search options — the small sliders icon at the right of the search box.
Enter your search criteria — the sender, words in the subject, words anywhere in the message, and so on. Click Search first if you want to check that it catches the right emails.
At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
Choose what the filter does. Gmail's own summary of the options: send the email to a label, or archive, delete, star, or automatically forward it. There are a few more besides.
If Gmail offers to apply the filter to matching conversations, tick that to sort emails you've already received, not just future ones.
Click Create filter. Done — Gmail will now handle those emails automatically.
Forwarding filters only work going forwards
If your filter forwards messages, Google warns that only new messages are affected. And when someone replies to a message your filter caught, the reply is only filtered if it matches the same search criteria too.
A shortcut worth knowing: if you have an example of the email in front of you, tick its checkbox, click More, then Filter messages like these — Gmail fills in the criteria for you.
Useful filter ideas
| Filter | Action |
|---|---|
| From your accountant | Apply "Finance" label |
| Subject: "receipt" or "invoice" | Apply "Finance" label + archive |
| From newsletters you rarely read | Skip inbox + apply "Newsletters" |
| From your hosting company | Apply "Hosting" + star |
| From a specific client | Apply their name as a label |
Editing or deleting a filter
Go to Gmail Settings (the gear icon in the top right), then click See all settings.
Click the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
Find the filter you want to change, then click Edit or Delete next to it. If you're editing, click Continue when you're done, then Update filter.
You can also export your filters to an .xml file from the bottom of that page, and import them into another account — handy when you've spent an afternoon getting them right.
Common questions
Can I have nested labels (labels inside labels)?
Yes. When you create a label, tick Nest label under and choose a parent label. This helps organize a long list of labels into groups.
Will filtering an email remove it from my inbox?
Only if you choose the archive option, usually shown as "Skip the Inbox". Otherwise the email stays in your inbox and gets the label as well. If you want it labeled but out of sight, pick the archive option too.
How do I find all emails with a specific label?
Click the label name in the left sidebar, or search for label: followed by the label's name — label:finance, for example.
Can my Workspace admin create labels for everyone?
No. Labels are personal: only you can access yours. Admins work at the delivery level instead, with routing and compliance rules for incoming mail. See Email routing & catch-all.
Can I hide labels I rarely use?
Yes. Go to Settings → See all settings → the Labels tab, and click Hide next to any label you don't want cluttering the sidebar.
Related guides
- Gmail basics for business
- Setting up your Gmail signature
- Setting a vacation responder
- Email routing & catch-all
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