Key Takeaways
- "Filtering" in Outlook covers four separate things: quick view filters, sorting, search, and rules. Knowing which one you need saves the most time.
- Quick filters like Unread, Flagged, and Has Attachments are one-click but temporary, and on the web they reset when you switch folders.
- Sorting reorders every message in your inbox, while filtering hides the ones that do not match. They are not the same thing.
- There is no dedicated button to filter by sender in Outlook, so use a from: search instead.
- The mobile app is the most limited, offering only a few filters and no rules at all.
Filtering in Outlook Means Four Different Things
When someone says they want to filter emails in Outlook, they could mean any of several things:
- Quick view filters that hide everything except a chosen type of message, such as unread mail or emails with attachments.
- Sorting, which reorders your inbox by date, sender, or size without hiding anything.
- Search operators, which pull up specific messages when you type conditions into the search box.
- Rules, which run on their own and act on new mail as it arrives.
The first three give you a temporary view of what is already sitting in your inbox. Rules are automations that keep running in the background, so this guide covers them only briefly. Check out the video below and keep reading.
Quick View Filters to See Unread, Flagged, and Attachments
Quick filters are the fastest way to narrow your inbox because they can show only a single type of message and hide the rest with a single click.
They are located behind the Filter button at the top of your message list. When you click it, a short list of conditions appears, and selecting one leaves only the matching messages on screen (until you switch the filter back to All).
We use the following three the most:
- Unread is the quickest way to filter unread emails in Outlook.
- Flagged when you want to see only the messages you marked.
- Has Attachments to separate messages with attachments from the rest.
📌 Tip: If unread is the view you find the most useful, our guide on how to find unread emails in Outlook shows a few quicker ways to get there.
New Outlook and the web version share the same layout, so filtering works almost identically between them. There is a single Filter button at the top of the message list with fewer presets, usually Unread, Flagged, To me, Has files, and Mentions me.
If you want to filter emails in Outlook on the web, that dropdown is the only place to look.
Classic desktop Outlook is different because you can find Filter Email on the Home ribbon, and it includes the longer set of presets.
One thing to keep in mind is that a quick filter is only a temporary view. It does not save, and on the web it resets to All the moment you switch folders, so don't let that surprise you.
How to Filter Outlook Emails by Category
Categories are color-coded labels you assign to messages yourself, which makes them handy once your inbox already has some structure. After messages are tagged, you can filter Outlook emails by category to view everything under one label at a time.
In classic desktop Outlook, the option is under the Filter Email button (the funnel icon) on the Home ribbon. Click it, choose Category, then pick the color category you want, or type a search such as category:"Red category" into the search bar instead.
In New Outlook for Mac, category filtering is in the expanded search options. Open them, choose Add more options, add the Category field, then pick the category you want.
In New Outlook for Windows and on the web, type the category name into the search bar. Windows also lets you open any message that already has the category and click its colored category tag.
Unfortunately, New Outlook does not let you add a dedicated category column to the message list, so categories only show up as inline colored labels. More importantly, categories are not supported on IMAP accounts, so if you connect Gmail or Yahoo to Outlook that way, the Categorize button is often missing entirely.
It's also worth pointing out that categories are account-specific and private to you, so nobody on the receiving end sees the labels you apply. If you are new to them, our guide on how Outlook categories work covers setup before you start filtering.
Sorting the Inbox by Date, Sender, or Size
Sorting and filtering often get mixed up, but they do opposite things. As explained above, filtering hides everything that does not match and leaves only a subset on screen. Sorting, on the other hand, reorders your entire inbox by a field you choose, so every message is still there, just in a different order.
You can sort by date, sender, size, subject, or importance in every version, but the control is in a different place depending on which one you use.
In New Outlook and on the web, sorting is at the top of the message list, reached through the Sort icon (the up and down arrows) on Windows, or the Sort By section inside the Filter funnel on Mac. You then choose the field and the order, such as Newest on top.
In classic Outlook, both Windows and Mac use a By dropdown at the top of the message list, where you pick the field and the order. Classic Outlook for Windows adds more ways in, such as clicking a column header, using Arrange By on the View tab, or setting a multi-level sort under View Settings.
Sorting by Size is the quickest way to surface the bulkiest messages when you are clearing space, while sorting by Sender groups everything from one person together. Our guide on how to sort emails in Outlook covers each method in detail.
Using Search Operators to Quickly Narrow Results
When quick filters and sorting are not enough, you can type operators (short conditions) into the search box to tell Outlook exactly what to look for.
