How do I see, edit or delete a Gmail filter?

Last reviewed: October 8, 2026 · Markdown version

All of your filters are listed in one place: in Gmail on a computer, click Settings, then See all settings, then the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab. Each filter has Edit and Delete next to it. That is the whole of the management side; making a new filter is a separate job, covered on setting up Gmail filters. This page is about the ones you already have, including the ones you have forgotten making.

Seeing the list

Google's steps (Create rules to filter your emails, read 8 October 2026): open Gmail, "At the top right, click Settings See all settings", then "Click Filters and Blocked Addresses." As the tab's name says, it holds blocked addresses as well as filters, which is worth knowing when you are looking for why one sender's mail never arrives.

Editing a filter

Google's steps: find the filter you want to change and click Edit; "If you’re editing the filter, click Continue when you’re done editing", then click Update filter. A useful edit, in our experience, is softening one: a filter set to delete can be changed to apply a label or archive instead, so the mail stops being lost while you decide.

Deleting a filter

Click Delete next to it and confirm with OK. Google's page stops there. It does not say whether deleting a filter changes anything about mail the filter has already handled, so plan as if it does not: messages it labelled keep their labels, messages it archived stay out of the inbox, and messages it sent to Trash stay in Trash. Those last ones are recoverable only for 30 days after they were deleted (Delete messages in Gmail, read 8 October 2026), so if a filter has been quietly binning something you wanted, look in Trash before you do anything else.

Finding the filter that is hiding your mail

If mail keeps going missing, Google's checklist for missing messages names the two filter actions to look for in that list: any filter whose action reads "Delete it" or "Skip Inbox" (Gmail messages are missing, read 8 October 2026). A Skip Inbox filter does not delete anything; it sends the mail straight past the inbox, and you will find it under All Mail.

Back them up before a clear-out

Before you delete a batch of old filters, export them. On the same tab, tick the filters you want, then click Export at the bottom of the page; Google says "This will give you a .xml file, which you can edit in a text editor if you'd like." Import filters, at the bottom of the same page, loads such a file back (the Create rules to filter your emails page above). Our suggestion: the same export and import is a practical way to move a set of filters from one Gmail account to another.

On a phone

Google's filter page is written for a computer: it opens "On your computer, you can manage your incoming mail using Gmail’s filters". It describes no way to see, edit or delete a filter inside the Gmail app (the Create rules to filter your emails page above). Use a browser on a computer for this.

Filters made by an app

If you use Adinand Email Cleaner, its auto-trash rules are real Gmail filters, created through Gmail's own API, which is why they carry on working inside Gmail even after the app is deleted. The app can remove the rules it made, and because they are Gmail filters you can also manage them from Gmail's own filter settings. The free version allows 3 rules; every paid plan unlocks unlimited ones.