"Allow Gmail filters" is a button on the Auto-clean page of your dashboard, and on My account. It asks Google for one more permission. With it, the rules you switch on can run as real Gmail filters instead of only from our servers, and a sender an unsubscribe couldn't stop gets a filter that keeps their new mail out of your inbox. This page explains exactly what that permission lets us do, what we do with it, and how to undo it.
What it changes
An Auto-clean rule says what should happen to mail from a sender, for example "Archive Acme on arrival". Without Gmail filters, our servers watch for that mail and move it shortly after it arrives. With Gmail filters allowed, an on-arrival rule you switch on also becomes an ordinary Gmail filter, the same kind you could make yourself:
- Gmail acts the moment the mail arrives. The filter runs inside Gmail, so it works even when Gmail Unsubscribe is offline or slow.
- You can see every rule in Gmail. Each one is listed under Settings, See all settings, Filters and Blocked Addresses, as a filter matching that sender with "Skip Inbox" (for an archive rule) or "Delete it" (for a trash rule).
- Your own filters are recognised. We read your existing filters, so senders they already archive or delete are no longer suggested as new rules. The Auto-clean page doesn't list them. You see them in Gmail's own settings.
Rules that wait before acting, such as "Archive promotions still unread after 30 days", can't be Gmail filters: a filter only looks at mail once, when it arrives. Those keep running from our servers. The counts on the Auto-clean page include what your rule filters handled.
When an unsubscribe can't stop a sender
Most senders stop when you unsubscribe. Some offer no working way to unsubscribe at all, and a few keep mailing after the request. With Gmail filters allowed, a sender like that gets one Gmail filter, on the free plan and on GU Pro alike:
- When: as the cleanup finishes, for a sender no unsubscribe request could reach. For a sender whose request went through, only once they are still mailing you more than two days later.
- What it does: the same as the cleanup did to their old mail. If you archived it, their new mail skips the inbox and stays in All Mail; if you trashed it, their new mail goes straight to Trash.
- Where you see it: the cleanup's result says how many senders got one, Subscriptions and the sender's details mark each of them "Gmail filter", and every one is listed in Gmail's Filters and Blocked Addresses settings.
- Never for banks, health, government and delivery senders, or Google's own mail, and never more than 200 of these filters on one account.
- How it goes away: undo or restore that cleanup and we delete the filter, unless another cleanup still unsubscribes you from that sender. Deleting your account deletes them too. If you delete one in Gmail yourself, we don't make it again unless you unsubscribe from that sender again.
Without Gmail filters allowed, none of this happens, and the cleanup only clears those senders' old mail.
Why Google asks separately
When you first signed in, Google asked for permission to read and organise your mail. Filters are part of Gmail's settings, which sit behind a different permission (Google calls it gmail.settings.basic). Google doesn't let an app change settings on the strength of the first permission, so it asks again, on its own screen:
UseBaxter wants additional access: See, edit, create or change your email settings and filters in Gmail.
UseBaxter is the company behind Gmail Unsubscribe. You can choose Cancel or Continue. Cancel changes nothing: you stay signed in, your rules keep running as before, and you can allow it later.
What we do with it
- Create a filter for an on-arrival Auto-clean rule you switch on. On GU Pro, rules that were already on when you allow it get their filter the next time the Auto-clean page loads.
- Create a filter for a sender an unsubscribe couldn't stop, as described in when an unsubscribe can't stop a sender.
- Delete that filter when you switch the rule off or delete the rule, or, for a sender's filter, when you undo or restore that cleanup.
- Read your filters to notice when you deleted one of ours in Gmail, to stop suggesting senders your filters already handle, and to tell you when a new rule matches a filter you already have.
What we never do
- We never create a filter beyond those two kinds. One rule you switch on, one filter; one sender an unsubscribe couldn't stop, one filter.
- A filter never replaces an unsubscribe. Unsubscribing always uses the sender's own unsubscribe mechanism when there is one, as described in what is List-Unsubscribe, and a sender it couldn't unsubscribe you from is never called unsubscribed.
- We never create forwarding, and never add or change a filter that forwards mail anywhere.
- We never touch your other settings: signature, vacation reply, forwarding addresses, POP and IMAP stay as you set them.
- We never change or delete a filter you made yourself. If you had already made exactly the filter a rule would create, Gmail doesn't allow a second copy, so yours stays as it is and the rule runs from our servers alongside it.
If you don't allow it
Nothing breaks. Your Auto-clean rules keep running from our servers, as they always have, and every other part of Gmail Unsubscribe works the same. The Auto-clean page shows a card about it until you close it, and the same button is on the My account page if you change your mind.
Seeing and removing the filters
In Gmail on a computer, open the gear icon, See all settings, then Filters and Blocked Addresses. Filters we made, for your rules or for senders an unsubscribe couldn't stop, match one sender each and either skip the inbox or delete the mail.
- Switch a rule off, or delete it, on the Auto-clean page, and we delete its filter.
- Undo or restore a cleanup in Unsubscribe history, and we delete the filters made for its senders, unless another cleanup still unsubscribes you from them.
- Delete a filter in Gmail, and we switch the matching rule off. Its card on the Auto-clean page says so, and nothing is recreated unless you switch the rule back on. A filter made for an unsubscribe isn't made again either, unless you unsubscribe from that sender again. This isn't instant: see how quickly changes in Gmail show up.
- Edit a filter in Gmail if you like. If Gmail saves the edited version as a new filter, it becomes one of yours and the rule is switched off here, which its card will say.
