Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Create Message Filter Based on Address Book Fields

  • 6
  • 1 nwere nsogbu anwere nsogbu a
  • 1 view
  • Nzaghachi ikpeazụ nke DS256

more options

I put a notation in the DISPLAY NAME of the address book for people. For example, if Fred is part of the Lawn Club, then his display name is "Fred Jones (Lawn Club)". I would like to create a filter to look for "(Lawn Club)" in the DISPLAY name of the address book to move the email to the Lawn Club folder. I'm trying to avoid having to enter everyone's email address in the filter.

Alternatively, being able to filter based on being in a distribution list would accomplish the same thing.

Thanks

I put a notation in the DISPLAY NAME of the address book for people. For example, if Fred is part of the Lawn Club, then his display name is "Fred Jones (Lawn Club)". I would like to create a filter to look for "(Lawn Club)" in the DISPLAY name of the address book to move the email to the Lawn Club folder. I'm trying to avoid having to enter everyone's email address in the filter. Alternatively, being able to filter based on being in a distribution list would accomplish the same thing. Thanks

All Replies (6)

more options

A filter rule can be based on whether a sender (From) or recipient (To) is or isn't in a specified address book (see picture). The same rules can be applied in Classic Search (Ctrl+Shift+F).

more options

Thanks sfhowes but I'm lookling to create a filter based on address book content which is not in the email header or body.

more options

You can search an address book based on the kind of content in Address Book, from Edit/Find/Search addresses, but you can't filter or search mail based on those same criteria. Your best bet is probably to create address books such as Lawn Club and populate them with the relevant contacts. This would be a lot better than labelling the Display field or some other field, especially if a contact belongs to multiple 'clubs'. Address books can be created from File/New/Address Book..., and contacts can exist in multiple address books. Move contacts between address books by drag and drop, or hold Ctrl while dragging to Copy instead of Move.

Once you've reorganized your contacts, the mail filtering will work as above, plus it will be easier to send a message to all club members at once.

more options

That's a creative idea sfhowes. I think it would work except I use Google Contacts for my addresses so I have access to them from all my devices. Creating a new address book in Thunderbird does not help me on my MAC and IOS devices.

more options

I think with the gContactSync add-on you can synchronize Contacts with TB address books. TbSync works with other types of providers.

more options

sfhowes, I realized that the only place I needed the addresses for filing was my main PC. I used your idea and create a duplicate Address Book to filter on. The names and emails are fairly static. Thank for the solution