Can I use wildcards in Gmail filters?

Last reviewed: October 10, 2026 · Markdown version

Not as a general feature. Gmail's reference list of search operators, which is what a filter is built from, has no wildcard character and never uses the word. One Google page does show an asterisk in a filter, in a single position: in front of an @ sign, to mean anyone at a domain. For most of what people want a wildcard for, Gmail's documented operators get you there another way, and they are below.

What Google's reference lists

A Gmail filter starts as a search: you enter criteria in the search options, then "At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter" (Create rules to filter your emails, read 10 October 2026). So whatever the search box understands, a filter understands. Google's operator page lists from:, to:, subject:, OR and { }, AND, a leading - to exclude, AROUND, quotation marks, parentheses, + and the rest (Refine searches in Gmail, read 10 October 2026). Neither that page nor the filters page mentions a wildcard, an asterisk, or partial-word matching when we read them on 10 October 2026. That silence is the honest answer to "is it supported": Google has not documented one.

The one asterisk Google does show

Google's guide to filters for work and school accounts has a table of ready-made filters. Two rows split mail by organisation: From: -@your_organization.com, labelled External, and From: *@your_organization.com, labelled Internal, with *@solarmora.com as the worked example (Advanced Gmail filters for work or school, read 10 October 2026). The page does not explain the asterisk or show it anywhere other than before the @. The row's label, Internal, is the only explanation the page gives, and it shows no example of news* or *sale* in a subject or a word, so do not assume the asterisk works anywhere but in front of the @.

Matching a whole family of senders without one

A fragment in from:. On the Refine searches in Gmail page above, Google's OR example uses from:amy, a name rather than a full address, while its from: row shows the whole of from:amy@example.com. The page does not say how short a fragment can be, so test yours.
A list with OR or braces. Google gives from:amy OR from:david and the equivalent {from:amy from:david}. For a company that mails from four addresses, list all four in one filter.
Carve-outs with -. Exclude what should survive, the way Google's example dinner -movie does. One warning from the same page: with negative operators, "conversations with excluded criteria may still appear", because Gmail matches messages first.
Grouping with parentheses. subject:(dinner movie) is Google's example for keeping several terms inside one operator.
Exactness with +. Google describes +unicorn as matching "a word exactly". Whether plain words without it also match longer forms (invoice and invoices, say) is not stated on the page.

Test the search before you save the filter

Google builds the check into its steps: "If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search." (the filters page above). Do it every time a filter will delete or skip the inbox, and read the first page of results, not just the count. A pattern loose enough to catch every message from a shop is often loose enough to catch its receipts too. Once saved, the filter sits in Settings under Filters and Blocked Addresses, where editing or deleting a filter picks up.