Create your own rules
Auto-clean suggests rules from what you already do by hand, and you can also write one yourself. On the Auto-clean page, choose New rule next to Your rules:
- Sender: the address the mail comes from, as it appears in the From line. Senders Gmail Unsubscribe already knows from your inbox are offered as you type.
- What happens: Archive (out of the inbox, still in All Mail and search) or Move to Trash (Gmail deletes trashed mail after 30 days).
- When: as it arrives, or after 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 or 90 days.
Before you save, the form says in plain words what the rule will do and where it will run. A rule that acts as mail arrives becomes a Gmail filter once you have allowed Gmail filters; a rule that waits always runs from our servers, once a day, because a filter can only act as mail arrives. Saving also clears that sender's mail already in your inbox, up to 2,000 emails. If you already have a rule for that sender, saving changes it rather than adding a second one.
You can also start from a sender: open their details from Subscriptions or Unsubscribe history and choose Auto-clean this sender. Rules are part of GU Pro, and you can keep up to 20. Mail from banks, health, government, schools and deliveries, and Google's own mail, is never auto-cleaned.
How quickly changes in Gmail show up
Changes you make on the Auto-clean page reach Gmail as you save them. The other way round takes a little longer: Gmail doesn't tell apps when you change or delete a filter, so we check your filters:
- whenever you open the Auto-clean page;
- within about 15 minutes when new mail arrives, once one of your rules runs as a Gmail filter (Gmail's notice of new mail is our cue to look);
- in the daily run, even on a day with no new mail.
So a rule's filter you deleted in Gmail shows up here as a switched-off rule at the first of those checks: often within minutes on an inbox that gets mail, otherwise at the next daily run or when you open the page. Until then, Gmail Unsubscribe may still describe it as it was.
A filter made for an unsubscribe that you deleted in Gmail is noticed when you next open the Auto-clean page. Until then, Subscriptions may still mark the sender "Gmail filter".
Removing the permission
Google removes an app's access as a whole, not one permission at a time. To remove it, open myaccount.google.com/permissions, choose UseBaxter, and remove its access. You can sign in to Gmail Unsubscribe again afterwards without allowing filters.
Filters belong to your Gmail account, so any we made, for your rules or for unsubscribes, stay in Gmail after access is removed, and we can no longer delete them. Delete the ones you don't want under Filters and Blocked Addresses. If a rule switched off in Gmail Unsubscribe still has a filter we couldn't remove, its card says so and links to that page.
Questions
Do I have to allow Gmail filters?
No. It is optional. Without it, Auto-clean rules keep running from Gmail Unsubscribe's servers exactly as before, and nothing else in the product changes.
Why does Google's screen say UseBaxter?
Gmail Unsubscribe is made by Baxter, and Google shows the name of the company that registered the app. The screen reads "UseBaxter wants additional access" and lists one item: see, edit, create or change your email settings and filters in Gmail.
Does unsubscribing create a Gmail filter?
Only when the unsubscribe can't stop the sender, and only if you allowed Gmail filters. A sender that offers no working way to unsubscribe, or keeps mailing you more than two days after the request, gets one filter that does to their new mail what the cleanup did to the old. Undoing that cleanup removes it. Banks, health, government and delivery senders, and Google's own mail, never get one.
How do I remove the filters Gmail Unsubscribe made?
Switch the rule off or delete it on the Auto-clean page and its filter is deleted too. A filter made for an unsubscribe goes when you undo or restore that cleanup. You can also delete any of them yourself in Gmail under Settings, See all settings, Filters and Blocked Addresses. A rule is then switched off in Gmail Unsubscribe, and a filter made for an unsubscribe isn't made again unless you unsubscribe from that sender again.
What happens to the filters if I remove Gmail Unsubscribe's access?
They stay in your Gmail, because filters belong to your account. Once access is removed we can no longer change or delete them, so delete any you no longer want in Gmail's Filters and Blocked Addresses settings.
Can I make my own Auto-clean rule?
Yes, on GU Pro. Choose New rule on the Auto-clean page, enter the sender's email address, pick Archive or Move to Trash, and choose whether it acts as mail arrives or after a number of days. Saving also clears that sender's mail already in your inbox, up to 2,000 emails.
Can Auto-clean take over a filter I already made in Gmail?
No. We never change or delete a filter you made yourself. If you already have exactly the filter a new rule would create, the rule runs from our servers beside it, and your filter keeps working in Gmail as before. You find your filters in Gmail under Settings, See all settings, Filters and Blocked Addresses.
How soon does Gmail Unsubscribe notice a filter I changed in Gmail?
Gmail doesn't tell apps when a filter changes, so we check: whenever you open the Auto-clean page, within about 15 minutes when new mail arrives once one of your rules runs as a Gmail filter, and in the daily run. It is never instant. If you deleted a filter that belongs to one of your rules, that rule is switched off.
Do I need GU Pro?
Auto-clean rules are part of GU Pro, so filters for rules are too. The filters for senders an unsubscribe can't stop work on the free plan too, and allowing Gmail filters there also lets us read your filters, so senders they already handle aren't suggested.
Will my filter list fill up?
One filter per on-arrival rule you have switched on, plus one per sender an unsubscribe couldn't stop, never more than 200 of those. Gmail allows 1,000 filters on an account. Switching a rule off, or undoing a cleanup, takes its filters away again.
Does it make Gmail Unsubscribe see more of my mail?
No. The permission covers settings and filters, not messages. What we can read of your mail is what you allowed when you first signed in.
What if I change my mind later?
Switch your rules off (their filters go with them), and delete any filters made for unsubscribes in Gmail, then remove access as described above if you want the permission gone too. For anything else, the privacy page covers how we handle your data.