One filter, multiple email addresses

[Matt McManus]

I would like to have a filter that applies a label, lets just say,
"Friends". Is there a way that I can have a filter that I can put
multiple emails into and if an email comes in with any of those emails
it will apply the label? I really would prefer not to make 20
individual filters that all do the same thing

[Zack (Doc)]

Applying the same filter to many senders
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8870&topic=12859

Another version of this is to use {} instead of (), so:
{ad...@domain.com ad...@other.com}
is the same as:
(ad...@domain.com OR ad...@other.com)
Even this will catch, but you have to be aware it could catch more
than you mean:
{addy1 addy2}

[Matt McManus]

Zack, Thank you so much. This is exactly what I was looking for. I was
trying things along these lines...i was so close.

Thanks again.

On Dec 4, 12:09 pm, "Zack (Doc)" <z...@tnan.net> wrote:
> Applying the same filter to many sendershttp://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8870&topic=12859

>
> Another version of this is to use {} instead of (), so:
> {ad...@domain.com ad...@other.com}
> is the same as:
> (ad...@domain.com OR ad...@other.com)
> Even this will catch, but you have to be aware it could catch more
> than you mean:
> {addy1 addy2}
>

[Sean]

Wow, a question that I actually knew the answer to. Or at least *AN*
answer to...

I checked the link even though I had already created several
'multi-filters' on my own through trial-and-error and I notice that you
are supposed to put parentheses around the list of "From" addresses. My
multi-filters seem to work just fine without the parentheses. Does
anyone know what functionality I might not have noticed was missing?

[voyagerfan5761]

Hey, yeah! Come to think of it, I have a bunch of filters all
targeting multiple senders, and I just used Sender1 OR Sender2 OR
Sender3...

Perhaps that's not as elegant as the parentheses/braces, though. ;)

Voyagerfan5761
http://voyagerfan5761.blogspot.com/

On Dec 11, 10:16 am, Sean <smpara...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wow, a question that I actually knew the answer to. Or at least *AN*
> answer to...
>
> I checked the link even though I had already created several
> 'multi-filters' on my own through trial-and-error and I notice that you
> are supposed to put parentheses around the list of "From" addresses. My
> multi-filters seem to work just fine without the parentheses. Does
> anyone know what functionality I might not have noticed was missing?
>
> Zack (Doc) wrote:
> > Applying the same filter to many senders
> >http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8870&topic=12859
>
> > Another version of this is to use {} instead of (), so:
> > {ad...@domain.com ad...@other.com}
> > is the same as:
> > (ad...@domain.com OR ad...@other.com)
> > Even this will catch, but you have to be aware it could catch more
> > than you mean:
> > {addy1 addy2}
>

[Sean Murphy]

    A quick search should bring up innumerably discussions about how to make suggestions to Google, simply posting them to a user's group is actually slightly less effective than writing them on a piece of paper and burning it in a consecrated kettle...

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 11:41 PM, LarryAU <itd...@gmail.com> wrote:

Now that is a great suggestion, Google how about this be a feature request.

[Henry Loh II]

I found on youtube that you need to separate the e-mails with the vertical line "|" (by using Shift + \, the backslash button).  It works for my filters.  It is really ridiculous that google makes it so hard to figure out a basic usage - they should explain it or allow common separators like commas.

On Wednesday, February 6, 2013 10:28:02 PM UTC-8, Christopher Anderson wrote:

Appears that with the latest UI (as of this writing), that using curly braces instead of parentheses accomplishes the job. 

from:{...@company.com OR sen...@company.com}

On Monday, October 22, 2012 8:57:14 AM UTC-7, Amyn Zindani wrote:

It does not work any more.

I just tried since the link shows the old gmail UI and that is not the case any more.

[rahul parab]

Is there a way to create one common email Id for multiple users

[Peng Zhang]

Vertical bar works fine to connect email addresses in gmail filter. Thanks Henry.

[Craig Lambie]

This is the best tool to use when adding more than a couple of email addresses...

http://themobilephilosopher.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/contacts-to-filter-in-gmail_28.html

[Ashish Patel]

It is as simple as it can

Try this 

from:(@xyz.com OR @abc.com OR @pqrs.com OR @lmno.com) 

[Daniel Gonzalez PP/OF]

You, my good sir, you rock!

[Олександр Дубів]

I'm really shocked that in 2015 instead of using simple comma, user has SOMEHOW to figure out he has to use boolean "OR, AND" etc...

Moreover - when in gmail in filter filed (from, to) I choose some email with auto-completion, gmail inserts comma sign "," automatically giving me intuitive hint that all other email addresses I should explode by "," and not in a way something like "OR".... Is this a BUG or FEATURE?...

