Solanasis Docs

Inbox_Cleanup_Gmail_Filters

5 min read

Inbox Cleanup: Gmail Notification Filters

Purpose: Auto-sort SaaS notification emails into labeled subfolders so they skip the inbox. Works server-side 24/7; EM Client sees the labels as folders via IMAP.

Filter file: solanasis-docs/operations/gmail-notification-filters.xml

Quick Setup (< 2 minutes)

  1. Open Gmail web UI: https://mail.google.com
  2. Click the gear icon (top right) > See all settings
  3. Go to the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab
  4. Scroll to the bottom, click Import filters
  5. Click Choose File, select gmail-notification-filters.xml
  6. Click Open file
  7. Review the filters listed, then check Apply filter to matching conversations (this retroactively cleans up existing emails)
  8. Click Create filters
  9. Open EM Client; the new Notifications/ subfolders will appear automatically after sync

What Gets Filtered

LabelSendersWhat it catches
Notifications/MeetingsZoom, Fireflies, Fathom, Calendly”X joined your meeting,” meeting recaps, daily digests, scheduling confirmations
Notifications/GoogleGWS Team, Google Security, Google PaymentsWorkspace tips, security alerts, invoices, Drive share notifications
Notifications/LinkedInAll LinkedIn addressesDM notifications, job alerts, connection suggestions, learning spotlights
Notifications/ClickUpClickUp Team + task notificationsMarketing emails, overdue task alerts, product announcements
Notifications/CloudflareCloudflare notifications + marketingDomain registrations, invoices, feature suggestions
Notifications/SaaSBaserow, Canva, short.io, Vercel, GitHub, npmCatch-all for other tool notifications

All filters: Label + skip inbox. Nothing is trashed or marked as read; you just won’t see it in your inbox. Check the subfolders whenever you want.

Adding a New Sender (30 seconds)

When a new SaaS tool starts cluttering your inbox:

  1. Open the offending email in Gmail
  2. Click the three dots (top right of email) > Filter messages like these
  3. The From field pre-fills with the sender address
  4. Click Create filter
  5. Check Skip the Inbox (Archive it)
  6. Check Apply the label > choose the appropriate Notifications/ sublabel (or create a new one)
  7. Check Also apply filter to matching conversations to clean up past emails
  8. Click Create filter

Pro tip: To add a sender to an existing filter instead of creating a new one:

  1. Go to Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses
  2. Find the relevant filter (e.g., “Meetings”) and click edit
  3. Add the new address with OR in the From field (e.g., existing@addr.com OR newservice.com)
  4. Click Continue > Update filter

Tuning: Keep Certain Emails in Inbox

If you decide some filtered emails are actually important (e.g., Cloudflare invoices), you have two options:

Option A: Split the filter - Edit the existing filter to remove the specific sender, then create a separate filter for that sender with different actions (label only, no archive).

Option B: Create an exception filter - Create a new filter with higher specificity:

  • From: noreply@notify.cloudflare.com
  • Subject: invoice
  • Action: Apply label Notifications/Cloudflare, but do NOT check “Skip the Inbox”
  • Gmail processes filters in order; the more specific filter wins.

Bulk Cleanup of Old Emails

If you have hundreds of old notification emails already in your inbox:

  1. In the Gmail search bar, type: from:(zoom.us OR fireflies.ai OR fathom.video) in:inbox
  2. Click the checkbox to select all on the current page
  3. Gmail shows “All 20 conversations on this page are selected.” Click Select all conversations that match this search
  4. Click the Archive button (box with down arrow)
  5. Repeat for other sender groups if needed

The filters you imported will label these retrospectively if you checked “Apply to matching conversations” during import.

Level 2: Google Apps Script (optional, for power users)

If you later want dynamic filtering (e.g., auto-label based on a Google Sheet of senders, or conditional logic), Google Apps Script can run on a schedule:

  1. Go to https://script.google.com
  2. Create a new project
  3. Paste a script that searches for unlabeled emails from specific senders and applies labels
  4. Set a time-driven trigger to run every 5-10 minutes

When this makes sense: You’re managing 50+ sender patterns that change frequently, or you need logic Gmail filters can’t express (body content matching, date-based rules, cross-referencing a spreadsheet).

When it doesn’t: Your current setup of ~6 static filters covers 95% of the noise. Stick with XML import.

Why Gmail Filters Instead of EM Client Rules?

  • Server-side: Gmail filters run 24/7 even when EM Client is closed
  • Cross-device: Filtered emails stay organized on phone, web, and desktop
  • Bulk import: Gmail supports XML import for batch filter creation
  • EM Client auto-syncs: Gmail labels appear as IMAP folders in EM Client automatically
  • EM Client limitation: Rules are GUI-only with no documented scripting; XML schema is undocumented and version-locked

Reference: Common SaaS Notification Senders

Expand filters as needed. All addresses confirmed from actual inbox data (2026-03-24).

Meetings:

  • no-reply@zoom.us — participant joined, recording ready
  • fred@fireflies.ai — meeting recaps, daily digests, AI skill outputs
  • no-reply@fathom.video — meeting recaps

Google:

  • workspace-noreply@google.com — GWS tips, trial reminders
  • workspace@google.com — billing confirmations
  • no-reply@accounts.google.com — security alerts (new sign-in, etc.)
  • payments-noreply@google.com — monthly invoices
  • apps-noreply@google.com — app notifications
  • drive-shares-dm-noreply@google.com — Drive sharing notifications

LinkedIn:

  • messages-noreply@linkedin.com — DM notifications, message reminders
  • jobalerts-noreply@linkedin.com — job alert digests
  • messaging-digest-noreply@linkedin.com — message digests

ClickUp:

  • team@mail.clickup.com — marketing, product updates
  • notifications@tasks.clickup.com — task overdue, assignments

Cloudflare:

  • noreply@notify.cloudflare.com — domain active, invoices, registrations
  • em@em1.cloudflare.com — feature/marketing emails

Other SaaS:

  • baserow.io — workspace notifications
  • canva.com — design notifications
  • short.io — link notifications
  • vercel.com — deployment notifications
  • notifications@github.com — PR reviews, issues, CI
  • npmjs.com — package notifications

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