How many rules can I have?

Up to 50, with up to 10 conditions in each.

Can I use regular expressions?

Yes, alongside contains, does not contain, equals, starts with and ends with.

Do rules apply to articles already in my list?

They act on newly arriving articles. For a backlog that has already built up, marking everything read is quicker.

Does the learning filter remember words from titles?

Not automatically — that mostly collects words that match everything. Add words yourself under Settings → Rules.

Cutting the backlog with rules and filters

Before unsubscribing, sort what arrives mechanically. The goal is to reduce what you see, not what you read.

The cause is rarely the number of feeds

Backlogs usually come from a handful of feeds posting dozens of items a day. Trying to treat everything equally is what breaks.

Sorting what arrives costs less than unsubscribing, because you no longer have to drop a whole feed that occasionally carries something you want.

Rules do the sorting

Rules under Settings → Rules act on articles that match a condition. There are four actions: hide, mark as read, star, and tag.

Conditions match on title, summary, author, URL or feed, using contains / does not contain / equals / starts with / ends with / regular expression, combined with AND and OR.

Hide sponsored posts (title contains a given word)
Mark a column you do not follow as read (title starts with its name)
Tag a topic you are tracking (title or summary contains it)
Star one author (author equals a name)

Push things down with the learning filter

The ▲ and ▼ buttons in the list remember the feed and the author of that article, and similar items are treated accordingly from then on.

Words from the title are not picked up automatically, because that mostly accumulates words matching everything. To act on a word, add it yourself under Settings → Rules.

Whether items pushed down with ▼ are dimmed or removed from the list is set under Settings → Display. The default is to dim them.

Reduce the flow itself

Muting takes a feed out of the list while keeping the subscription. It suits feeds you have stopped reading but do not want to drop.

The review screen under Settings → Feeds lists subscriptions that have stopped updating, keep erroring, were never opened, or have not been read lately. They can be muted, moved or unsubscribed in bulk.

Do not try to catch up

Even with rules in place, a backlog eventually builds. RSS works better treated as something that accumulates for you than as something you must not miss.

Mark everything read periodically and reset. Anything you genuinely need can be found later with search or a keyword watch.

FAQ

How many rules can I have?: Up to 50, with up to 10 conditions in each.
Can I use regular expressions?: Yes, alongside contains, does not contain, equals, starts with and ends with.
Do rules apply to articles already in my list?: They act on newly arriving articles. For a backlog that has already built up, marking everything read is quicker.
Does the learning filter remember words from titles?: Not automatically — that mostly collects words that match everything. Add words yourself under Settings → Rules.