Creating and Managing Filters

This guide walks you through every step of creating, editing, reordering, and deleting mail filters in TrekMail. By the end, you will have a working filter and know how to troubleshoot the most common issues.

If you are new to filters and want to understand what they are first, start with our Mail Filters Overview.

Where to find filters in the dashboard

1. Log in to your TrekMail dashboard.
2. Click Mailboxes in the left sidebar.
3. Find the mailbox you want to configure and click Manage.
4. Choose the Filters tab.

You will see a list of any filters you have already created, or an empty state with a prompt to add your first one.

Creating a new filter, step by step

Click the + Add filter button at the top of the Filters tab. A dialog will open with several sections. Here is what each one means and how to fill it in.

Step 1: Name your filter (optional but recommended)

At the top of the dialog you will see a Filter name text field. This is optional, but giving your filter a clear name makes life easier when you have several filters to manage later. Use something descriptive like "Forward invoices to Sara" or "Flag emails from BigCorp."

Step 2: Set your conditions

Below the name field is the Conditions section. This is where you tell TrekMail which emails this filter should match.

Each condition has three parts:

• Field: a dropdown where you choose what to check. Options are: From, To, Subject, Body, Size, or Custom Header.
• Comparison: a dropdown where you choose how to compare. Text fields support contains, is exactly, matches a pattern, and, where it makes sense, exists. Size uses is greater than and is less than.
• Value: a text box where you type the actual word, phrase, or email address to match.

For example, to match all emails from your vendor FreshBooks:

• Field: From
• Comparison: contains
• Value: freshbooks.com

To add more conditions, click + Add condition below the first one. A rule can have up to 10 conditions, which is enough for a specific rule without making it difficult to review later.

Step 3: Choose "All conditions" or "Any condition"

When you have more than one condition, a toggle appears at the top of the Conditions section. This is an important choice:

• All conditions means every single condition must be true for the filter to match. Think of it as "AND." The email must match condition 1 AND condition 2 AND condition 3.
• Any condition means the filter matches if at least one condition is true. Think of it as "OR." The email only needs to match condition 1 OR condition 2 OR condition 3.

Real-world example with "All conditions": You want to catch invoices specifically from FreshBooks. You set two conditions:

• From contains freshbooks.com
• Subject contains invoice

With "All conditions" selected, only emails that are both from FreshBooks AND have "invoice" in the subject will match. A marketing email from FreshBooks about their new features would not match because its subject probably does not contain "invoice."

Real-world example with "Any condition": You want to flag emails from any of your three biggest clients. You set three conditions:

• From contains acmecorp.com
• From contains globex.com
• From contains initech.com

With "Any condition" selected, an email from any one of those three domains will trigger the filter. The email does not need to be from all three at once (which would be impossible anyway).

Step 4: Choose your actions

Below the conditions, you will find the Actions section. Click the Action dropdown and choose what should happen to matching emails:

You can add up to five actions to a single filter by clicking + Add action. For example, you could forward a copy to your accountant AND move the original to your Invoices folder.

Step 5: The "Stop processing" checkbox

At the bottom of the dialog, you will see a checkbox labeled Stop processing further filters.

When this is checked, TrekMail will not evaluate any filters below this one for the matched email. The current filter's actions run, and that is it.

When this is unchecked, TrekMail continues checking filters below this one. If another filter also matches, its actions will run too.

When to use it: Most of the time, you want this checked. It keeps things predictable. Uncheck it only if you intentionally want multiple filters to act on the same email (for example, one filter flags it and a second filter moves it to a folder).

Step 6: Save

Click Save filter. On Pro and Agency, the dashboard sends the managed rule to the mail server. If it shows a synchronization warning, the rule has been saved but is not active yet; leave it in place and retry or contact support if the warning remains. Filters apply only to mail that arrives after the rule becomes active.

Editing an existing filter

1. On the Filters tab, find the filter you want to change.
2. Click the Edit button on the filter card.
3. The same dialog from creation opens, pre-filled with your existing settings.
4. Make your changes and click Save filter.

Changes apply to new incoming mail after the updated rule has been synchronized.

Deleting a filter

1. On the Filters tab, find the filter you want to remove.
2. Click the Delete button on the filter card.
3. A confirmation prompt will appear. Click Confirm to delete.

The filter is removed immediately. Emails that were already processed by the filter are not affected. They stay wherever the filter moved them.

Reordering filters (and why it matters)

Filters run from top to bottom. A matching filter runs its actions, then later filters are checked unless Stop processing further filters is enabled. This makes order important when rules overlap.

To reorder filters, use the arrow buttons on the left side of any filter card. Click the up arrow to move a filter higher in the list (higher priority) or the down arrow to move it lower.

A concrete example of why order matters:

Imagine you have these two filters:

1. If From contains anyone then Forward a copy to team@company.com
2. If Subject contains spam-keyword then Discard silently

An email arrives with "spam-keyword" in the subject. If Filter 1 has Stop processing further filters enabled, it matches first and forwards the message before Filter 2 can discard it.

The fix: move the "Discard" filter above the "Forward" filter. Now the spam gets caught and discarded before the forwarding filter has a chance to act.

Rule of thumb: put your most specific filters at the top and your broadest filters at the bottom.

Filter limits per plan

Each TrekMail plan has a cap on how many filters you can create:

When you hit your saved-filter limit, the + Add filter button is disabled and the page explains the applicable cap. Nano and Starter can save up to three inactive filters; running managed filters requires Pro or Agency.

Troubleshooting: "I created a filter but it is not working"

If your filter does not seem to be doing anything, walk through this checklist:

1. Is your plan active? Filters on Nano and Starter plans are saved but do not run. Check your plan under Account Settings.
2. Is the email arriving after the filter was created? Filters only apply to new incoming mail. They do not retroactively process emails already in your mailbox.
3. Is the email landing in Junk? Spam is caught before filters run. If the email is being flagged as spam, it never reaches your filters. Mark it as "Not Spam" and it should be processed next time.
4. Check your conditions carefully. A common mistake is using "is exactly" when you meant "contains." If your condition is From is exactly john@acme.com but the email comes from John Smith <john@acme.com>, it will not match because the From field includes the display name.
5. Check filter order. Is another filter higher in the list matching the email first? Review its actions and adjust the order if needed.
6. Check the "Stop processing" setting on filters above yours. If an earlier matching filter has it enabled, your filter will not run for that message.
7. Is the action correct? Double-check that you selected the right action. "Move to folder" and "Forward a copy" look similar in a quick glance but do very different things.

If none of the above helps, contact TrekMail support with the filter name and an example of an email that should have matched. We can check the server logs to see exactly what happened.