When you create filters, consider these tips:

• Choose words or phrases that will reliably pick out the messages you want. For instance, filtering based on the sender's email address in the Sender: field is generally a good choice, while filtering based on common words in the text body can be less reliable.
  
  Note: Entering the same word in all four fields requires the word to appear in all four fields to filter successfully.

• The order of your filters makes an enormous difference. For best results, put your narrowest filters at the top and your broadest filters at the bottom. Once a message matches a filter, it is delivered to a folder and isn't compared further to any more filters.
  
  For instance, suppose an important piece of mail is sent from name@company.com to your account, and you have two filters set up:
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  If Filter A is above Filter B, the message will be compared to Filter A first. Since it contains company.com in the Sender: field (name@company.com), it will be placed in the Company XYZ folder.
  
  On the other hand, if Filter B is above Filter A, the message sent from name@company.com will be compared with Filter B first. The result will be that the Sender: field matches, so the message will be directed to the name folder rather than the Company XYZ folder.

For even more tips, see our filters tutorial.