Sort mail with labels and filters

Labels group your conversations. They work like folders, but one conversation can have more than one label. Filters sort new mail as it arrives: they can move a message, label it, star it, forward it or delete it. Labels are on the Labels tab of webmail settings, at www.coritan.com/webmail/settings/labels. Filters are on the Filters and blocked tab, at www.coritan.com/webmail/settings/filters, which also blocks senders and imports and exports filters.

Filters run on the mail server, so they sort mail while webmail is closed, and every app that reads the mailbox sees the result. Labels show in mail apps as folders.

• To create, rename or delete a label, you need to own the mailbox or be able to send from it. Someone who Can only read the mailbox sees its labels but cannot change them.
• The Filters and blocked tab is for whoever manages the mailbox: its owner, or, for a mailbox that no Coritan account owns, everyone who can send from it. See Who sees each tab.

1. In the sidebar, under Labels, select New label.
2. Type a name of up to 200 characters, then press Enter. To stop, press Esc.

The label appears in the sidebar. You can also create one on the Labels tab: type the name in New label, then select Create label. We show Label created.

To open the Labels tab from the sidebar, select the gear beside Labels (Manage labels).

• Open a conversation, or select some in the list, then select the tag button (Labels). Type in Search labels to narrow the list, then select a label to add it. A tick means the label is on every conversation you selected; select that label again to take it off.
• Drag conversations from the list onto a label in the sidebar. This adds the label and leaves them where they are.
• Select the folder button (Move to), then a label. The messages leave the folder you are in, and any other label they had, for that label alone.

To take a label off an open conversation, select the X on the label's name above the first message. You can also press l to open the Labels menu, or v for Move to.

Select a label in the sidebar to see its conversations. To search within one, see Read and search mail in webmail.

The Labels tab lists every label with the number of conversations it has. Select a label's name to open it.

• To rename a label, select the pencil button beside it, change the name, then select Save. We show Label renamed.
• To delete a label, select the bin button beside it, then confirm with Delete label. We show Label deleted.

Deleting a label leaves its conversations in your mail. A conversation that was only under that label moves to Archive.

A filter has conditions and actions. When a new message meets the conditions, the actions run on it. Filters run from the top of the list, and every filter a message matches acts on it, until one says Stop here. A filter acts only on mail that arrives after you save it.

1. On the Filters and blocked tab, select Add filter….
2. In Name, type a name for the filter, such as Invoices.
3. Under When a message matches, choose All conditions or Any condition.
4. Fill in the first condition: what to look at, how to compare, and what to look for, such as From, contains and billing@example.com. Select Add condition for another one.
5. Under Then, choose the first action and, where it asks, a folder or an address. Select Add action for another one.
6. Select Add filter.

We show Filter “Invoices” added., and the filter appears at the bottom of the list with a summary of what it does.

You can also start from mail you have:

• From a message you are reading, open its menu (Message actions) and select Filter messages like this. The editor opens with the conditions From contains the sender's address and Subject contains the message's subject.
• From a search, select Show search options in the search bar, fill in the fields, then select Create filter. The editor opens with a condition for each field you filled in.

A filter files mail into Inbox, Archive, Spam, Trash or one of your labels.

The tab lists your filters in the order they run. On each row:

• The switch at the start turns the filter off or on. A filter that is off reads Off, stays in the list and does nothing.
• The arrows move the filter up or down the list.
• The pencil button opens the filter. Change it, then select Save filter.
• The bin button deletes the filter once you confirm with Delete filter. Mail the filter sorted already stays where it is.

Blocked senders run before your filters, and so does forwarding all mail. When all mail is forwarded, the tab says so above the list, with a link to the Forwarding tab.

New messages from a blocked address go straight to Spam. No other filter runs on them, so they are not forwarded either.

1. On the Filters and blocked tab, under Blocked senders, type an address such as alex@example.com in Address or @domain. To block everyone at a domain, type @example.com.
2. Select Block.

We show Mail from alex@example.com goes to Spam from now on., and the address joins the list.

To block the sender of a message you are reading, open the message's menu (Message actions), select Block followed by the sender's name, then confirm with Block.

Mail that arrived before you blocked the sender stays where it is. To unblock an address, select Unblock beside it in Blocked senders.

