Create an inbox rule

Any email from [SENDER OR DOMAIN] should go to the [FOLDER NAME] folder.

Rules are how you stop sorting the same emails twice. Tell alfred_ once, and every future email matching the pattern gets handled before you see it.

What alfred_ does

1. Confirms the sender or domain pattern (asks if you mean exact email or whole domain)
2. Confirms the destination folder, and creates the folder if it doesn’t exist
3. Sets up the rule in your underlying provider (Gmail filter, Outlook rule)
4. Optionally back-applies the rule to existing emails currently in your inbox

The two phrasings that work

By specific sender:

• “Any email from no-reply@avanan-mail.net should go to my deleted box”
• “All emails from Jez (jez@jezmail.au) should go to the FYI folder”

By whole domain:

• “Any email from @idmobile.co.uk should go to the ID Mobile folder”
• “Emails matching the wework domain, I don’t want to see those anymore”

If the folder doesn’t exist yet

You can do it in one step:

“Create a folder called ‘ID Mobile’. Then move all emails from @idmobile.co.uk into it, and route future ones there too.”

alfred_ creates the folder, back-applies, and sets the forward rule.

Reviewing your existing rules

• “Show me my list of rules right now”
• “What rules do I have for my Gmail account?”

When it goes wrong

A few things to watch for:

• Tag vs. move: alfred_ moves by default, but in some Gmail setups you’ll see emails labeled and still in the inbox. If you want them out of inbox, say so explicitly: “I want them physically moved, not just labeled.”
• Multiple accounts: be specific which account: “Add this rule to my get-alfred account” if you have several connected.
• Custom folders aren’t always searchable: if alfred_ tells you it can’t search a folder, that’s a known limitation of the underlying provider’s API, not alfred_.

Related

• Bulk cleanup of existing emails
• The 5-folder triage system
• Email rules reference