Advanced Gmail filter criteria

Question

I have a couple on-going conversation threads in Gmail with a number of different people. Is there a way to setup a filter so that it will add a label if the body of any new, unread email contains my name? Then remove the label once I've read the email?

Answer 1

Remember that you can use any gmail search operator in a filter via the Has the words: textbox since gmail just AND's together the operators that are filled in via the filter dialog.

I'll suggest you start by trying this:

1. Create a filter that finds new emails with your name in them and applies a temporary label. The search operation you would use in the filter is:

   is:unread AND body:"Your Name"

2. Create a filter that finds read emails in the temporary label and removes the label.

   label:templabel AND is:read

   Unfortunately, while filters can operate on read emails, they cannot currently remove labels, we are at a stopping point.

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Sorry can't help more, but until gmail filters can unapply a label, you will not be able to accomplish this via filters.

Potential work arounds would be:

1. Setup an IMAP client with the equivalent filtering where instead of adding/removing a temporary label you would be copying/deleting the email from the temporary folder.

2. Google recently introduced a new scripting framework for Google Apps.

3. One really crude hack for step 2 would be to have the filter forward the email as well as delete it. You would forward to your own email address with a plus extension, e.g. username+templabelname@gmail.com.

   Then a new step 3 would be to catch those emails using the deliveredto:username+templabel@gmail.com search string, and reapply some label.

   Not sure how cleanly this method would work, especially because you would get header cruft from the forward (vs. redirecting).

Personally, I would look at #2 since learning scripting for Google Apps would pay off in the long run.

Answer 2

There is no search operator to restrict to the body of a message. I would recommend setting up a filter with your name in the "Has the words" field, and apply the label as your action. There is no need to add "is:unread" because filters apply to incoming messages.

Likewise you cannot remove the label via filter or take automatic action after the message has arrived. But there are a few other options that might help:

• Use keyboard shortcuts to remove the label when you finish reading the message. Assuming you are reading the messages from label view, "y" will remove the label, and "[" and "]" will remove the label and move you to the next or previous message.
• Use the Hide read labels lab to hide the label if there are no unread messages inside.

Finally, you could also consider setting up a Quick Link or a Multiple Inbox with the search query: is:unread yourname. The link or inbox would automatically update and remove messages from the view after you read them.

Answer 3

The first part: adding a label based on existing keyword is simple, but the second part I think is impossible, because there is no such trigger in Gmail that could cause a filtering operation once an e-mail is read.