Hacking Gmail

F
IGURE
3-5: Plus addressing in action
Plus addressing is remarkably useful, as it enables you to set up filters for your
incoming mail. In order to do set up filters, click the “Create a filter” link to the
right of the search bar. You will be presented with a screen containing something
very much like Figure 3-6.
07_59611x ch03.qxp  11/28/05  11:11 PM  Page 20

---

21
Chapter 3 — Gmail Power Tips
F
IGURE
3-6: The first stage in setting up a filter
Copy, as shown, the address into the To: box, and click the Next Step button. Of
course, this is how you create filters for any other part of the message as well. I’ll
leave it to the reader’s intelligence to see how this works. Figure 3-7 shows the
next stage.
F
IGURE
3-7: Selecting the action you want Gmail to take when a 
message arrives
A filter can move, star, directly archive, label, forward, trash, or a combination of
the five, any message that triggers it. Select the actions you want, and click the
Create Filter button. Figure 3-8 shows the final result.
Because plus addressing effectively gives you an unlimited number of e-mail
addresses to the same Gmail inbox, it allows you to assign one to each mailing list,
website, and so on that you subscribe to. You can also use it to track which e-mail
addresses have been sold to spammers, and send those to Trash automatically.
Other Addressing Tips
Gmail has a few other features to its addressing. First, the dot in the middle
of most people’s Gmail addresses is entirely optional. As Figure 3-9 shows,
[e-mail]
is exactly the same as 
[e-mail]
.
07_59611x ch03.qxp  11/28/05  11:11 PM  Page 21

---

22