Creating Mailbox Rules in Microsoft Outlook 2010

Creating Mailbox Rules in Microsoft Outlook 2010: Video

This video shows creating mailbox rules in Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Creating Mailbox Rules in Microsoft Outlook 2010: Overview

A mailbox rule simply states that whenever items arrive into a mailbox that meet a specified criteria they should then be processed by whatever the rule dictates should happen when an item of that type is received. You can have multiple rules applied to a single mailbox. Outlook acts upon the rules in sequence from top to bottom through the list of rules created for that mailbox. You can also modify them later, or delete them if they no longer apply. You can also turn them on and off without having to delete and recreate them.

To create a mailbox rule, first select the mailbox folder for which you want to create a rule. You can then start the “Rules Wizard” to assist you in creating the necessary rule criteria and actions that you want the rule to perform when an item is received in the mailbox that matches the specified criteria. To access this wizard in Outlook 2010, click the “Rules” button in the “Move” group on the “Home” tab in the Ribbon, and then select the “Manage Rules & Alerts…” command. To access this wizard in Outlook 2007, select “Tools| Rules and Alerts…” from the Menu Bar. In either version, the “Rules and Alerts” dialog box will then appear. Ensure that you are viewing the “E-mail Rules” tab, and then click the “New Rule…” button in the upper left corner of that tab to launch the “Rules Wizard.”

In the “Rules Wizard,” you will need to select one of the templates from the list shown in the “Step 1: Select a template” area. The rule description will appear in the “Step 2: Edit the rule description” section at the bottom of the dialog box with hyperlinks indicating places that you need to click into and “fill-in-the-blanks” in the rule template. When finished, click “Next >” to continue.

In the next screen, you can use the “Step 1: Select condition(s):” list at the top to check various criteria that you will see appended to the rule below. If you started from a template, some of this is already done, but you can add more criteria if necessary. Then click on the blue hyperlinks in the rule at the bottom of the dialog box to “fill-in-the-blanks” in the rule. Click “Next >” to continue when you are ready.

In the next screen, you must decide what action the rule should take when it receives an item that matches the criteria you just set. You can check the actions listed at the top of the dialog box to append them to the rule at the bottom of the dialog box. Then click the blue hyperlinks in the bottom box to “fill-in-the-blanks” in the rule. Click “Next >” to continue.

In the next screen, you must decide what exceptions to the rule exist. You can check the exceptions listed at the top of the dialog box to append them to the rule at the bottom of the dialog box. Then click the blue hyperlinks in the bottom box to “fill-in-the-blanks” in the rule. Click “Next >” to continue.

In the last screen, type a name for the rule into the text box at the top of the dialog box. You can also check or uncheck the two checkboxes for “Run this rule now on messages already in [folder name],” or “Turn on this rule.” When you are ready to finish the rule, click the “Finish” button.

That will drop you back off in the “Rules and Alerts” dialog box on the “E-mail Rules” tab. Note that like folder rules, you can check or uncheck the rules listed here to turn them on and off. You can also use the “Change Rule…” drop-down button to edit a selected rule at a later point in time, if needed. You can also click the “Delete” button to delete a selected rule, if necessary. Then click “OK” to set the e-mail rules.