Creating a Rule in Outlook
Outlook | Computer Training | DoIT

Many of you report being deluged by messages generated by the various e-mail worms and viruses. You can have these messages automatically deleted by setting up an Outlook filter and have them moved to a folder of your choice (i.e., Deleted Items). That way they will not clutter your inbox or take up your valuable time. The reason they are easily filterable by Outlook is that their content is always the same, namely, the words "See the attached file for details" or "Please see the attached file for details". Hence, to keep them out sight, setup an Outlook filter to move all messages with the words "See the attached file for details" to another folder, where you can review them at a later time.

Note that false positives are possible. Setting up this filter means that any message with the words "See the attached file for details" will be moved to the folder you choose. You should check the contents of this folder before deleting the messages.

Also note that you can use this same technique to catch and filter away other annoying messages that you may receive that contain a common signature. Outlook lets you set up as many filters as you want.

In this example, a rule will be created to check all incoming messages for the words "attached file" in the subject line. If the words are found, the messages will be automatically moved to the "Check these later" folder.

1. On the menu bar, click Tools | Rules and Alerts.

2. You'll see the Rules and Alerts window appear, like the one below.

3. To start a new rule, click the "New Rule..." button.

4. The Rules Wizard appears like below.

Notice that at the top of the Rules Wizard window there are two choices, to create a rule from a template or start from a blank rule. You may prefer to start from a blank rule so that you can see all of the many options you have when creating rules. For this example, we'll select Start from a blank rule and click Next.

5. The first step in creating a rule is to set the conditions. If you scroll through all of the conditions, you'll see that you'll be able to set up almost any type of rule.

6. Click on the checkbox next to "with specific words in the subject." Doing so adds the condition to the rule and is shown in the bottom window of the Rules Wizard (see the example in the image above). Notice that the words "specific words" is underlined. That is where you specify what words Outlook should look for.

7. In the Step 2 window at the bottom, click the underlined "specific words." The Search Text window will appear (see below).

8. Type the words "attached file" in the top box and click Add to add them to the Search list. Then click OK. The rule description is updated and is shown in the bottom window of the Rules Wizard (see below).

9. Now that the rule knows what words to looks for, it now needs to be told what to do with the messages it finds. Click Next.

10. The choices in the top window have now changed so that you can choose an Action for Outlook to perform. Note that the first choice, "move it to the specified folder," is the one used for this example. But take some time and scroll through the list to see all of the different options you can choose. You can choose more than one action--for example, you could choose to move a message and mark it as read.

11. Click the checkbox next to "move it to the specified folder."

12. Notice that the action has now been added to the rule description in the bottom window. And just as you clicked on "specific word" to specify what words Outlook should look for, you now have to click on "specified folder" to tell Outlook which folder the message should be moved to--click on the underlined "specified" now.

13. Click on the folder where you want the messages to be stored. In this example, Outlook will move the messages to the "Check these later" folder. If you haven't yet created a folder to store the messages, click on the New button to create the folder.

14. Once you've chosen the folder in the step above, click OK. The rule description will be updated to reflect your choice.

15. Click Next.

16. You now have the opportunity to add exceptions to the rule.

For example, you could set up this rule to move all messages with the words "attached file" to the "Check these later" folder except messages from jdoe@roosevelt.edu. For this example we're not going to use any exceptions, so click Next.

17. Finally, it's time to give the rule a name and turn it on. In the Step 1 box, enter a name for the rule. In Step 2, check both the "Run this rule now..." and "Turn on this rule" boxes. Then click Finish.

17. The rule has been created and added to the list. Click Apply and OK to exit the Rules Wizard. The subjects of all incoming messages will now be checked for the words "attached file" and, if it is found, the message will be moved to the "Check these later" folder.