Sort Your GMail Inbox Like a Pro
Find Emails Faster When You’re Organized
Have trouble finding emails and messages from someone? Did you know there is a way to organize and sort Gmail by sender, subject, and label.
Sort Gmail by Sender. There is no “one click” way to do this. The quickest way is most useful when you have had an email from an individual recently, but you can use it anytime you’re in your inbox.
Go to your Inbox, locate any email from the sender you want to select, then right-click on that email without opening it. From the menu that pops up select “Find Emails From.” Pretty instantly, you’ll see a list of all the emails you’ve ever received from that sender, event ancient ones. What’s nice is that you’ll also see the full contact info for the sender, making it easy to send them a message.
Don’t see the desired sender immediately? Just type the person’s name or email address into the Gmail search box first. Then, right-click on one of the messages it finds and follow the same process as above.
Emails from Any Sender. You can sort your Gmail inbox by a sender without knowing their name. Go back to the Gmail search box and notice the filter icon on the right-hand side. This is the “Show Search Options” button.
Click on the option and you’ll see a box offering various ways to locate messages.
You can specify parameters to find emails that include or do not include certain words. This finds them in whole emails, not just the Subject Line. This is very useful when you can only remember what a conversation was about.
You can also filter to only find messages with attachments.
You can play around with this feature to find ways to be helpful for you. Use the “Date Within” option to limit your searches to a particular time frame, for example. When you’ve found the sender, you can follow the “Find Emails From” steps above.
Sort Your Gmail Inbox by Subject. Sometimes you need to sort your inbox by subject instead. For example, you may need to find all the emails related to an upcoming event.
Go back to the Gmail search box and bring up the additional search options (filter icon). One of the boxes allows you to search by subject. You can also search by certain words. Type words like – meeting, 1:1, event, etc. in the “Includes the Words” box, separated by commas.
The last option is “Search” on this box. It automatically defaults to search through all of your emails. If that is too broad, change it to search only messages filtered to a specific inbox or assigned a particular label.
Did someone send you an email you didn’t receive? You can set the “Search” to “Spam and Trash.” Remember that Gmail automatically deletes Trashed messages every 30 days.
BONUS TIP
You can assign a Label to an email and sort by that label. To add a label, open the email and click on the “tag” if you have icons turned on or “Label” if you have the text option. You can create a new label or tag a label you’ve already made. Then, you simply click on the label on the left navigation, and you’ll see all the emails you tagged with that particular label.
It’s easy to organize your Gmail with these automated search options by Sender, Label, or Subject. This can help keep your inbox cleaner and make you more productive.
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Meet The Time Creator - Pam Walrod
Hi, I’m Pam—founder of Time Creator Administrative Solutions. With 35+ years of experience in marketing, community relations, and executive-level admin support, I help busy business owners like you reclaim your time by handling the behind-the-scenes work. From inboxes to systems to website updates, I streamline what’s overwhelming so you can focus on what you love. Let’s get things done—one task at a time.