Creating Mailbox Rules
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. The rules will be acted upon in sequence from top to bottom through the list of rules created for that mailbox. They can also be modified at a later date, or deleted 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 you are finished on this screen, 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 >” when you are ready 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 >” when you are ready 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. When you are finished, click “OK” to set the e-mail rules.
Creating Custom Mailbox Views
You can create your own custom view of folders in your Outlook mailbox. If using Outlook 2010, you create custom mailbox views by clicking the “View” tab in the Ribbon and then clicking the “Change View” button in the “Current View” group. From the drop-down menu that appears, you can then select the “Manage Views…” command. In Outlook 2007, you can do this by selecting “View| Current View| Define Views…” from the Menu Bar.
At this point, a dialog box will appear onscreen. In Outlook 2010, it is called the “Manage All Views” dialog box. In Outlook 2007, it is called the “Custom View Organizer.” In both versions, it simply displays all of the available views and their associated settings. Here you can select any view that you want and then modify it, or reset modifications made to one of the selected views. You can also create, edit or delete your own custom views that you have created using this dialog box.
To create a new view, just click the “New…” button to the right of the dialog box. That will open the “Create a New View” dialog box where you type a name for the new view into the “Name of new view:” text box. Below that, select what type of view you want to create: “Table,” which lays out the information in a table like the Inbox folder does by default; “Timeline,” which shows items in a timeline view like the Journal folder does by default; “Card,” which lays out the information in a card view like the Contacts folder does in the “Address Cards” view; “Business Card,” which displays information in the view using a layout like the one used by the “Business Card” view of the Contact folders; “Day/Week/Month,” which shows information in a day/week/month style like the Calendar does by default; or “Icon,” which shows icons for the items like your typical Windows folder does, by default.
Once you selected your base folder view, select who will have this view available to them: “This folder, visible to everyone,” “This folder, visible only to me,” or “All Mail and Post folders.” Then click “OK” to launch another dialog box where you can further customize the view. In Outlook 2010, this dialog box is called the “Advanced View Settings” dialog box. In Outlook 2007, it is called the “Customize View” dialog box. However, the options that you have for customizing the view are the same for both versions. The dialog box has seven buttons that you can click to set options for your view. Based on your base view type, however, not all of the buttons will necessarily be available.
Clicking the “Columns…” button (“Fields…” button in Outlook 2007) launches the “Show Columns” dialog box (“Show Fields” dialog box in Outlook 2007). Here you can use the drop-down in the upper left corner to choose which set of fields you wish to see appear in the left list. To move an available field into your new view, select it in the left list and then click the “Add” button in the middle of this dialog box to add it to the list at the right. You can then select the field from the list at the right and reorganize its position by selecting it, and clicking the “Move Up” and “Move Down” buttons until it is in the place your desire. Click “OK” when you are done adding and organizing the fields in your view.
Clicking the “Group By…” button launches the “Group By” dialog box. Here you can use the drop-down under “Group items by” to select a field by which you can group items in your view. This is usually only used for the “table” style view, as it will group the same values in the selected field or fields into expandable and collapsible groups within your table view. You can select up to four fields by which to group. You can also set whether they will be grouped in “Ascending” (A-Z, 1-9) order or “Descending” (Z-A, 9-1) order by selecting the desired sorting option at the right end of each grouped field. When you are done here, you can click “OK” to set the grouping for your view.
Clicking the “Sort…” button launches the “Sort” dialog box. Here you can use the drop-down available under the “Sort items by” and “Then by” sections to indicate by which field(s) you want to sort the view. You can sort by up to four fields, and they can be sorted in either “Ascending” order or “Descending” order by selecting the appropriate option at the right end of each field. When you are done here, you can click “OK” to set the sorting for your view.
Clicking the “Filter…” button launches the “Filter” dialog box. This dialog box consists of four tabs: “Messages,” “More Choices,” “Advanced,” and “SQL.” You click on the tab that you want to use to set criteria that will include or exclude certain items in your view. On the “Messages” tab, you can choose criteria that will allow you to filter by various common e-mail fields. On the “More Choices” tab, you can choose criteria that will allow you to filter by assigned categories, message statuses, message option settings, and other more advanced filtering possibilities. On the “Advanced” tab, you can use the “Field” drop-down to select from any of the available fields in Outlook that you want to use as a filter. Then use the “Condition” drop-down to select a comparison condition, and if needed, type the value to which you want to compare the field’s value in the last text box. That will add it to the list box above. Clicking the “SQL” tab allows you to create a statement using Structured Query Language to select which items you wish to see. You can do this if you are familiar with how SQL is used in the Outlook application. When you are done creating any filters necessary for your view, click the “OK” button to set the desired filters for your view.
Clicking the “Other Settings…” button launches the “Other Settings” dialog box. Here you can adjust the font display for the items in your view. The content available here will change depending on the style of view your are trying to create. Make any adjustments that you wish, and then click the “OK” button to apply them to your new view.
Clicking the “Conditional Formatting…” button (“Automatic Formatting…” button in Outlook 2007) launches the “Conditional Formatting” dialog box (“Automatic Formatting” dialog box in Outlook 2007). Here you can set new rules to apply a default formatting to items that meet a given criteria. There are some rules already in place in this dialog box, and you can add more. To add a new rule, click the “Add” button at the right side of this dialog box. It will add a new rule to the list. Type a name for the rule into the “Name:” text box. Then click the “Font…” button to set the font formatting that the item should use when the condition that you are about to specify is met. Click “OK” in the “Font” dialog box to set the font. You then click the “Condition…” button to set up the filter that, when met, applies the formatting you selected. You have the same choices available here as you do when you set the filter for the view. After setting the filter, click “OK” to apply it. Then click “OK” again when finished setting your conditional formatting.
If using a table view in Outlook, you can click the “Format Columns…” button to specify a display format for each field that you have in your view. Just select the name of the field whose display you wish to modify from the “Available fields:” list at the left side of this dialog box, and then change its settings at the right side of the dialog box. When you are finished, click “OK” to apply the changes to your view.
When you are satisfied with all of the view’s settings, click “OK” in the “Advanced View Settings” dialog box (“Customize View” dialog box in 2007) to return to the “Manage All Views” dialog box (“Custom View Organizer” dialog box in 2007). You will now see the name of your view shown in the list of views available in the dialog box. To apply your view, just click on its name to select it from the list, and click the “Apply View” button at the bottom of the dialog box. If using Outlook 2010, you can also select the name of the view from the drop-down menu that appears when you click the “Change View” drop-down button in the “Current View” group on the “View” tab in the Ribbon. If using Outlook 2007, it will also appear in the side menu that is shown when you select “View| Current View” from the Menu Bar.
Note that if you want to modify a view that you have created, you can select the name of the view from the listing shown in the “Advanced View Settings” dialog box (“Customize View” dialog box in 2007), and then click the “Modify…” button at the right side of the dialog box. In this same area, you can also select the name of a custom view that you have created, and then click the “Delete” button to delete it if you will no longer need to use the view.
When you have finished using the “Advanced View Settings” dialog box (“Customize View” dialog box in 2007), click the “Close” button at the bottom of the dialog box to return to the mailbox folder view.
