Gmail is a highly efficient email service. Google has done a great job of keeping Gmail up to date and providing great new features frequently. Every once in awhile, though, a new Google Chrome add-on comes along that makes Gmail even better.

The latest Chrome add-on is called PhilterIt. PhilterIt provides a new way for Gmail users to sort and sift through mail. Not that the current way to search for sent Gmail emails is difficult, but PhilterIt makes this process even easier. How? Imagine sorting through your emails by looking at someone’s photo, logo, or other included photograph.

Using PhilterIt

Instead of searching for someone’s name or something that was mentioned in an email, PhilterIt lets Gmail users scan photographs or logos for a sent or received email. For example, if you frequently did business with a particular company that has a monkey for a logo, you could pull up all emails that contain a monkey picture. PhilterIt lets users organize emails according to send, and sender icons, logos, and photos are displayed to the right of the Gmail screen. So, instead of seeing subject lines in the Gmail sidebar, you would see a small photograph or picture.

Using PhilterIt

As soon as you download the Chrome extension, PhilterIt will get to work. The program scans your email for those emails that you want to filter. You can then select the emails that you actually want to read regularly, and those emails will be categorized underneath a company logo or other photograph. Next to each logo a small icon will appear denoting how many emails you have received from a company in one day. The best way to understand this is to use Facebook as an example.

You might receive hundreds of Facebook notifications daily. But, you probably don’t want all of these emails in your inbox on a regular basis. Instead of letting this mail collect in your inbox, you can PhilterIt, and the Facebook logo will appear to the right of your screen.

Any emails you received from Facebook that day will be hidden beneath the logo. You can then click on the logo to read the emails. Right now, PhilterIt only filters emails sent from companies, but app developers have stated that the email filtering system will soon work with people too. This is not the first shot that PhilterIt has taken when it comes to email, but it is the first time the program has created an add-on for Chrome.

A Second Stab

PhilterIt originally attempted to attract users as a complete email program, but that didn’t work too well. Most people that use Gmail are happy with the program, so it’s tough for a company like PhilterIt to entice people to make the switch. If you do have Chrome and you want a great way to filter out spam without creating a number of filtering folders, PhilterIt works very well. Right now, though, the program only works with Gmail, so you may have to set up a Gmail account if you want to check out what PhilterIt can do.