For example, received:1/15/2025 can be used to filter by date in Outlook. There are also relative versions like received:"this week". Add hasattachment:yes to filter attachments in Outlook, or read:no to show only unread mail. You can also stack them, so received:"last week" hasattachment:yes returns just last week's mail that came with files.
Operators combine with AND, OR, and NOT, which Outlook expects in capital letters. Our guide on how to search emails in Outlook lists more of them worth remembering.
💡 Note: Outlook can limit or truncate large search result sets, so if the message you're looking for doesn't appear, making the query more specific usually works better than scrolling through hundreds of results.
Filtering by Sender Without a Dedicated Button
There is no one-click button to filter by sender in Outlook the way there is for Unread or Flagged, so the answer is search.
In classic desktop Outlook, right-click any message from the person, choose Find Related, then Messages from Sender. Outlook builds a from: search and shows everything from that address.
In New Outlook and on the web, click into the search box and type the sender's name or email, or type the operator directly with from:jane@company.com. One thing worth knowing is that a plain address search also matches mail where that person is in the To or Cc line, not only the From field, so the operator keeps results cleaner.
Filtering Emails in the Outlook Mobile App
The mobile app is the most limited of the Outlook family. If you want to filter emails in the Outlook app, Microsoft's own guidance lists three filters (Unread, Flagged, and Has Attachments), though recent versions have also added To me, Mentions me, and Pinned.
The gap that still unpleasantly surprises people is categories. The labels now show up on mobile, but you cannot filter your inbox by them there the way you can on desktop.
There is also no way to filter or sort by sender, subject, size, importance, or a specific date in the Outlook mobile app, and there are no sort-order choices beyond the default. You also cannot create rules from the app.
When Outlook's Built-In Filters Aren't Enough
Outlook filters are scattered and temporary. You apply one, it resets when you change folders, and combining a few conditions usually means a search query or a rule.
The good news is that a dedicated organizer like Clean Email gives you one place to sort and filter emails in Outlook without rebuilding the same view every time. Its search and filtering options combine easily, so you can narrow by sender, date, size, and read status together in a few clicks.
Clean Email also covers the gaps Outlook leaves. For example, its Smart Folders feature groups similar messages, such as newsletters or online shopping, so you can review and clear them in bulk.
Also, the Auto Clean feature takes care of the repetitive sorting you would otherwise repeat by hand. Best of all, the same tools work the same way on the web and in the mobile app, so you are not stuck with a stripped-down version on your phone the way you are in Outlook.
Clean Email connects to your existing mailbox and works alongside it, so you keep using Outlook as usual. It is not limited to Outlook either, since it supports Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, and AOL, along with any other provider that uses IMAP, which helps if you manage more than one account.
It also takes a privacy-first approach and only reads message headers and metadata, never the contents of your emails.
When to Use a Rule Instead of a Filter
A filter changes what you see right now, while a rule changes what happens to your mail automatically the moment it arrives. Generally, if you're applying the same filter over and over, that repetition is usually a sign you want a rule instead.
Rules run in the background and stay in place, moving, deleting, flagging, or categorizing messages on their own (in New Outlook and on the web, rules only run on new incoming mail and are not supported for Gmail and Yahoo accounts).
Use one when the handling should be permanent, like sending every newsletter to a folder or flagging anything from your manager. For the full setup, see our guide on how to create a rule in Outlook.
📌 Tip: Sweep is a middle ground between a one-time filter and a full rule. Available in New Outlook and on the web, it can delete all mail from a sender, keep only the latest message, or clear anything older than ten days. The difference is timing, since Sweep runs once a day rather than when mail arrives. See Outlook Sweep rules for the details.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between sorting and filtering in Outlook?
Sorting reorders your whole inbox by a field like date, sender, or size, and every message stays visible. Filtering does the opposite by hiding everything that does not match, so you see only a subset. Both are temporary views that do not move or delete anything.
Can I filter emails in the Outlook mobile app?
Yes, but the options are limited. You can filter emails in the Outlook app by Unread, Flagged, and Has Attachments, with To me, Mentions me, and Pinned added in recent versions. You cannot filter by sender, subject, size, or date there, and rules are not available on mobile at all.
When should I use a rule instead of a filter?
Use a filter when you just want a quick, one-time view of your inbox. Use a rule when you want the same action to happen automatically every time, like moving a newsletter to a folder or flagging mail from your manager.
How do I filter emails with attachments in Outlook?
In Outlook 2016 and later versions, including Outlook for Microsoft 365, click on "Filter Email" in the "Home" tab and choose "Has Attachments". This will display all emails that contain attachments.