• Export downloads filters.json, with your filters and blocked senders. Forwarding all mail is not in it. The button appears once you have a filter.
• Import… reads a filters.json exported from this webmail, or the mailFilters.xml file that Gmail exports from its Filters and Blocked Addresses settings. Imported filters go after the ones you have.

When you import, each label a filter uses is matched by name, and a label that does not exist yet is created. A filter keeps a forward only to an address that has confirmed on the Forwarding tab. Gmail filters that look for something this webmail cannot match, or that only do something it cannot do, such as sorting into categories, are left out. After the import, we say how many filters came in and what was left out.

A mailbox's filters are kept on the mail server as a script in the Sieve language. Webmail writes that script for you from your filters and blocked senders. You can also write it yourself.

1. On the Filters and blocked tab, select Edit as Sieve. The Sieve script box shows the script your filters make.
2. Change the script. To have the mail server check it, select Validate script.
3. Select Save script. We show Sieve script saved.

To leave without saving, select Back to rules. If you changed the script, confirm with Discard changes.

Once you save a script of your own, the tab shows the script instead of the list, and so it does when another app changes the script. Until the filters are rules again, you cannot add filters, block senders or forward all mail. To go back to rules, select Replace with rules… and confirm with Replace script. The script is deleted and you start again with no filters, so copy the script first if you want to keep it.

• A mailbox holds up to 100 filters. Forwarding all mail takes one, and blocked senders take one for each group of up to ten addresses.
• A filter has up to 10 conditions and 10 actions, and forwards to one address.
• What a condition looks for is up to 256 characters. A size is 1–1000 MB.
• A filter's name is up to 120 characters, and a label's name up to 200.
• A script is up to 100,000 characters.

A new filter did not sort the mail already in the mailbox

Filters act on mail as it arrives. To sort older mail, search for it, select the conversations, then use Labels or Move to.

Filters are not available on this mail server.

The mail server that holds this mailbox runs no filters, so it cannot block senders or forward mail either. Labels still work.

The mail server is not running these filters at the moment, so new mail is not sorted by them.

The filters are saved, but the mail server is not using them. Another app may have switched it to a script of its own. Save any change to the filters, such as turning one off and on again, to make them run again.

Give the filter a name.

Type a name in Name.

Enter what to look for.

A condition has an empty box. Type what to look for, or remove the condition with its X.

Enter a whole number of MB from 1 to 1000.

A Size condition takes whole megabytes, such as 10.

Choose a folder.

A Move to or Copy to action has no folder yet. Choose one.

A message that starts A filter forwards to one address.

Keep one Forward to action. To forward to two addresses, make a second filter with the same conditions.

A message that ends has not confirmed forwarding from this mailbox yet. Confirm it on the Forwarding tab first.

The filter forwards to an address that has not confirmed. Add and confirm the address, then save the filter again.

That folder no longer exists. Choose another. or The folder this filter files into no longer exists. Choose another.

Someone deleted the label the filter files mail into. In the list, the filter's summary reads a folder that no longer exists. Edit the filter and choose another folder.

A message that says another filter files into a folder that no longer exists, so no change to the filters can be saved

No change saves while a filter that is on files into a deleted label. Edit the filter the message names, or turn it off, then try again.

The mail server did not accept the filter or The script has an error

The mail server could not read the filter or the script. The message says what it found. Fix the script, or replace it with rules.

A warning that starts These filters are a Sieve script, so blocking waits until they are rules again.

You tried to block a sender while the filters are a script. Add the block to the script, or replace the script with rules.

This mailbox has no Spam folder, so it cannot block anyone.

Blocked mail goes to Spam, and this mailbox has none. A filter with From contains the address can still move the sender's mail elsewhere or discard it.

There is a label with that name already.

Two labels cannot share a name. Choose another name, or use the label you have.

A message that ends you can read this mailbox but not change it.

The mailbox was shared with you so that you can only read it. Ask its owner to let you send from it.

There is no Labels tab or no Filters and blocked tab

Labels is for everyone who can send from the mailbox. Filters and blocked is for whoever manages it. Ask the mailbox's owner to make the change.

• Forward your mail to another address
• Read and search mail in webmail
• Change webmail settings
• Open and share mailboxes in webmail