Do you get tons of email everyday like I do? Most professionals do these days. Some of it is wanted email and some of it (lately a lot of it) is unwanted email from people we don't know pushing everything from Viagra, to the next great stock to other unmentionables... Microsoft Outlook offers a great way to automatically file your legitimate email in various folders based on who it's from or who it is to or the subject line or whatever the content is in the body including keywords you can choose. I am not talking about "Spam" management here. This is for email from friends, family associates, clients, whoever.
First off be sure you realize when I say Outlook I don't mean Outlook Express, the built in email program that comes with Windows and Internet Explorer. Microsoft Outlook is part of the "Office" suite of programs that are available for purchase from Microsoft like Excel and Word.
Outlook rules are basically quidelines you set up for your inbox. The rules can do everything from file your email in specific folders automatically as they are received to color coding or playing a specific sound or even a special pop up message you can choose to notify you of important emails.
The most effective and common way I use rules is the filing in specific folders part so that my inbox stays managable. (It's still pretty unmanaged but I do my best!) Say for example I want to make sure I don't miss emails from my sister. I can create a folder called "Laura" and then set up a rule that tells Outlook to "move emails from Laura to the "Laura" folder automatically when they arrive". Prettty cool huh? Of course you have to make sure you have the "Folder List" showing. If you have Outlook you can do this by clicking the "View" menu and then select 'Folder List". That way you can see that there is new email from Laura because Outlook will display the number of unread messages next to each folder.
How do you set up Outlook Rules? I have 2 versions of Outlook on my various computers, Outlook 2002 (aka Office XP) and Outlook 2003. I can only speak intelligently about those versions. There are 2 ways to set up rules, the fastest and easiest way is to simply right click on an email and you will be given the option to create a rule relating to that email. The dialog box that comes up is pretty straight forward and too lengthy to go in to here but I'm confident you'll figure it out. <wink>
The other way is from within Outlook to click on the "Tools" menu on the main menu bar at the top and select "Rules Wizard". This gets you a more comprehensive list of rules and options but can be a bit overwhelming. I always say "Microsoft thought of everything you think you need, the trick is figuring out where it is and how to use it" ha ha...
Rules are also a great way to clean up your inbox. If you are like me you have had as many as 2000 emails sitting in your inbox. What a mess! Outlook also offers the ability after you set up a rule to "Run It Now". You'll see this option after you set up the rule. By doing so Outlook will take all rules and apply them to your inbox. In seconds you will see your inbox immediately cleaned up and organized.
BACK UP YOUR RULES! Finally, one important note about rules. You have the option to create a lot and some can be complicated so back them up! I have had to recreate mine several times before I finally got wise and found a way to back them up. When you have the rules wizard open click on the "Options" button. You will see an "Import" button and an "Export" button. Exporting is for saving and importing is for restoring them if you lost them or had to reinstall Outlook.
So, those are the RULES for RULES sorta...don't forget you can always find plenty of help by selecting "Help" from the main menu in Outlook.
- Chris
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I love the Rules feature, it automatically files certain emails in particular folders and then when I have time I can go back and read them. You should try it folks