How do I filter out e-mails with an empty To: fields in Gmail?

July 17, 2012 9:14 AM

How do I filter out e-mails with an empty To: fields in Gmail?

I basically want to filter out e-mails that I receive but have an empty "To:" field in gmail (and from specific e-mail addresses) but I can't figure out how to specify it with Gmail's filtering search criteria boxes. You've probably seen these e-mails as To:undisclosed recipients, but when you look at the details it is because the To: field is blank. I'm quite familiar with creating gmail filters, but I just can't figure out what to put in the search box to make gmail look for To: fields with 'nothing' in them and every tutorial I've found online is about how to send e-mail like this, not filter out ones you receive. I've tried leaving all the search fields blank which finds all my e-mails, tried empty quotes and parenthesis, ie "" or () but it still returns all e-mails, and I've tried typing in "undisclosed recipients" but it didn't find these e-mails (unless those words were actually written in the To: field). Is it even possible to search for blank To: fields?

posted by mxmm to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

From this site, it looks like you could try:

deliveredto:[e-mail] AND -to:[e-mail] AND -cc:[e-mail]
posted by BurntHombre at 9:19 AM on July 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ah nice! Never would have guessed that. Actually, I think I might have seen the deliveredto: criteria but I tried putting that in the To: box. You need to either type it in the general search box (which I did this time) or put it in the Has The Words: box if you are in the advanced search mode.

Thanks!
posted by mxmm at 9:47 AM on July 17, 2012

That will also filter out anything that is bcc'd to you, even if it has a To: field.
posted by grouse at 10:38 AM on July 17, 2012