Rules are a way to have incoming (or outgoing) messages sorted, filed, marked, or otherwise handled automatically. You teach Outlook what to look for and what to do when it sees a message that meets the conditions you’ve set. For example:

• Move messages from a particular address into a specified folder.
• Assign a category or flag to messages with a particular word in the subject.
• Forward all messages with attachments to another address.

Create Rules (Filters) in Outlook on the Web

Microsoft has instructions for managing email messages by using rules in Outlook on the web.

Create Rules (Filters) in Outlook for Windows

Microsoft has instructions for managing email messages by using rules in Outlook for Windows.

Creating a Rule Based on a Message

You can create simple rules by starting with a message, rather than starting with a blank slate. This can be useful in setting up a rule for e-lists, or for people who routinely send you messages.

1. Select or open the message on which the rule will be based.
2. From the Home ribbon, in the Move section, click Rules, then click Create Rule. A Create Rule dialog box will open.
3. Select one or more of the three conditions listed. Messages that match ALL of the conditions you specify will be acted upon.
   • From - all messages that come from the same address that this message came from.
   • Subject Contains - this field will initially contain the complete subject line from the current message. If you choose this condition, edit this down to just the keyword or words.
   • Sent to - the drop-down list will include all addresses where the current message was sent.
4. Under Do the following, select one or more actions to be taken when a message matches the conditions you’ve chosen.
5. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Create Rules (Filters) in Outlook for Mac

Microsoft has instructions for managing email messages by using rules in Outlook for Mac.

Creating a Rule Based on a Message

You can create a rule that will look for messages that look like one you’ve already received, rather than starting with a blank slate.

First, select a message by highlighting it, then, in the Home ribbon, click Rules and select Create Rule.

The dialog box that opens will have three criteria pre-filled, based on the message you selected: From, Sent To, and Subject. Click the minus sign next to the conditions you do not want. You can also edit the conditions and the action as described in the Creating a Rule Manually section above.

Putting Your Rules in Order

The rules are checked in the order you have them listed. You can change the order of your rules by dragging and dropping them in the Rules dialog box.

The Do not apply other rules to messages that meet these criteria checkbox controls what happens when a message matches more than one rule. As a message is compared to each rule, the first time it matches a rule’s criteria, Outlook looks at this checkbox on the rule that was matched.

• If the box is checked (which is the default), Outlook will stop checking rules on this particular message and go on to the next message.
• If the box is unchecked, Outlook will continue evaluating this message against the remaining rules.

Some actions automatically check the box AND gray it out so that you cannot uncheck it. For example, if you Delete a message or Move it to a folder, the message is no longer available to be evaluated against the remaining rules.

Troubleshooting Rules (Filters)

Sometimes you’ll set up a rule and the result won’t be what you had in mind. Here are some reasons why, and how to deal with them.

AND versus OR in Rules

When creating complex rules, you’ll need to understand how Outlook handles multiple values.

If you use more than one condition, Outlook treats them as “and” statements, that is, the rule won’t be applied unless a message meets all of the conditions. So, for example, if you check the boxes for “with ‘Network’ in the subject” and “which has an attachment,” only messages where both those things are true will have the rule applied.

If you specify more than one value within a condition, Outlook is happy if it finds at least one of the values, not necessarily all. For example, if we set the condition to “with ‘Network’ or ‘cable’ in the subject,” the rule would be applied if either word (or both) were found.

If you specify more than one action, Outlook will do them all, as you’d expect.

If you specify more than one exception, Outlook treats them as “or” statements, that is, if any one (or more) of the exceptions apply, the rule won’t be applied to the message.

As with multiple values within a condition, if you specify more than one value within an exception, Outlook will use the exception if it finds at least one of the values, not necessarily all.

Putting Your Rules in Order

It’s also important to know that the rules are checked in the order you have them listed, and if a message fits more than one rule, Outlook will try to take the action listed in each one.

For example, a single message could end up being filed in several folders, or be assigned to multiple categories, or have its importance changed to High by one rule and then changed again to Low by another. 

You can use the “stop processing more rules” action which, in effect, says “If this rule applies to a message, quit checking this message and go on to the next message.”

You also can change the order of your rules by selecting a rule in the Rules & Alerts dialog box, then clicking the up arrow or down arrow in the toolbar.