вторник, 4 декабря 2007 г., 19:02:39 UTC+2 пользователь Matt McManus написал:

Ужгородський національний університет

http://www.uzhnu.edu.ua

[Ruchika Agarwal]

How do I create a filter to exclude multiple email addresses from my filter?

[Andy]

On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 3:56 PM, Ruchika Agarwal <ruchika2...@gmail.com> wrote:

How do I create a filter to exclude multiple email addresses from my filter?

​From: -addr...@um.com -addr...@ah.com -address3@​ug.com

From: -(a...@um.com OR a...@ah.com OR a...@ug.com)

From: -{a...@um.com a...@ah.com a...@ug.com}

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en

Andy

[surya.s...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 9:02:39 AM UTC-8, Matt McManus wrote:

You use the | character between the emails. ( I smell regex! :) )

[LM]

Ashish - I apologize as am a new user and need some direction.

 I am looking to filter all incoming emails from a list of about 40 members AND if either the subject line or message contains a certain stated number "123" forward that to a specific email.

I will take that filter and and make changes for the values in the subject or message lines for about six more stated numbers:

Filter #1:  gmails from any 40 members & value "123" in subject or message forwards
Filter #2:  same as above but with value ""456" forwards
Filter #3: same as above but with value "789" forwards....etc..

I did not quite understand the example you provided. Do I need to put all their actual email addresses  in the string  123.com OR 234.com OR.....etc..

I am setting this up in a new email account. I have added all the 40 member email addresses to my contacts and have them as a named group.

Need some insight - thank you !!!

LM

[Andy]

On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 2:38 PM, LM <lonemoo...@gmail.com> wrote:

 I am looking to filter all incoming emails from a list of about 40 members AND if either the subject line or message contains a certain stated number "123" forward that to a specific email.

​... other information here (deleted) which I think counts as TMI ... not consequential to your question ...

I did not quite understand the example you provided. Do I need to put all their actual email addresses  in the string  123.com OR 234.com OR.....etc..

​Yes.  You must enumerate all 40 email addresses.  You have two choices:

   address1 OR address2 OR address3 OR ... OR address 40

   {address1 address2  address3 ... address40}

The first method lists all 40 addresses with the word "OR" (in capital letters) between each one.  The second method lists all 40 addresses without the word "OR", but encloses the whole list within {curly braces}.  The curly braces have the effect of turning the comparison into an OR operation.  Either way, the filter compares the sender's address against each of the addresses in the list you provide.

In each of these, I think you should write the whole email addresses, as in "per...@234.com", and not just their domain "234.com", unless you want your filter to match any sender in that domain.

I am setting this up in a new email account. I have added all the 40 member email addresses to my contacts and have them as a named group.

​I do not believe that a filter can make use of a Contact Group.  The addresses you put into your filter, presumably stay that way in the filter, and the filter does not automagically change if you later make changes to the contact group.​  Well that is my understanding.

Andy

[rishind...@gmail.com]

@andy can i not filter mails from bunch of people of similar organization of same domain into one label 'domain' as { *@domain.com} . 

Thanks 

[Andy]

On Thu, Oct 6, 2016 at 4:53 PM, <rishind...@gmail.com> wrote:

@andy can i not filter mails from bunch of people of similar organization of same domain into one label 'domain' as { *@domain.com} . 

​I thought I answered that already in the message you were replying to.​  You can.

If your search criterion uses "@domain.com", then any incoming email with an address that contains "@domain.com" will be recognized as a match, and will be processed by the filter.

Andy

[neil...@gmail.com]

Have a gmail filter defined as:

Matches: from:(@aspendigico.com @karole.degnim.kwces.gastroenteritis.stevedyke.com @mx17.footprinttente.com OR child.glftd46354@kb4apnxedy1l0i.w0.wbypfv.tk OR orm.gtwa46385@vr49t8aphe1211.w3124-b0b8.ekwyms.tk OR ....@skill.komacool.com OR Cat Litter Coupons OR Mrs.Christine Lagarde) subject:(FamilySupport OR Letters From Santa OR AsianBeauties Team OR Invest Gold Today OR North Pole OR NewCarsPlus OR RussianBeautyOnline OR Russian_babes)
Do this: Delete it

Do you think, the symantics of this filter is correct, reason i still keep getting these spam messages from these .eu web sites,  

Can someone please make recommendation or point the deficiencies... Thanks much !

[Andy]

On Sun, Dec 17, 2017 at 9:06 AM, <neil...@gmail.com> wrote:

Have a gmail filter defined as:

Matches: 

​​

from:(@aspendigico.com

​​

@karole.degnim.kwces.gastroenteritis.stevedyke.com @mx17.footprinttente.com OR child.glftd46354@kb4apnxedy1l0i.w0.wbypfv.tk OR orm.gtwa46385@vr49t8aphe1211.w3124-b0b8.ekwyms.tk

​​

OR

​​

....@skill.komacool.com OR Cat Litter Coupons OR Mrs.Christine Lagarde) subject:(FamilySupport OR Letters From Santa OR AsianBeauties Team OR Invest Gold Today OR North Pole OR NewCarsPlus OR RussianBeautyOnline OR Russian_babes)
Do this: Delete it

Do you think, the symantics of this filter is correct,

​...

