Managing Your Email

Introduction

Most modern email programs provide a feature which enables the user to direct incoming messages into folders. Messages can be routed based on different criteria such as the message's sender, the subject or the recipient (the latter is very useful for messages sent via a mailing list).
This document will take the user through the steps required to set up rules in Microsoft Outlook. In this case, Outlook 2000 was used. Other versions may require slightly different steps to be taken; however, the underlying process is the same. The example used here is selecting by message sender.

Getting Started

The Rules set-up operations are contained within the Tools menu. Choose the Rules Wizard option, as seen in the image below:

This then displays the main Rules Wizard dialog, where selecting “New...” will display another dialog which contains a list of the types of rules available. Choose “Check messages when they arrive” and click on the “Next” button. This will display a dialog box which enables the user to select from a list of conditions.

Scroll through the list and click in the check box to the left of “with specific words in the sender's address”. Doing this displays a description in the lower panel, where clicking on the highlighted area allows the value to be entered or edited. In the example below, the author's name has been entered:

Click “Next” to move to the next step in the process, which is to determine where the messages from this sender are put. Select the check box next to “move it to the specified folder”, then click on the highlighted text in the lower panel to move to the folder selection dialog.

There, an existing folder can be selected, or a new folder created by clicking the “New...” button. Click “Next” when finished, which will then display the final dialog box. Here, the user specifies a name for the rule and determines whether the rule is to be run for existing messages (“Run this rule now...” check box) and whether it is to be activated (“Turn on this rule”).
Click “Finish” when ready, and Hey, Presto! your first Outlook Rule:

Author/Copyright

This document was written by Des Dougan, Principal of Dougan Consulting Group, an Information Technology consultancy in North Vancouver, BC, Canada, and is copyright (©) Dougan Consulting Group, 2005.
This document is released under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. Information about the licence can be found here.