How to Next-Level Spam-Proof Your Gmail
Remember how terrible email spam used to be? I’m talking about back in the days of Hotmail. Then, this magical email service from Google came along, and pleas to help bail Nigerian princes out of jail became non-existent in my inbox. What made Gmail’s spam protection wonderful followed the theme that made it stand out as a whole: less is more, powerfully (almost unnoticeably) simple.
There is a kink in the armor, though. Somehow, despite my best effort s— which include having separate addresses dedicated to list situations — I still get promotional emails from marketers (just checked, 8 today). I like the quick “unsubscribe” link at the top, but it’s just not enough. Maybe this issue is solved by that “Promotions” tab but I don’t need multiple inboxes, one is enough.
If you want to keep all of these lists and promotions emails out of your inbox together, all it takes is a simple filter. Here’s how:
1. Click gear icon at the top right corner of your inbox, and choose “Settings”.
2. Choose “Filters and Blocked Addresses”.
3. Create a filter for any email containing the word “unsubscribe” to “skip inbox”.
I also have it add the label “junk mail” so I can check on them once in a while.
3. If you have promotional emails you want to see, simply add some unique words from them in the “doesn’t have” portion of the filter. For multiples, separate search terms with “OR”.
That’s it! I did almost miss a friend’s in-town wedding reception because the invite came via some sort of online RSVP service. But, I didn’t thanks to real life buds asking if I was going, so I consider this a win for humanity.