​Maybe not.

There are missing OR operators between some of the addresses you listed.

There is something funny going on with some of the email addresses.  For example:

​

​

@karole.degnim.kwces.gastroenteritis.stevedyke.com

​Why are two parts of it highlighted?​  There might be extra (hidden?) characters within those addresses which breaks them up like that.  In your email, there are <wbr> HTML tags separating them.  I don't know if something is wrong with them, or not.

This address:

​

....@skill.komacool.com

might not be right.  As far as I know, ellipses (...) do not have any useful meaning.  I would just use @skill.komacool.com, which I think is sufficient to catch any email address with that exact domain.  I don't think the ellipses (extra periods) help, and they might hurt.

Some of the things you enumerated, have spaces between them, but you didn't put them within quotes, and that changes how the OR operation works.  For example:

  a OR b OR c d e OR f

is not the same thing as:

  a OR b OR "c d e" OR f

In the first case, I think it is equivalent to this:

  (a OR b OR c) AND d AND (e OR f)

Are you certain one of the sender's names was "Mrs.Christine Lagarde" and not "Mrs. Christine Lagarde"?  Yes, it matters.  You have to be very exact.

The same comments apply to the OR operators in the Subject expression.  There's got to be quotes around the things that have spaces in them.  Otherwise, the OR stops at the first space, and then it's an AND after that.

So, maybe this was what you intended:

​

from:(@aspendigico.com OR @karole.degnim.kwces.gastroenteritis.stevedyke.com OR @mx17.footprinttente.com OR child.gl...@kb4apnxedy1l0i.w0.wbypfv.tk OR orm.gt...@vr49t8aphe1211.w3124-b0b8.ekwyms.tk OR @skill.komacool.com OR "Cat Litter Coupons" OR "Mrs.Christine Lagarde") 

subject:(FamilySupport OR "Letters From Santa" OR "AsianBeauties Team" OR "Invest Gold Today" OR "North Pole" OR NewCarsPlus OR RussianBeautyOnline OR Russian_babes)

Finally, consider how this works.  The filter will match things that have any of the listed FROM addresses, and at the same time, any of the listed Subject text.  Therefore, an email message that comes from one of the listed email addresses but doesn't have one of the specified Subject lines, would not be found by this filter, and the filter won't delete the message.

If that isn't what you wanted, you could overcome that by adding an OR between the from:(...) part and the subject:(...) part.

Andy

[Neil Bh]

Got it many thanks

I see that i dropped the ball on one of then where i missed out the OR operator

next: i just simply need to remove the subject content, as some of these spam owners are changing the subject heading under the same domain name

Wow .... many thanks again, i owe you one :)

Best Wishes

Neil

( see how i spend my retirement :( ... i am over 65..ha ha)

​

from:(@aspendigico.com OR @karole.degnim.kwces.gastroenteritis.stevedyke.com OR @mx17.footprinttente.com OR child.glftd46354@kb4apnxedy1l0i.w0.wbypfv.tk OR orm.gtwa46385@vr49t8aphe1211.w3124-b0b8.ekwyms.tk OR @skill.komacool.com OR "Cat Litter Coupons" OR "Mrs.Christine Lagarde") 

subject:(FamilySupport OR "Letters From Santa" OR "AsianBeauties Team" OR "Invest Gold Today" OR "North Pole" OR NewCarsPlus OR RussianBeautyOnline OR Russian_babes)

Finally, consider how this works.  The filter will match things that have any of the listed FROM addresses, and at the same time, any of the listed Subject text.  Therefore, an email message that comes from one of the listed email addresses but doesn't have one of the specified Subject lines, would not be found by this filter, and the filter won't delete the message.

If that isn't what you wanted, you could overcome that by adding an OR between the from:(...) part and the subject:(...) part.

Andy

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[Zack (Doc)]

Also you can simplify with different brackets... {} = OR  So... "(a OR b OR c)" is the same as "{a b c}" making your search/filter a little shorter and easier to read.

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[Neil Bh]

Thanks - good suggestion,

btw: is there a physical limit to how long a filter can be - meaning: # of domains in a given filter ?

[Neil Bh]

Folks 

can someone advice how to read the domain of this email address without opening it - the email in concern is "WWWJOSEPH" (it is in the spam folder) placing the cursor on the from normally reveals the address domain ( for filtering purposes)

Thanks in advance

[Andy]

On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 11:28 AM, Neil Bh <neil...@gmail.com> wrote:

Folks 

can someone advice how to read the domain of this email address without opening it - the email in concern is "WWWJOSEPH" (it is in the spam folder) placing the cursor on the from normally reveals the address domain ( for filtering purposes)

Thanks in advance

​Nope.  There is no information there.  Only the graphical image of the text we can read.

