Creating Rules - Outlook Page 1 Instructor: Peggy Wilson
Message Rules in Outlook
While in any folder you can click on the Organize button to open a small window that
contains many useful shortcuts. From here you can:
Flag messages from a specific person using color or font
Redirect or move messages from certain people to a folder
Filter unwanted or junk messages and send them to a special folder
Coloring Messages
You can automatically apply colors and formatting to selected messages as they arrive
in your inbox. Maybe you want to make messages from your boss catch your eye.
1. First select the Inbox.
2. To color messages from a
particular person, click on a
message from that person.
3. Click on the Organize
button at the top of the
screen.
4. Click on Using Colors.
5. Choose a color from the
drop down list and click on
the Apply Color button.
Remove Color Rule from Messages:
1. To remove a color rule from a message, follow the same steps as above,
but set the color to “Auto”.
Creating Rules - Outlook Page 2 Instructor: Peggy Wilson
Moving Messages
1. First select the Inbox.
2. To move messages from a particular person, click on a message from that
person.
3. Click on the Organize
button at the top of
the screen.
4. Click on Using
Folders.
5. Choose a Folder to
move your messages
to from the drop down
list and click on the
Create button.
6. You will get a message asking if you
want to apply this rule to the
messages already in your Inbox. You
can choose Yes or No.
Creating Rules - Outlook Page 3 Instructor: Peggy Wilson
Filtering Junk / Adult Content E-Mail
This option can be used to move or color incoming email that meets preset subject or
body keyword ($$$, money back, xxx, Buy, Over 21,) etc., or is from a person or host
known to send unwanted email.
1. Click on one of your mail folders (“Inbox” for example.)
2. Click on the “Organize ” button at the top of the screen:
3. Click on the “Junk E-mail” button.
Adding to the Adult Content or Junk E-Mail List
To add a person or host to the Junk E-Mail or Adult Content list, follow the steps below:
1. Right-click the message to be added to the list.
2. Highlight “Junk E-Mail”.
3. Select either “Add to Junk Senders List” or “Add to Adult Content Senders
List”.
4. Click on OK (Note that only new mail will be affected)
Removing, Editing, or Adding
These steps will take you to a screen where you can remove a person or host from
either list, edit their address, or add addresses and host names.
1. Click on one of your mail folders (“Inbox” for example.)
2. Click on the “Organize ” button at the top of the screen:
3. Click on the “Junk E-mail” button.
4. Click where it says “For more options, click here”.
5. Click either “Edit Junk Senders ” or “Edit Adult Content Senders ”
6. Select “Color” or “Move”.
a. If you selected “Color”, specify the color here.
b. If you selected “Move”, specify which folder here.
7. Click “Turn on” to activate the filters.
Add – Allows you to type a domain name or e-mail address.
Edit - Allows you to edit an existing list member.
Delete – Removes an address from the filter list.
Creating Rules - Outlook Page 4 Instructor: Peggy Wilson
Using the Rules Wizard
To Change the Junk Email List
If you find you are not getting some messages you were expecting, you might check
your junk mail folder. Junk mail filtering is an art not a science. Your junk mail filter will
miss some junk mail and divert others you wanted to get. There is an exceptions list for
messages you don’t want removed to your junk mail folder.
First open the message
you don’t want removed
by the junk mail filter and
then:
1. Right-click the email
address of the sender.
2. Select Copy
3. From your Inbox,
pull down the
Tools menu and
select the Rules
Wizard….
Creating Rules - Outlook Page 5 Instructor: Peggy Wilson
4. Select the Exception
List rule in the Apply
rules in the following
order: field.
A description of the
selected rule will appear in
the Rule description field.
5. Select Exception List
from the Rule
description field.
In the Edit Exception List
dialog box you can Add, Edit or
Delete an email address.
6. Click the Add button.
7. Then in the Sender dialog
box use the keyboard
shortcut Ctrl-V to paste the
address you copied in
steps 1 & 2.
8. Now click OK in every
window left open. There
should be three OKs to
click.