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I know you can filter emails in Gmail by utilizing plus signs (e.g., bob+something@gmail.com). But is there a way to filter for the opposite - that is, include emails in gmail only where a plus sign is included (and regardless of what it is)? E.g., only show bob+xx@gmail.com or bob+zz@gmail.com, but not bob@gmail.com?

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  • I assume you're referring to gmail's filter mechanism?
    – JW8
    May 18, 2012 at 21:47
  • If you mean you want to filter f.e. the e-mail address foo+bar@gmail.com then the answer is that e-mail addresses cannot contain + signs. If you didn't meant this, your question is formulated quite weirdly...
    – Steven Roose
    Jun 21, 2012 at 20:31
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    @stevenroose: You certainly can use plus signs in email addresses. webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/2593/…
    – ale
    Jun 22, 2012 at 2:53
  • Alas, there is no wildcard search in Gmail. I had hoped that something like to:bob+*@gmail.com would work, but it doesn't.
    – ale
    Jun 22, 2012 at 2:58
  • @AlEverett Wow, didn't know that. I saw it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_address
    – Steven Roose
    Jun 22, 2012 at 8:45

3 Answers 3

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You can try creating a filter for each of these foo+xxx@ addresses. Example:

Create a filter with on the To: field for foo+bar@domain.com OR foo+xxx@domain.com

Use the filter to apply a label and then you can just view emails under this label.

It's not very scalable if you have a lot of these types of address to filter on, but it will work if there are only a handful, and it will prevent you from having to run a script.

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You could search for all emails addressed to bob@gmail.com (which would not return bob+anything@gmail.com), apply a label to them, and then filter for all email without that label.

This will also pick up emails that you receive at addresses other than bob, but if there are a limited number of such addresses you could also search for them and apply the same label.

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    This isn't going to cover things like mailing lists where the recipient's email address doesn't appear in the To: header at all.
    – ale
    Oct 6, 2012 at 5:22
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    @octern "search for all emails addressed to bob@gmail.com (which would not return bob+anything@gmail.com)": not true. I am guessing you didn't test it. I just tested this with (the equivalent of) "to:me", "to:myaddressstart@gmail.com", and even "deliveredto:myaddressstart@gmail.com", and they all returned all converstations with e-mails to me, with and without + addresses.
    – A.M.
    Jul 17, 2013 at 20:27
  • I seem to recall using this method in the past. It might have changed since then. Either way, this was never a great solution and now it's a nonfunctional one.
    – octern
    Jul 19, 2013 at 1:19
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You can use -

It is used to exclude terms from your search.

Example: nerd -dinner

Meaning: Messages that contain the word "nerd" but do not contain the word "dinner".

Try it. You can read better on Google Support.

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    -1 as this doesn't work for addresses, which is what the original poster asked.
    – Fuhrmanator
    Aug 28, 2012 at 15:18

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