You could put those names into your filter, of course.  Filters don't need ​to filter on the domain name.

I've heard it said that it's not harmful to open an email within Gmail, especially one that's in your Spam label.  Gmail doesn't automatically run attached files, like Microsoft's email programs do.  So there's no chance of infecting your computer simply by opening the message.  If it's in Spam, Gmail doesn't load the graphics files (which can send your address back to the sender).  So I think it might be OK to open a message as long as you don't try clicking on any links -- and again, if it's in Spam already, Gmail doesn't show you any of the links so you can't click on them anyway!  With the message open, you can see the headers, even open the original message (which is just text so it's harmless).

Regards,

Andy

[Sean Murphy]

    Gmail shows the links in Spam Vew, but they are not clickable. Can't even use "Unshorten" from the context menu on the links, until they are declared "Not Spam." (Which is a bad idea if it IS spam just to see where the link points!) So Gmail makes examining the spam very safe as well as somewhat easy while it is labeled as "Spam".

[Neil Bh]

Glad to know that spam folder gmail is sanitized against accidental mail opening.

Thanks Sean  

--

[Neil Bh]

Thanks Andy for the valuable input

Regards

Neil

[Jeremy]

Is there a limit for how many emails can be used in ta single filter?  (In other words, (How many times can we use "OR" in a single email filter?)

On Thursday, December 21, 2017 at 2:11:37 PM UTC-8, Neil Bh wrote:

Thanks Andy for the valuable input

Regards

Neil

On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 12:35 PM, Andy <AI.e...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 11:28 AM, Neil Bh <neil...@gmail.com> wrote:

Folks 

can someone advice how to read the domain of this email address without opening it - the email in concern is "WWWJOSEPH" (it is in the spam folder) placing the cursor on the from normally reveals the address domain ( for filtering purposes)

Thanks in advance

​Nope.  There is no information there.  Only the graphical image of the text we can read.

You could put those names into your filter, of course.  Filters don't need ​to filter on the domain name.

I've heard it said that it's not harmful to open an email within Gmail, especially one that's in your Spam label.  Gmail doesn't automatically run attached files, like Microsoft's email programs do.  So there's no chance of infecting your computer simply by opening the message.  If it's in Spam, Gmail doesn't load the graphics files (which can send your address back to the sender).  So I think it might be OK to open a message as long as you don't try clicking on any links -- and again, if it's in Spam already, Gmail doesn't show you any of the links so you can't click on them anyway!  With the message open, you can see the headers, even open the original message (which is just text so it's harmless).

Regards,

Andy

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[Andy]

On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 2:31 PM Sean Murphy <smpa...@gmail.com> wrote:

    Gmail shows the links in Spam Vew, but they are not clickable. ...

I can't see links in the Spam view.  I'm pretty sure they are there, but if I hover the pointer over them, I get nothing.  Unless I am missing something, the only two ways I know to see what they are, is to either mark them "Not Spam" (ugh!), or "Show Original" and try decoding the HTML (ugh).  So I usually have to take Gmail's word that the message really is Spam and that I don't want to know.

Andy

[Andy]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2019 at 10:33 AM Jeremy <jm.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is there a limit for how many emails can be used in ta single filter?  (In other words, (How many times can we use "OR" in a single email filter?)

I'm mostly guessing here, but there might be a limit on how many characters you can have, not how many "OR" operators you can use.  Or that you reach the first limit before the second.

I've had filters with more than a dozen "OR" operators.  I THINK I once hit a character limit where I couldn't type anymore (but I might have remembered incorrectly).

Regardless, if there is a limit, I think you'll know it when it happens.  (Which is my way of saying, why bother asking?  If you reach it, you reach it, and then deal with it.)

Andy

[Jesse C]

Thank-YOU Henry.  Commas wouldn't work.. semicolons wouldn't work.. you have to use this STUPID LINE.. or "OR" works too..

Oddly this wasn't in any of the instructions. 

[Andy]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand the confusion.

1.  If you list many things in a Gmail filter without "OR" or {}, all of them are tested, so all must be met for the filter to do something.  The filter acts only if all of them are true.  It's as if the word "AND" separates each one.  In Gmail, the "AND" is implied.  It has always been this way (well, since 2006 it has).

2.  If you want a Gmail filter to do something whenever one out of several things are met, but not necessarily all, you must use "OR" between them.  It has always been this way (well, since 2006), and it is well documented.  Note that "or" is not the same as "OR".

