Wouldn’t it be great if every time you got an e-mail from your boss, Outlook moved it to its own folder? Outlook has a feature to do just that; it’s called the Rules and Alerts wizard.

 

You can get to the wizard in one of a few ways:

-       Click the Create Rule () button on the toolbar

-       Right-click an e-mail and click Create Rule

-       Click the Tools menu and click Rules and Alerts

 

 

With either of the first two choices listed above, the window seen above will appear.

 

This is a simplified version of the Rules and Alerts wizard, which we’ll talk about in a minute. It’s a great way to create a quick rule.

 

The first part of the box (“When I get e-mail with all of the selected conditions”) specifies when the rule will act; the second part (“Do the following”) specifies what will happen when the type of e-mail you’ve specified arrives. At least one of the boxes in each section needs to be checked for the OK button at the bottom to light up.

 

Here’s an overview of the first set of boxes:

-       From: This box is automatically filled in with the sender of the e-mail that was selected when you clicked the Create Rule button. It can’t be changed in this window.

-       Subject contains: The white text box is automatically filled in with the subject of the e-mail that was selected when you clicked the Create Rule button. You can edit it just by clicking in the white box, deleting the text that’s there, and typing. (You can, of course, also modify the text that’s typed in there.)

-       Sent to: This message was sent to someone using a distribution list (a predefined group of contacts), so this drop-down list contains both the name of the distribution list and “me only.”

 

The second set of boxes tells Outlook what actions to take when the conditions in the first set of boxes are met:

-       Display in the New Item Alert Window: Brings up the New Item Alert window:

 

 

With this window, you can open the e-mail by clicking the Open Item button, edit the rule by clicking the Edit Rule button, or just close the window.

-       Play a selected sound: Plays a sound when the e-mail arrives. (Normally Outlook plays a sound anyway when you get new e-mail, but this is a way to have Outlook play a sound for only specific e-mails, or to set a custom sound for only certain e-mails.) Click the browse button to pick a file; you can also click the Play button (►) to hear the sound.

-       Move e-mail to folder: This is the most commonly used feature. This option will move e-mails that meet the conditions set out in the first box to a folder that you specify. When you check this box, a window will pop up asking you to pick a folder. (You can only specify one folder.)

You’ll see a completed Create Rule box in the figure on the right. This rule will tell Outlook that when an e-mail arrives from the Outlook Business Contact Manager Team, and was sent to the New Business Contact Manager User group, Outlook should play the tada.wav sound, and move the e-mail to the Deleted Items folder.

 

Once we click OK to this box, Outlook will bring up another box saying that the rule has been created. You’ll also have an option to run the rule on messages already in the folder, which will help if you’ve created the rule after a lot of e-mail has arrived.

 

If you click on the Advanced Options button in the above figure, you’ll get a totally different screen: step 2 of the Rules and Alerts wizard.

 

Let’s look at the Rules and Alerts wizard from the beginning. To launch it, just click on the Tools menu and click Rules and Alerts, or click the Rules and Alerts button () on the Advanced toolbar.

 

he toolbar labeled with a 1 in the Rules and Alerts window (pictured above) gives you options to create a new rule; to change, delete, copy, or move the selected rule; or to run the rule now. The options button allows you to import, export, or upgrade your rules. (The options button won’t be covered until the advanced lessons.)

 

If you’re just looking to make a quick change to a rule’s action, the change rule button is the best way to do it. If you click on the options arrow (▼) next to Change Rule, you’ll see the menu seen on the right. All of the options in it are pretty self-explanatory: you can rename the rule or add different options. You’ll notice that there are some new options that we didn’t have in the Create Rule dialog box, like changing the message’s priority or adding a flag. The options that are already in use for the rule are highlighted with an orange icon (for example, Play a Sound in the sample menu above). You can click on those options to remove that action for the rule.

