Introduction
Rules can help you sort through everything and get you to the most important mail first. Outlook for Mac can automatically run a rule on incoming or outgoing messages, based on the conditions you set.
A rule is an action performed automatically on incoming or outgoing messages, based on conditions that you specify. You can create rules to help keep you organized. For example, you can create rules to automatically file messages into folders or assign messages to categories.
The example below demonstrates how to create a rule to move older emails out of your Inbox and into an archive or other folder.
- If turned on, toggle off the New Outlook view at the top right portion of your screen, next to the Search bar.
- Restart Outlook, then go to Tools > Rules
- Select Exchange and click the + button at the bottom to add a new rule
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Name the rule something unique that will make sense to you and select the conditions you wish to apply to rules. In the example below, I'm moving emails from my Inbox that are over 500 days old into a folder I've called Archive Test 2. However, you can create rules based on sender names, subject, etc.
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Note: under Do the following: Select from the drop-down what it is you'd like to do with messages. In my example, I'm moving them to an archive folder that I created.
- Click OK
- The last thing you need to do to apply this rule to the old messages in your Inbox.
- Click on your Inbox (or any other folder you wish to apply this rule to), then click on Rules and select Apply > archive test 2 (or whatever your rule name is)