2a.  Gmail has an alternative shortcut to using "OR", and that is to put the things in a list inside of {curly braces} without "OR".  Also true for a very long time, also documented.  These three are equivalent:

  something OR another_thing OR yet_another

  {something another_thing yet_another}

  {something, another_thing, yet_another}

3.  Commas or semicolons do nothing.  If you read somewhere that commas or semicolons did something, then you weren't reading about Gmail, or you were reading garbage.  AFAIK, Gmail doesn't treat commas or semicolons as anything special.

4.  I have never seen "|" as an allowed operator in Gmail.  That's not to say that it doesn't do anything, but I do not recall seeing it in Google's documentation so I wouldn't trust that it does something.  (If it does anything, I guess it would likely mean the same thing as "OR", and we have the keyword "OR" to do that.  Therefore: Use "OR", don't use "|".)

5.  It helps to have some knowledge of Logic operations, so that you know the difference between (a AND b AND c) and (a OR b OR c).  Hopefully most people who want to make complex Gmail filters have an understanding of Logic already.

6.  I don't know what "this STUPID LINE" means.

7.  I guess there's a lot of untrustworthy information that people have written about Gmail.  Don't believe what anyone other than Google writes about it.  It seems people keep trying to make believe that Gmail works differently than it does.  Writing that it does something, doesn't make it true.

Regards,

Andy

[Jesse C]

Hi Andy, 

See my additional info below. 

1.  If you list many things in a Gmail filter without "OR" or {}, all of them are tested, so all must be met for the filter to do something.  The filter acts only if all of them are true.  It's as if the word "AND" separates each one.  In Gmail, the "AND" is implied.  It has always been this way (well, since 2006 it has).

- By default, on from chrome on a desktop, if you use this field (see screenshot below), enter an email address, and then press enter, it adds a comma.. which results in the filter not working at all. 

- Whenever you use email (any email service since the dawn of email) and send an email to multiple addresses, you separate them with a comma or a semicolon. The example below puts in a comma by default. This is confusing.  

2.  If you want a Gmail filter to do something whenever one out of several things are met, but not necessarily all, you must use "OR" between them.  It has always been this way (well, since 2006), and it is well documented.  Note that "or" is not the same as "OR".

- I've never tried to use filters or customize anything in my gmail before. Nowhere in these instructions:https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en (to which I was constantly redirected) do I see anything about how to use these features. 

2a.  Gmail has an alternative shortcut to using "OR", and that is to put the things in a list inside of {curly braces} without "OR".  Also true for a very long time, also documented.  These three are equivalent:

  something OR another_thing OR yet_another

  {something another_thing yet_another}

  {something, another_thing, yet_another}

- News to me...  

3.  Commas or semicolons do nothing.  If you read somewhere that commas or semicolons did something, then you weren't reading about Gmail, or you were reading garbage.  AFAIK, Gmail doesn't treat commas or semicolons as anything special.

You're missing the context... (see below)

4.  I have never seen "|" as an allowed operator in Gmail.  That's not to say that it doesn't do anything, but I do not recall seeing it in Google's documentation so I wouldn't trust that it does something.  (If it does anything, I guess it would likely mean the same thing as "OR", and we have the keyword "OR" to do that.  Therefore: Use "OR", don't use "|".)

Here is the youtube video mentioned (which people were saying solved their issue): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMC-HWZ4N1o 

This was the first documentation I could find.. via googling .. that solved my issue. "OR" is much better and more logical than "|"

5.  It helps to have some knowledge of Logic operations, so that you know the difference between (a AND b AND c) and (a OR b OR c).  Hopefully most people who want to make complex Gmail filters have an understanding of Logic already.

6.  I don't know what "this STUPID LINE" means.

"|"  

7.  I guess there's a lot of untrustworthy information that people have written about Gmail.  Don't believe what anyone other than Google writes about it.  It seems people keep trying to make believe that Gmail works differently than it does.  Writing that it does something, doesn't make it true.

The solution in the video did work. 

I only created filters in the first place on advice from an email I got from Google.  

I hope you can see the source of confusion.  I had no idea how to list multiple emails in an email filter.  Having been used to using email for a long time (but not much of a power user), and given that the field automatically adds a comma, can you understand the confusion? 

Basically (if you look in the bottom of one of the screenshots you can see it) I want to have all my bills go to one label and skip the inbox.  It wasn't easy to do this with keywords, so I did it by email instead. 

I did eventually figure it out.. had I not had time yesterday though my inbox would soon have 1000 unread emails again.

Thanks for following up. Hope this helps. 

JC

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[Jesse C]

- By default, on from chrome on a desktop, if you use this field (see screenshot below - the "create new filter" "from" field), enter an email address, and then press enter, it adds a comma.. which results in the filter not working at all. 

