Gmail – How to select all emails that are NOT important AND NOT starred
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In Gmail, how do you select all emails that are not important andnot starred?
Best Answer
The filters search against all messages, and then returns entire conversations (assuming the user has turned on Conversation View in the Settings). If any message within a conversation is returned by the query, then the entire conversation is returned, even if the conversation as a whole is not starred.
Therefore using the -in:starred will only work if ALL the messages in the thread are starred.
What is misleading about the Gmail UI is that starring the conversation, does not star all the containing messages, and therefor won't remove it from the filtered inbox when using the -in:starred search option, despite appearing to be starred in the main inbox view.
The syntax of the filter is not important, Gmail accepts both -in:starred and -is:starred with or without the AND keyword.
Of course, if you do not use Gmail in Conversation View (Settings → General → Conversation View), then the filter will work as expected.
They appear to be separate "categories" - you can have starred messages, important (use the +/- buttons to toggle) messages, and you can have important messages that are starred. I find it quite easy to use - Google tries to work out what's important for you, while stars are manually set, either by filters or added yourself.
What is interesting to note is that your Priority Inbox can split the important email from the starred email - and that you can decide which to show (or not).
I didn't see "In Inbox and:" at the top of the section dropdown. To get the functionality I want ("All starred") you need to choose "more options" and then click "starred".
Definitely confusing though, both items are labeled "starred" yet they are not the same.
Best Answer
The filters search against all messages, and then returns entire conversations (assuming the user has turned on Conversation View in the Settings). If any message within a conversation is returned by the query, then the entire conversation is returned, even if the conversation as a whole is not starred.
Therefore using the
-in:starredwill only work if ALL the messages in the thread are starred.What is misleading about the Gmail UI is that starring the conversation, does not star all the containing messages, and therefor won't remove it from the filtered inbox when using the
-in:starredsearch option, despite appearing to be starred in the main inbox view.The syntax of the filter is not important, Gmail accepts both
-in:starredand-is:starredwith or without the AND keyword.Of course, if you do not use Gmail in Conversation View (Settings → General → Conversation View), then the filter will work as expected.