How to Create a Rule in Microsoft Outlook – How-To Geek

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To create a rule in Microsoft Outlook, you can follow these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Outlook on your computer.
  2. In the Outlook window, click on the “File” tab located in the upper left corner.
  3. In the File menu, click on “Manage Rules & Alerts.” This will open the Rules and Alerts dialog box.
  4. In the Rules and Alerts dialog box, click on the “New Rule” button. This will start the Rule Wizard, which will guide you through the process of creating a new rule.
  5. In the Rule Wizard, you’ll see a list of rule templates to choose from. You can either select a template and customize it or choose “Apply rule on messages I receive” to create a rule from scratch. Select the option that best suits your needs and click on the “Next” button.
  6. Depending on the selected template or rule type, you’ll need to set specific conditions, actions, and exceptions for the rule. The options will vary based on your requirements. Follow the prompts in the Rule Wizard to configure the rule according to your preferences. You can specify conditions such as sender, subject, keywords, or other criteria.
  7. After setting up the conditions, you’ll need to define the actions to be taken when the conditions are met. You can choose to move the messages to a specific folder, delete them, forward them, or apply other actions based on your needs.
  8. You can also add exceptions to the rule if necessary. Exceptions allow you to specify certain conditions under which the rule won’t be applied.
  9. Once you have set up the conditions, actions, and exceptions, click on the “Next” button to proceed.
  10. In the next screen, you’ll be prompted to specify a name for the rule. Enter a descriptive name that will help you identify the rule later.
  11. Optionally, you can choose to run the rule on existing messages in your mailbox by selecting the corresponding checkbox.
  12. Click on the “Finish” button to save the rule. The rule will now be active and will be applied to incoming messages based on the conditions and actions you specified.

By creating rules in Microsoft Outlook, you can automate various actions and organization tasks, such as moving specific emails to folders, flagging important messages, forwarding emails to other recipients, or automatically deleting unwanted messages.