- Whenever you use email (any email service since the dawn of email) and send an email to multiple addresses, you separate them with a comma or a semicolon. The example below puts in a comma by default. This is what is confusing.  

I've never set up a filter before.. and nowhere in these instructions is there mention of how to add more than one email address:

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en

I got the idea from an email from gmail suggesting I set up a filter for all my bills. I only found help on youtube.. then here. 

[Andy]

On Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 2:33 PM Jesse C <jesse.c...@gmail.com> wrote:

...

- By default, on from chrome on a desktop, if you use this field (see screenshot below), enter an email address, and then press enter, it adds a comma.. which results in the filter not working at all. 

I tried it on Chrome on a desktop PC running MS-Windows.  Indeed there was a comma at first, but:

(a) The comma did not appear in the final Filter.

(b) The filter does work.  Why did you say it doesn't?

(c) Even when I purposefully added a comma back and made it so that it "stuck" in the final filter, the filter still works with the trailing comma.

Why do you think that the comma prevents the filter from working?  My experience is otherwise.  If your filter didn't work, the cause was not the comma.

- Whenever you use email (any email service since the dawn of email) and send an email to multiple addresses, you separate them with a comma or a semicolon. The example below puts in a comma by default. This is confusing.  

If "every email service since the dawn of email" uses a comma, then why is a comma confusing?

My guess is Gmail adds the comma at the end, just to make it easier to write or paste another email address after the first one, without them becoming one long address.  It's just a separator.  It says, "here is the end of this address", nothing more.  If you start typing there and you type before the comma, what you type becomes part of the first address (even if it makes no sense that way).  If you type after the comma, it becomes part of a second address.

- I've never tried to use filters or customize anything in my gmail before. Nowhere in these instructions:https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en (to which I was constantly redirected) do I see anything about how to use these features. 

Perhaps you should have tried the link that was given earlier in this message thread:

    https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en  

I think it's more helpful for the questions you're asking.

3.  ...

You're missing the context... (see below)

What am I missing?

Do you mean the fact that there are semicolons in that picture?  I see them.  And?  In Gmail, you don't need them because they don't do anything other than separate those addresses.  Gmail also uses commas and space characters as separators between things in a list.  You could write it like this:

    jacob.f...@gmail.com James....@hotmail.com jesse.c...@gmail.com

or this:

    jacob.f...@gmail.com,James....@hotmail.com;jesse.c...@gmail.com

Gmail might add or remove extra separating characters as it sees fit, but it does that only to alter the appearance.  They don't change the function.

4. ...

Here is the youtube video mentioned (which people were saying solved their issue): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMC-HWZ4N1o 

So let me get this straight.  Some 'guy', probably not with Google, heard something on a podcast, so in 2011 he made a Youtube video where he uses a "|" character which is not documented by Google.  This is the kind of thing I caution against.  "Some guy" making a Youtube doesn't make it a Gmail feature.  As for me, it would not be something that I use, even if it worked for him in 2011 and even if it still works today.

6.  I don't know what "this STUPID LINE" means.

"|"  

Thanks, got it.

That character serves many uses, which can make it confusing.  Some know it as the Unix "pipe" character for redirecting output to another device or program.  People who do Logic sometimes use "|" (or occasionally "||") to mean a logical OR.  But symbols for logic operators are less universal than ordinary arithmetic operators such as "+" and "-" that most everyone knows and understands.

Andy

[Jesse C]

Ugh..... Do you want an answer to your questions or not (as to why there is confusion)? 

The point: Henry had the solution that worked for me and others (bottom line).  Commas do not work (yes I can enter them, but they do not function when filtering by email address - see my earlier screenshot for how I entered them). When I entered multiple emails with commas NONE of them were filtered out. When I entered them with OR or "that line" it did work.  Nowhere is there an explanation for the format of the emails (except that link you just highlighted for me). What could have improved my experience drastically would have been an error message if the format of my multiple email addresses list were incorrect.. 

Henry understood the CONTEXT of the confusion correctly (and what terms users were using to search for help with).. you did not..  You can't seem to repeat this user experience. It's working for me now. The instructions are wrong. You should change them.. if not.. well I don't really care at this point. 

- The reason myself (and others) ended up on that youtube video is because when we use the Google search engine to look for help we are redirected to the same pages over and over.. and if they don't give us the context we need to understand how to do what we want to do.. we go elsewhere. 

What I thought was a simple 1 minute email cleanup exercise became a 2 hour job - had I not had time I would have given up.. - You can tell by looking at other comments.. and similar stories to mine that others had an experience different from yours too.

Email me 1 on 1 if you want more info.. 

JessC

On Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 5:48:35 PM UTC-4, Andy wrote:

On Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 2:33 PM Jesse C <jesse.c...@gmail.com> wrote:

...

