How do I filter out backlog items with certain labels?

[Solace Sonder]

I have a bunch of tickets in my backlog with the label "airbrake". I want to filter those out with a custom filter. I tried looking this up on communities and used the exact queries recommended (just replacing my project name and label name). 

I've tried a bunch of variations of the following queries. When I write the queries, I use the autocomplete from Jira for each part. Instead, these filters remove all issues from my backlog, even items not labeled with airbrake. 

project = SolaceProject AND labels != airbrake

project = SolaceProject AND labels != "airbrake"

project = SolaceProject AND labels not in ('airbrake')

Etc.

What am I doing wrong? Thank you!

[Marcin Wiktor · Accepted solution]

Try this:

project = SolaceProject AND (labels not in ('airbrake') or labels IS EMPTY)

It seems not logical at the first sight but you have to let this JQL to include issues with empty labels

[Solace Sonder]

Thank you, this worked!

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Solace  - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Try using this:

project = SolaceProject AND (labels != airbrake or labels is empty)