Outlook 2010 - Rules

Rules in Outlook 2010

Using Rules in Outlook 2010 is a great way to have messages do something specific before you actually read them. Rules also apply to sent messages but for the moment I will deal with received mail. There are many conditions you can apply to your incoming mail, for this example I will redirect some mail to a specific folder.

I get daily updates in my Gmail account from a few sites that I subscribe to. These sites could best be described as technology news sites like TechCrunch, Slashdot TechRepublic Etc. I don’t necessarily want to read them when I first open my inbox but for the moment that is where they appear.

Firstly I create a folder where I want the mail to be sent. After right-clicking on Outlook Data Files (in the left folder pane) and selecting New Folder I give the folder a name.

On the Home Tab, with one of the tech news emails selected click Rules, Create Rule from the Action Group.

In the Create Rule dialogue box the name TechRepublic Daily Digest has been inserted in the list of ‘When I get e-mail with all of the selected conditions’, which I tick. Under ‘Do the following’ I tick ‘Move the item to folder: TechNews.

Clicking Advanced Options will open the Rules Wizard options and give lists of conditions that can be applied.

By selecting ‘Run this rule now on messages already in “Inbox”’, all older/read mail from TechRepublic will be move there.