- By default, on from chrome on a desktop, if you use this field (see screenshot below), enter an email address, and then press enter, it adds a comma.. which results in the filter not working at all. 

I tried it on Chrome on a desktop PC running MS-Windows.  Indeed there was a comma at first, but:

(a) The comma did not appear in the final Filter.

(b) The filter does work.  Why did you say it doesn't?   

(c) Even when I purposefully added a comma back and made it so that it "stuck" in the final filter, the filter still works with the trailing comma.

Why do you think that the comma prevents the filter from working?  My experience is otherwise.  If your filter didn't work, the cause was not the comma.

- Whenever you use email (any email service since the dawn of email) and send an email to multiple addresses, you separate them with a comma or a semicolon. The example below puts in a comma by default. This is confusing.  

If "every email service since the dawn of email" uses a comma, then why is a comma confusing?

My guess is Gmail adds the comma at the end, just to make it easier to write or paste another email address after the first one, without them becoming one long address.  It's just a separator.  It says, "here is the end of this address", nothing more.  If you start typing there and you type before the comma, what you type becomes part of the first address (even if it makes no sense that way).  If you type after the comma, it becomes part of a second address.

- I've never tried to use filters or customize anything in my gmail before. Nowhere in these instructions:https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en (to which I was constantly redirected) do I see anything about how to use these features. 

Perhaps you should have tried the link that was given earlier in this message thread:

    https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en  

I think it's more helpful for the questions you're asking.

3.  ...

You're missing the context... (see below)

What am I missing?

Do you mean the fact that there are semicolons in that picture?  I see them.  And?  In Gmail, you don't need them because they don't do anything other than separate those addresses.  Gmail also uses commas and space characters as separators between things in a list.  You could write it like this:

    jacob.f...@gmail.com James....@hotmail.com jesse.c...@gmail.com

or this:

    jacob.f...@gmail.com,James.Crabby@hotmail.com;

Gmail might add or remove extra separating characters as it sees fit, but it does that only to alter the appearance.  They don't change the function.

[Andy]

On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 10:56 AM Jesse C <jesse.c...@gmail.com> wrote:

...

The point: Henry had the solution that worked for me and others (bottom line).  Commas do not work (yes I can enter them, but they do not function when filtering by email address - see my earlier screenshot for how I entered them). When I entered multiple emails with commas NONE of them were filtered out. When I entered them with OR or "that line" it did work.

JessC, don't take this the wrong way, but I think you need to figure out and really understand what it is that you wanted to do.  I get the sense that you haven't done that yet.  Maybe you know it deep inside, but you had not verbalized it.

Commas do work, in the sense that they separate one address from the next address.  That is ALL that they do, and all they are supposed to do.  To say that they do not work is to miss the point.  They don't perform some sort of relational operation, the way a "/" sign does in arithmetic.  If you expected commas to somehow cause something to happen between those email addresses, then you'd be wrong.  I think nobody ever suggested that commas in filters actually DID anything (other than keep things separated).

So what is it that you want to accomplish?  Figure that out first.

If you want a filter to take action when all "words" that you specify are present in the email message, then just list them.  With or without commas.  Those "words" could be ordinary English words, or they could be email addresses.  Therefore, when I create a filter where the condition looks like any one of these lines:

    abc  mno  xyz

    abc, mno, xyz

    abc; mno; xyz

then that filter "works" (does something) only when all three of "abc", "mno", and "xyz" are there in the email message.  All three.  If the message has "abc" and "xyz" but doesn't have "mno", then the filter's requirements have not been met and the filter doesn't act.  That's the way it is supposed to be.

Now let's talk about that when the "words" are email addresses.  If I create a filter that looks like any one of these lines:

    a...@pqr.com  m...@stu.gov  x...@vwx.edu

    a...@pqr.com, m...@stu.gov, x...@vwx.edu

    a...@pqr.com; m...@stu.gov; x...@vwx.edu

then that filter does something only when all three email addresses are there in the message.  If one message has "a...@pqr.com" and another message has "x...@vwx.edu", nothing's going to happen because they are not in the same message, and neither message has all three.

Are we OK so far?

Now, the question is, what is it that you WANT to do?  Are you trying to make a filter that does something when ANY ONE of those words (or addresses) is there?  If so, that is totally different.  In one case the filter needs ALL of the items to be there before the filter acts.  In the other case, the filter acts if just one of the items is there.

That is the fundamental difference between a "logical AND", and a "logical OR".  You need to figure out which type you want to use, and then make your filter accordingly.  Gmail can not read your mind.  If you wanted a "logical OR" but you made the filter as a "logical AND", then it will not do what you wanted.

When describing it, it is not sufficient to say that you want a filter that works with a list of addresses -- because you haven't really said what to do with those addresses.  You need to specify!  Saying "a list of addresses" and nothing more is saying only half the story.  It's like giving a cooking recipe as a list of ingredients, without saying what to do with those ingredients.

