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Rules are a vital part of
your email management workflow. Let me stress - vital !
Given the large amount of email spam and the increased
use of email as a communication tool, it is vital
(did I say that) to have some automated help with
your orgaization of it all. Imagine a rule to be
an assistant to you which files things in the proper
place automatically! And you don't have to
pay them hourly! A rule can be used to notify you
when someone special (like your lover, or your boss
(if they are different or the same)) or if an important
client, etc. sends an email to you. A rule can be
used to automatically re-route mail identified as
spam directly to your trash.
This discussion gives focus
to Entourage / Outlook, but the theories and even
the creation is nearly identical for other mail programs.
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What
is a rule?
To give a few alternative
names, a rule is like an action or a script. It
performs a task based on the criteria you specify.
A rule is a set of instructions you create that
tell Entourage how to handle messages you receive
or send. Each rule consists of two basic parts:
instructions for identifying which messages you
want the rule to apply to (criteria), and instructions
for handling those messages that meet the criteria
(actions). For example, here's how a simple Entourage
rule would look in plain English:
Let's see how the
rule above would appear in the Edit Rules dialog
box. (We provide step-by-step instructions for
this process in "Creating a rule," below.)
For this example, let's say that your boss is named
David Loudon.
1. You set up criteria
for the rule here
2. ... and specify the corresponding actions here.
Creating
a rule:
Create a rule to move messages from a specific person to a specific folder.
Now that you've seen what
a rule looks like, here's how to create one of your
own.
1. On the Tools menu,
click Rules .
2. Click the Mail tab
for the type of account you have — POP,
IMAP, or Hotmail.
Tip: Not
sure which type of account you have? You can
find out by clicking Accounts on the Tools menu — on
the Mail tab, the name of the account is followed
by the account type.
3. Click New .
4. In the Rule name box, type a name for the rule.
5. Under If , click From on the pop-up menu.
A
second pop-up menu appears, followed by a text
box.
6. Make sure Contains
is selected on the second pop-up menu, and then,
in the text box, type the person's name — "David
Loudon," in our example.
7. Under Then , click Move Message on the pop-up menu.
A
second pop-up menu appears.
8. On the second pop-up
menu, click the name of the folder you want to
move the message to.
Tip: To
create a new folder for the messages, click Choose
Folder on the second pop-up menu, and then click
New Folder.
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Creating a rule
that has more than one action
You can tell Entourage to do more than one thing with messages that meet the
criteria you set up. Suppose you want to assign messages from your boss to
a category, as well as move them to a folder. You can accomplish this by adding
a second action to the rule.
1. Add a second action
to the rule
2. On the Tools menu, click Rules .
3. Double-click the rule you just created.
4. Under Then , click Add Action .
A new set of
pop-up menus appears below the first set.
5. In the the leftmost
pop-up menu, click Set Category .
6. In the rightmost pop-up menu, click the category — Work , for
example — to which you want to assign messages that meet your
criteria.
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Creating
a rule that has more than one criterion
You can also create rules that contain several criteria. Suppose you want to
file messages from a co-worker in the Work folder, along with messages from
your boss. You can accomplish this by adding a second criterion to the rule.
1. Add a second
criterion to the rule
2. On the Tools menu, click Rules .
3. Double-click the rule you just created.
4. Under If , click Add Criterion.
A
new set of pop-up menus and a text box appear
below the first set.
Make sure that From appears on the leftmost pop-up menu and Contains appears
on the second pop-up menu, and then type the co-worker's name in the text
box.
5. On the Execute pop-menu,
click if any criteria are met .
Note The
options in the Execute pop-up menu tell Entourage
more about how the rule should work. In this
case, no message would satisfy both criteria,
so if any criteria are met is the correct choice.
However, suppose you want to create a different
kind of rule — one that would file
today's messages from your boss in a special
folder. In that case, you would create a rule
with the criteria "From Contains David Loudon" and "Date
Received Is Today." Such a rule would function
properly only if you click if all criteria are
met in the Execute pop-up menu.
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Applying rules
After you create a rule and save it, Entourage applies the rule to incoming
or outgoing messages that meet its criteria. If you decide you don't need
a rule, you can delete it. And if you want to temporarily prevent a rule
from being applied, you can simply disable it. That way, you can easily use
the rule again without having to re-create it.
1. Enable or disable
a rule
2. On the Tools menu, click Rules .
3. Click the tab for the type of rule you want to enable or disable.
4. In the Enabled column, select or clear the check box next to the rule.
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Applying rules to
existing messages
Perhaps you've decided to create some rules to reduce the clutter in your Inbox.
Your new rules will take care of messages you receive in the future, but what
about those you've already received? No problem — simply apply the
rules to the contents of the Inbox.
How to apply a
rule to existing messages
1. In the Message list, select the messages you want to apply the rule to.
2. On the Message menu, point to Apply Rule , and then click the rule you
want to apply.
Tip: To
quickly apply a rule to all of the messages contained
in a folder, click the folder, and then click a
message in the folder. On the Edit menu, click
Select All , and then apply the rule. |
