Sort Gmail by Sender

Strictly speaking, there is no way to sort your Gmail messages by sender, since Gmail sorts your e-mail through searching rather than sorting. There are still ways to organize and view your Gmail messages by specific senders, however.

Important Note: These solutions are workarounds -- Gmail does not let you currently organize your entire inbox by sender. You can, however, find ways to display all messages by each sender.

Steps

Sorting Emails by Recent Senders

1. View your Inbox. Log into your Gmail account, if necessary, and navigate to your Inbox. It should be the first screen that appears once you log into your Gmail account.
   • If you're on another page of your Gmail account, click on the “Inbox” option along the left side panel to return to the Inbox itself.
2. Hover over the sender's name that you want to see emails by. This strategy works best if you want to see all the mail from someone who recently sent a message. Find a message from the sender you wish to sort by. Position your cursor over the sender's name leave it there until a small box appears with options.
   • This box should state the sender's name and e-mail address. It should also include additional options, including "Add to circles," "Contact info," "Emails," "Invite to chat," and "Email this contact."
3. Click on "Emails" in the hovering box to reveal all mail sent by that sender. Move your cursor to the “Emails” option and click on it once with your left mouse button. This will bring up all mail sent by the person you are hovering over.
   • The mail you've sent to this person should appear as well. Remember, Gmail doesn't let you sort emails by default, so this is the quickest way to get to all mail from one person.

Searching by Sender

1. Click on the search bar arrow. Locate the search bar at the top of your Inbox. Left-click once on the gray down arrow near the right side of the bar. This should bring up "advanced settings."
   • You can adjust the settings here to create a fine-tuned search based on specific information you choose. Options include "From," "To," "Subject," "Has the words," "Doesn't have," and "Has attachment." You can also choose to search specific folders, dates, and message sizes.
2. Type the sender into the "From" field. Click in the "From" search field, then type name or e-mail address of the sender you wish to search by. Both the name and e-mail address will work.
   • As you type, suggested contacts will appear beneath the text bar. Once you see the correct contact appear in the bar, you can stop typing and click on the contact's name to select it.
3. Hit the search button. After choosing the correct sender, hit the blue search button at the bottom of the advanced search window. Once you do this, Gmail should automatically search for all messages sent from your chosen contact. Those e-mails will be displayed on the search results page.
   • The search button is labeled with an icon that looks like a magnifying glass.
4. Simply type "from:" into the search bar to then search by sender. You can utilize the same search feature faster if you know the correct keyword shortcut. Instead of accessing the advanced search option, simply type "from:" into the search bar and hit the magnifying glass icon to the right side of the bar. Note that you do not need quotation marks.
   • For example, to see all emails from your friend Susan, you might type: from:(Susan.email@gmail.com)
   • After hitting the search button or Enter key on your keyboard, you should be redirected to a search results page displaying all recent messages from your chosen contact.

Using Filters to Sort Messages by Sender

1. Search the person you want to create a filter for. Filters and labels mark emails with a little tab on the left side of the screen, right under Inbox. You can click it to reveal all mail. With this search open, Find the "Create filter with this search" option located in the bottom right corner of the advanced search window. Click once on this option.
   • Remember to use "From:sender@gmail.com" to effectively search for the right email address.
   • This method will send all mail from a certain address to a tab on the left of the screen, sorting them in one place for you. It will not, however, sort your actual inbox.
2. Select the "Create filter with this search" option. Find the "Create filter with this search" option located in the bottom right corner of the advanced search window. Click once on this option.
   • Once you do, you will be redirected to the filter creation window. The various options in this window will tell Gmail what to do with current and future e-mail messages from this sender upon receipt.
3. Create a label. Find the "Apply the label" option. Check the box, then choose a label from the selection box located at the right side of the setting. Click on this box to choose your label options. You can select a currently existing label if desired, but if you don't already have a label to use for this sender, click on the "New Label" option.
   • Type the label name under the "Please enter a new label name" field, then hit the "Create" button. You likely want the label to be the name of the sender.
4. Create the filter. After setting the label, hit the blue "Create filter" button at the bottom of the filter creation window. Note, however, that leaving things as they are will only apply the filter to future messages. If you also want to include current messages in this filter, you will need to check the box beside the "Also apply filter to matching conversations" option.
   • Once you create the filter, Gmail should apply both the filter and label to e-mail messages from your indicated sender.
5. Click on the label from your Inbox. Return to your Inbox. Locate the name of the newly created label from the left side panel, then left-click on it once.
   • If you do not see the label automatically, you may need to search for it under the "More" category.
   • As soon as you click on the label, Gmail should display all e-mail messages from your chosen sender.

Using 3rd Party Apps

1. Download the Chrome extension "Sender Sort" to hack Gmail into displaying mail by sender. This 3rd party extension will automatically sort through your emails for you, placing them in a separate tab where they are organized by sender. While third party apps like this always have a small measure of risk (there is no guarantee that your email information isn't being stored), most at-home users can feel safe downloading Sender Sort from the Google Store.
   • Note that this for Google Chrome web browser, not Firefox, IE, or Safari. You will need the other workarounds if you want to do this on a browser other than Chrome.
2. Restart chrome and open up your email. To make sure the extension takes hold, close everything out and restart it. Navigate to your Gmail through the link: http://mail.google.com/.
3. Click "Sign into Google" to authorize Sender Sort. If asked, be sure to give the app permission to access your emails, otherwise it won't have anything to sort for you.
4. Choose "Sync" to start downloading messages into Sender Sort. This may take some time, depending on how many emails you have backed up. Leave Gmail alone as it syncs with Sender Sort.
5. Click on the "Sender Sort" tab on the top of the screen to view contacts by sender. This special tab will give place every sender alphabetically into a column, allowing you to reveal or hide all emails from that person. You have several options from this screen:
   • Archive All: Takes every message in Sender Sort and Archives it. This can be a great way to eliminate spam if you know that there are only unimportant messages left in Sender Sort.
   • Archive Group: Archives all emails from one person.
   • Move: Appears next to individual emails when you hover over them. Allows you to archive one message or apply a label.
6. Know that any changes may take 30 seconds to register. Gmail needs time to communicate with Sender Sort, so anything you archive may not appear archived for a minute or so. Just be patient. You can keep sorting as you wait without causing problems.

Related Articles

• Move Mail to Different Folders in Gmail
• Create a Filter in Gmail
• Organize your Gmail Inbox

Sources and Citations

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• Use Gmail for Personal Data Storage
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• Hack Gmail
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