If you want your filter to do something whenever any one of the listed things (words, addresses) is present, then what you want is a "logical OR".  Maybe you want the filter to do something when address 1 or address 2 or address 3 ... is present.  And so, you have to write (or code) the filter that way.  Do that by writing:

    a...@pqr.com  OR  m...@stu.gov  OR  x...@vwx.edu

or, if you prefer the other format, use this:

    { a...@pqr.com  m...@stu.gov  x...@vwx.edu }

    { a...@pqr.com, m...@stu.gov, x...@vwx.edu }

    { a...@pqr.com; m...@stu.gov; x...@vwx.edu }

(Take your pick; either of them ought to work.)  If you don't use either of these -- if you omit the "OR"'s and omit the {curly braces} -- or the undocumented "|" alternative -- then your filter is going to expect all three email addresses to be in a message, before it does something.  That's because you wrote it as a "logical AND", which requires ALL the listed addresses to be there.  (And that is a legitimate thing to do too.  I have filters like that.)

Commas don't change this.  Never did.  As far as I know, nobody ever suggested that they do -- except that you seem to be sticking to the idea that commas should have done something.

... When I entered multiple emails with commas NONE of them were filtered out. ...

"Filtered out"?  What do you mean by that?

Gmail's filters leave messages intact; they do not "filter out" addresses or anything else from within the message.  What filters do, is decide which messages to act on in some way.  (But we haven't even talked about what the filter actually does, when the conditions are met.)

... What could have improved my experience drastically would have been an error message if the format of my multiple email addresses list were incorrect.. 

The format of your filter was not incorrect, so there can be no error message.  Its syntax was OK.  It just didn't do what you wanted.  This is why I say you first need to figure out what you want, before you write some code to implement it.

This is like expecting an automobile to turn towards the left when you turn the wheel clockwise but really wanted to go left.  Turning right is a perfectly acceptable thing to do; it just wasn't the action you wanted.  The car can't give you an error message because turning the wheel right was OK, even if not what you really wanted.

I think it's important for you to fully understand the difference between OR and AND.  Both are equally correct, but in different situations.

Fortunately, "logical OR" and "logical AND" mean pretty much the same thing as OR and AND in conversational English.  Even in cooking there is a big difference.  If a recipe says to use "1 tbsp of olive oil or 1/4 cup of butter", that means something very different from "1 tbsp of olive oil and 1/4 cup of butter", or if the recipe listed the ingredients this way:

    ...

    1 tbsp olive oil

    1/4 cup butter

    ...

Unless the recipe has the word "or" in there somewhere, cooks know to interpret a list of ingredients as meaning that all of them will be used.

Regards,

Andy

[Zack (Doc)]

Andy,

Normally I would agree with you, but for cases like Jesse's, I'd say they could go a little further.

Specifically, you point out that Gmail can't read your mind and know what you want, and that's true, but as you can see from Jesse's one screen shot, there is an opportunity to make a pretty good stab at it.

The filter they were typing was specifically the "FROM" e-mail addresses.  Since a single message can never be from TWO addresses, a filter based on this field containing more than one entry, MUST be a logical OR.  All of the other fields you might want an AND, or an OR, but FROM can only ever carry one value, so a search for multiples is either for OR, or would be fruitless (like Jesse's filter didn't match cause it wound up being "FROM" two or more e-mail addresses, an impossibility)

Jesse,

To be clear, realise that this group is "GMail Power *USERS* Group"... We are users like yourself, not Google themselves.  There's a possibility that Google employees might read it, but it's not an official Google Forum, and they make no point of making themselves known.

[Richard Atlas]

I've been trying different combinations with and without operators to see how gmail interprets them.  

It seems than when only searching for words, a space is interpreted as OR.

When the search includes a category (from:, to:, label:, etc.) then ALL spaces are interpreted as AND. 

Not expressed but implied: 

As typed:  blue  car

Interpreted:  blue  OR  car

As typed: FROM:mybank.com  account 

Interpreted:   FROM:mybank.com  AND  account

As typed: FROM:mybank.com  account  zelle 

Interpreted:   FROM:mybank.com  AND  account  AND  zelle 

As typed:  FROM:mybank.com   TO:m...@emailaddress.com

Interpreted:  (FROM:mybank.com)  AND  (TO:m...@emailaddress.com)

As typed:   FROM:(mybank.com mybank2.com) TO:m...@emailaddress.com 

Interpreted:   FROM:(mybank.com  AND  mybank2.com)  AND  TO:m...@emailaddress.com  (this cannot work)

This shows emails from both banks:

FROM:(mybank.com  OR  mybank2.com)  AND  TO:m...@emailaddress.com    

If you don't want the implied operator to be used, you  must specify the operator (in CAPS)