 

The icons you see in the menu are pretty important when we’re looking at part 2 of the Rules and Alerts box. This section is a list of the rules that are in place and the actions that Outlook will take. The actions are identified by the same icons that we saw in the Change Rule menu. In the list, there’s also a checkbox by the name of each rule. If the box is checked, the rule is on; if the box is unchecked the rule is off. You can click in the checkbox to change this on/off status.

 

Part 3 of the Rules and Alerts screen will give you a detailed explanation of each rule that is set up. You can click on the parts that are underlined in blue to change that action or value.

 

When you click on New Rule, the Rules and Alerts wizard will start. The first screen looks like this:

 

The first two radio buttons offer you the option to either create a rule from a template or to start fresh. If you’re new to using the Rules and Alerts, it may be easiest to use a template. Just select a template in Step 1 (the first white box), and then in Step 2 click on the blue underlined values to put in your own information. (In the sample above, you’d need to click on people or distribution list and the word specified.)

 

When you click next, the rest of the wizard will start (see the picture below), but the boxes will already be filled out for you. You don’t have to worry about anything except clicking through the wizard! (You can also click Finish at any point to avoid clicking through all those windows.)

 

 

If you choose to start fresh, using a blank rule, the only option you will have is whether to apply the rule after messages have been sent, or after they arrive. When you click next, the wizard will be launched, but none of the boxes will be checked, so it’s up to you what conditions you pick. It’s the same idea as before: check the conditions in Step 1, and then click on the underlined value in Step 2 to specify your information.

 

Once you’ve set the options in this window (you can check as many as you want) and filled out the values, you can click Next. (If you forget to click on an underlined value in step 2, Outlook will force you to fill out the information before you proceed.)

 

 

Once you click next, the screen will change to the one pictured above. This is where you can tell Outlook what to do when the conditions that you specified in the first part of the wizard are met.

 

Once you check an item in step 1 of this box, you need to click on the underlined value in step 2 to specify your information. (You’ll see the values you set up in the previous screen in step 2.) There are a lot of different items in this screen, from assigning a message to a category, to moving a copy to a folder, to printing it automatically.

 

Take a moment and scroll through these options. Once we’ve picked one, and filled out its values, then we can click next. (If you forget to fill out one of the values by clicking on it, Outlook will remind you to do so before it will let you move on.)

 

 

Once we click next, we’ll see our last set of options. This last window (which is pictured on the right) will let us set exceptions to our rule if we want. (This is the only screen that is optional.) An exception means a circumstance where Outlook won’t process the rule that you’ve specified. Using this screen is the same as before: check the exceptions that you want, and click on the underlined values in step 2 to fill in your specific information.

 

There are almost as many options in the exceptions list as there are in the actions list, so let’s take a minute to look through them all. Like the others, they’re pretty self-explanatory.

 

Once we’ve completed our exceptions list, it’s time to finish up the rule. Click next and you’ll see the screen pictured on the right. Step 1 in this window is to name your rule; this is the name that will appear in the main Rules and Alerts screen. In Step 2, you can tell Outlook when to run the rule. The first option tells Outlook to run the rule on messages already in the folder you’re in. (You can’t change the folder for this first option; you can just check the box to run the rule, or uncheck the box so the rule isn’t run in that folder.) The next box is checked by default; this will turn your rule on. The third box, Create this rule on all accounts, is available only if you have multiple e-mail accounts set up.

 

 

The last set of options, step 3, gives you a summary of the conditions, actions, and exceptions for the rule you’ve created. Once you’re done, you can click Finish, and you’ll be back to the main Rules and Alerts screen. You can click Apply and OK to save your changes, or cancel to remove your changes. (Be careful; if you’ve added a rule but you cancel out of the Rules and Alerts box, that rule will be deleted.)

 

In summary, there are three ways to create rules in Outlook:

-       Create Rule box: The easiest way with only the most frequently used options available.

-       Rules and Alerts main screen: A few more options and a nicer interface, but still pretty easy to use.

-       Rules wizard: More time-consuming and complicated, but has all options accessible.