Outlook’s Rules Wizard
can be very helpful
Tech Tips. Vol. 2004 No. 12
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Outlook has a wizard
for building "rules" that can help you manage your email; they’re
especially helpful if you get lots. In this tip, we’ll introduce
you to the wizard by showing you how it can address this scenario:
You’re going on vacation. You’ve sent a proposal to a guy at
ABC Co., and you’re worried he’ll email you questions while
you’re gone. You’d like Outlook to forward mail from your ABC
contact to your boss automatically, and also file it in a folder
you can review when you return.
The Rules Wizard dialog box
Open Outlook, select your In Box,
go to Tools -> Rules Wizard; click New. In the window that opens
you’ll see an area at the top that’s a scroll-down list of choices.
The area below is labeled "Rules description (click on an underlined
value to edit it)". Below that is a row of buttons: Cancel,
Back, Next and Finish. This is the basic Rules Wizard framework.
The wizard will step you through questions about your rule;
you select answers from the scroll-down list. As you make your
choices, the rule you are building is displayed in the description
window. You refine the rule’s actions as necessary by clicking
on underlined keywords in the description. Use the buttons at
the bottom to step through the process.
A rule for our scenario
Now let’s use the Rules Wizard to build
a rule for our scenario. 1. The Wizard first asks, "What type
of rule do you want to create?" The first answer in the list
should be highlighted: Check mail when it arrives. That’s what
we want, so click "Next". 2. Step 2 is to specify conditions.
Check "from people or distribution list". 3. Refine the condition
by clicking on the underlined "from people or distribution list"
in the rules description window. Voila: you have access to your
address book, just like when you’re sending mail. Find the entry
for your ABC contact, and put him in the "From" list, click
"OK", then "Next". 4. In answer to "What do you want to do with
the message?" check "move it to the specified folder" and "forward
it to people or distribution list". Click on the underlined
"specified folder" in the description window; select the folder
to hold the messages for your review. Click on "forward to people
or distribution list"; select your boss’s address book entry.
Click "Next". 5. Next you can specify exceptions. In this case
there are none; click "Next." 6. The final step is to name the
rule. Type an appropriate name in the designated area, say "Vacation
rules for ABC". Click "Finish", then "OK". NOTE: For the rule
to work, you have to leave your computer on, connected to the
Internet, with Outlook open. (Outlook can’t apply rules to received
messages unless it’s receiving mail!)
Disabling or deleting rules
When you return from vacation,
you can open the Wizard and delete the rule you made: select
"Vacation rules for ABC" and hit delete. If you want to retain
the rule for later use but turn it off for now, simply uncheck
it. You can recheck it any time you want to turn it back on.
Copyright 2003-2005 by Shulman Clark Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.
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