Search within an inbox category

How it works

category: accepts primary, social, promotions, updates, forums, reservations and purchases.

Examples

• category:promotionsOpen in Gmail ↗

  Messages in the Promotions tab.

• category:socialOpen in Gmail ↗

  Messages in the Social tab.

What it does well

• Isolates a whole inbox tab at once, such as promotions.

What it does badly

• Only has an effect if you use inbox categories: without them, the operator doesn't apply.Documented by Google · Gmail Help: search operators

See also

• label:Finds messages filed under a label.
• list:Finds messages that come from a mailing list.
• in:anywherein:archivein:snoozedWidens or narrows the search to Spam and Trash, to the archive or to snoozed messages.

Search examples that use it

• Isolate promotions and newsletterscategory:promotions older_than:1y