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About this lesson
Set up rules that perform time-saving tasks, for instance filing certain emails automatically into certain folders.
Lesson versions
Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:
2016, 2019/365.
Quick reference
Rules and Alerts
Rules will automate email chores, such as auto-filing certain emails into folders.
When to use
When you find yourself repetitively moving emails into folders, set up a rule to do the work for you.
Instructions
Create a rule in your inbox
- On the Home ribbon, click Rules, Create Rule.
- Or right-click an email and click Rules.
Select the conditions for your rule
- There are 2 sections in the dialog box, you must make a choice in both areas.
- If choosing to Move the item, you must click the Select Folder button as shown below.
- Your existing Inbox and folder list appears, make your selection.
Run the Rule
- You will have the option to activate the rule immediately. It is your choice and a good idea to make sure it works:
View all possible Rule options
- On the Home ribbon, or when you right-click an email, click Rules, Manage Rules and Alerts.
- Click New Rule and make your selections.
Mark Email as Junk
- Right-click an Email and click Junk.
- 00:04 Okay, this lesson is about setting up some rules.
- 00:07 You can have rules to get rid of junk emails.
- 00:11 Simply do a right click, go to your Junk at the bottom.
- 00:15 And you can block sender, block sender's domain,
- 00:18 never block the sender or junk email options.
- 00:21 Which just takes you further and allows you to mark who are the safe senders,
- 00:25 who are the block senders, and organize all that.
- 00:28 That is the most common item I get asked about, is how do you block email?
- 00:32 Simply right click, Junk, but it is a rule.
- 00:35 Well now let's go to the proper rule section.
- 00:37 So that is on your Home ribbon.
- 00:39 We hop on top, we have an item that says Rules.
- 00:42 When I click Rules, it's giving me some options right away, or
- 00:46 I can create a rule.
- 00:47 When we create a rule, we have six little boxes on the left.
- 00:51 Now, whenever these are boxes, you can click as many as you want,
- 00:54 but if they're circles, I would only click one.
- 00:57 So let's just say I want to create a rule where the subject has,
- 01:03 it includes the word GoSkills.
- 01:05 And do I still want that to display as a new item alert?
- 01:08 Yes, do I want it to play a selected sound?
- 01:11 No, I had someone once in a classroom who's fiance had set up the wedding
- 01:16 march to play every time he received a new email from her.
- 01:20 I was so proud of the lady.
- 01:21 He asked me how to turn it off.
- 01:22 I just, I don't know, I was so proud of her.
- 01:26 So I had to leave it on.
- 01:27 Okay, move item to a new folder.
- 01:29 Now when I clicked that, move item to a new folder,
- 01:32 it didn't even ask me to select a folder, it just opened it right up.
- 01:35 Which folder do you want?
- 01:37 So i can open that up and select a folder.
- 01:39 But what if i don't have a folder made yet?
- 01:41 Well, it allows me to make one right here, love it.
- 01:44 So I'm going to click New, and I'm going to make this my GoSkills folder, hit OK.
- 01:49 And now that is the folder I want this to be sent to, hit OK.
- 01:53 And so, when I get a new email with the subject GoSkills,
- 01:57 I'm not going to have it play a sound.
- 02:00 I won't have a display and I want it to move.
- 02:02 Now watch, I have two options.
- 02:04 I can hit OK, or I can go to Advanced Options.
- 02:07 Now I'm going to go ahead and hit OK right now.
- 02:10 And put one last check mark.
- 02:11 You are about to see on my inbox.
- 02:14 My inbox, more is going to have GoSkills folder, hit OK, there it is,
- 02:18 GoSkills folder.
- 02:19 And I should have some emails in there.
- 02:21 Click on here, there we go.
- 02:22 I've got some emails in there.
- 02:24 How great is that?
- 02:25 All right, back to the inbox.
- 02:26 One more, let's do this again.
- 02:28 I'm going to right click this time, and I'm going to this Rules button.
- 02:33 Again, just another way to get here, but I have Manage Rules & Alerts.
- 02:38 Now this is great.
- 02:39 This is where you go in and delete a rule you don't need any longer.
- 02:42 So I'm going to click on Manage Rules & Alerts, and check this out.
- 02:47 I can create a brand new rule, I can change an existing rule.
- 02:49 I can copy a rule, delete a rule, run them all right now or go to options.
- 02:54 And just export your rules,
- 02:56 you would export, attach it to an email then import it into another computer.
- 03:01 All right, let's go ahead and check out the new rule.
- 03:02 This is different than just a six option list.
- 03:05 Check this out.
- 03:05 Click New Rule, my goodness, look at this.
- 03:09 We have many, many options in here.
- 03:12 Again, Move message from someone to a folder.
- 03:14 Now, any time you would receive an email from that person,
- 03:17 it would automatically file itself off to your folder list.
- 03:21 We love this.
- 03:22 You have to remember to go look at them though, all right?
- 03:25 Right down here, I would tell it people or public group.
- 03:28 Anything to me, and
- 03:31 I've got to double-click to get it down here in this From list.
- 03:33 Hit OK, and now I'm going to hit Next.
- 03:37 Folder, which folder?
- 03:38 I'm going to put it in my GoSkills folder, okay?
- 03:41 And next look at this list, see all those little boxes,
- 03:44 you can check as many of them as you want.
- 03:46 The trick is though, whatever you check on this list, you have to come down here and
- 03:50 fill in the blanks.
- 03:51 So maybe marked as important or with specific words in it.
- 03:56 So I would just say with specific words, all right?
- 03:59 And then hit Next, and again, well, let's see, this would be,
- 04:03 what do you want to do with the message?
- 04:05 Okay, after you receive it,
- 04:07 you've signified it has certain words, what do you want to do with it?
- 04:10 Do you want to print it?
- 04:10 Do you want to permanently delete it?
- 04:13 I better hit No to that.
- 04:14 Do you see what's happening here?
- 04:16 You can set up as many things as you want.
- 04:18 I wouldn't do too many though.
- 04:20 Microsoft has a history of the rules kind of corrupting themselves because
- 04:23 of too many commands.
- 04:24 Go and hit Next again, when we're all done, we hit Finish, and
- 04:27 we would tell it, enable all rules, hit OK.
- 04:31 And it would run through and whatever we told it to do would happen.
- 04:34 It's pretty reliable, tested a couple times.
- 04:37 But pretty soon you'll have a stack of rules in there and
- 04:39 they'll be doing all your filing for you.
- 04:42 Thank you.
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