Manage Gmail filters

This document explains how to use filters in the Gmail API.

You can use the settings.filters resource to configure advanced filtering rules for an account. Filters can automatically add or remove labels or forward emails to verified aliases based on the attributes or content of the incoming message.

For information on how to create , list , get , or delete Gmail filters, see the settings.filters resource.

Match criteria

Filter messages by properties such as the sender, subject, date, size, and message contents. Filters only apply to specific messages and not the entire email thread. Any query using Gmail's advanced search syntax can also be used in a filter. For example, common filter patterns include:

Filter	Matches
`criteria.from='sender@example.com'`	Emails from `sender@example.com`
`criteria.size=10485760` `criteria.sizeComparison='larger'`	Emails larger than 10 MB
`criteria.hasAttachment=true`	Emails with an attachment
`criteria.subject='[People with Pets]'`	Emails with `[People with Pets]` in the subject
`criteria.query='"my important project"'`	Emails containing `my important project`
`criteria.negatedQuery='"secret knock"'`	Emails not containing `secret knock`

If multiple criteria are present in a filter, a message must satisfy all criteria for the filter to apply.

Actions

Apply an Action to messages matching the filter criteria. With an Action , you can forward messages to a verified email address, or add and remove labels .

Add or remove labels to change the disposition of the email. For example, some common actions include:

Action	Effect
`action.removeLabelIds=['INBOX']`	Archive the email (skip the inbox)
`action.removeLabelIds=['UNREAD']`	Mark as read
`action.removeLabelIds=['SPAM']`	Never mark as spam
`action.removeLabelIds=['IMPORTANT']`	Never mark as important
`action.addLabelIds=['IMPORTANT']`	Mark as important
`action.addLabelIds=['TRASH']`	Delete the email
`action.addLabelIds=['STARRED']`	Mark as starred
`action.addLabelIds=['<user label id>']`	Tag the mail with a user-defined label. Only one user-defined label is allowed per filter.

Code samples

The following code samples show how to label and archive messages from a mailing list:

Java

gmail/snippets/src/main/java/CreateFilter.java

View on GitHub

 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.googleapis.json.GoogleJsonError 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.googleapis.json.GoogleJsonResponseException 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.http.HttpRequestInitializer 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.http.javanet.NetHttpTransport 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.json.gson.GsonFactory 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.Gmail 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.GmailScopes 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.model.Filter 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.model.FilterAction 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.services.gmail.model.FilterCriteria 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.auth.http.HttpCredentialsAdapter 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.io.IOException 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.util.Arrays 
 ; 
 /* Class to demonstrate the use of Gmail Create Filter API */ 
 public 
  
 class 
 CreateFilter 
  
 { 
  
 /** 
 * Create a new filter. 
 * 
 * @param labelId - ID of the user label to add 
 * @return the created filter id, {@code null} otherwise. 
 * @throws IOException - if service account credentials file not found. 
 */ 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 String 
  
 createNewFilter 
 ( 
 String 
  
 labelId 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 IOException 
  
 { 
  
 /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment. 
 TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for 
 guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */ 
  
 GoogleCredentials 
  
 credentials 
  
 = 
  
 GoogleCredentials 
 . 
 getApplicationDefault 
 () 
  
 . 
 createScoped 
 ( 
 GmailScopes 
 . 
 GMAIL_SETTINGS_BASIC 
 , 
  
 GmailScopes 
 . 
 GMAIL_LABELS 
 ); 
  
 HttpRequestInitializer 
  
 requestInitializer 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 HttpCredentialsAdapter 
 ( 
 credentials 
 ); 
  
 // Create the gmail API client 
  
 Gmail 
  
 service 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 Gmail 
 . 
 Builder 
 ( 
 new 
  
 NetHttpTransport 
 (), 
  
 GsonFactory 
 . 
 getDefaultInstance 
 (), 
  
 requestInitializer 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setApplicationName 
 ( 
 "Gmail samples" 
 ) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
 try 
  
 { 
  
 // Filter the mail from sender and archive them(skip the inbox) 
  
 Filter 
  
 filter 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 Filter 
 () 
  
 . 
 setCriteria 
 ( 
 new 
  
 FilterCriteria 
 () 
  
 . 
 setFrom 
 ( 
 "gduser2@workspacesamples.dev" 
 )) 
  
 . 
 setAction 
 ( 
 new 
  
 FilterAction 
 () 
  
 . 
 setAddLabelIds 
 ( 
 Arrays 
 . 
 asList 
 ( 
 labelId 
 )) 
  
 . 
 setRemoveLabelIds 
 ( 
 Arrays 
 . 
 asList 
 ( 
 "INBOX" 
 ))); 
  
 Filter 
  
 result 
  
 = 
  
 service 
 . 
 users 
 (). 
 settings 
 (). 
 filters 
 (). 
 create 
 ( 
 "me" 
 , 
  
 filter 
 ). 
 execute 
 (); 
  
 // Prints the new created filter ID 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Created filter " 
  
 + 
  
 result 
 . 
 getId 
 ()); 
  
 return 
  
 result 
 . 
 getId 
 (); 
  
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
 GoogleJsonResponseException 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately 
  
 GoogleJsonError 
  
 error 
  
 = 
  
 e 
 . 
 getDetails 
 (); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 error 
 . 
 getCode 
 () 
  
 == 
  
 403 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 err 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Unable to create filter: " 
  
 + 
  
 e 
 . 
 getDetails 
 ()); 
  
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 throw 
  
 e 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 return 
  
 null 
 ; 
  
 } 
 }

Python

gmail/snippet/settings snippets/create_filter.py