Overview
Email rules allows Outlook to automatically move incoming emails to specific folders, or delete them.
Please note, Outlook will automatically sync rules between the desktop and Web apps, so you will only need to create/edit/delete these rules in one of them.
Please also note, some of the screenshots may look slightly different, and some headings/options may be slightly differently worded, depending on your version of the Outlook desktop application.
Creating Rules (Outlook)
If you are using Outlook that has been installed on your computer, you can create rules using the following steps.
Right-click on an email that fits the criteria of other emails you wish to move (i.e. sender address, subject, etc.), hover over "Rules", and select "Create Rule...".
In the first half of the window that appears, simply click the tick box next to whichever field you wish to apply the rule to, either the sender address, the email subject, or who it is sent to.
Please note, you will need to click at least one of the tick boxes in this section to create the rule.
You can also edit the "Subject contains" field to scope the rule to just a specific word, or an entire phrase.
The second half of the Create Rule window allows you to specify what happens when an email comes in that meets the requirements in the section above. This can include displaying a notification, playing a sound, or moving the email to a folder. Again, click the tick box next to the necessary options to select them.
Please note, you will need to click at least one of the tick boxes in this section as well, in order to create the rule.
You can click on the "Select Folder" button to choose which folder you would like these emails to be moved into.
If you wish for the specified emails to be deleted instead of being moved to an Inbox folder, select the "Deleted Items" folder.
Once you selected the needed folder, click the "OK" button to return to the previous window.
Back at the Create Rule window, as long as there is at least one tick box checked for each section, you can click the "OK" button to create the rule.
You will receive a pop-up to indicate the rule's creation, as well as a prompt if you wish to run the rule on emails you already have in your Inbox.
Creating Rules (OWA)
If you are using Outlook through the web (outlook.office.com), you can create rules using the following steps.
Right-click on an email that fits the criteria of other emails you wish to move, hover over "Advanced actions", and select "Create rule".
If you wish to move emails from the specified sender address, simply select the required folder from the drop-down box. To automatically delete emails from this sender, select "Deleted Items" from the list.
Please note, this list only shows the default basic folders in Outlook. To see all your folders, select the "Move to a different folder" option. Once the right folder is selected, click the "OK" button, which will create the rule, and give you the option to run the rule on emails already in your Inbox.
If you don't wish to move emails from this sender address, but instead emails matching a different criteria (i.e. subject line, recipient, message body), click "More options", which will bring up a new window with more options.
In the first field, enter the name of the rule you wish to create. This can be anything, and is just used to determine which rule is which if you have multiple.
In the second section, select the criteria you wish the rule to apply to from the drop-down menu - i.e. "From" is for the sender address, "Subject includes" is for words in the email subject line.
After selecting the condition, enter in the relevant email address/word/phrase in the field to the right.
In the third section, select from the drop-down menu what you want to happen to these emails - i.e. "Move to" allows you to select a folder to move the emails to, "Delete" will delete the emails.
It is recommended to leave the "Stop processing more rules" box ticked, so that only the first rule that incoming emails apply to actually takes effect (for example, if you had a rule to move an email to a specific folder, you wouldn't want another rule to then delete it).
Managing Existing Rules (Outlook)
Should you wish to edit or delete an existing rule, and are using Outlook that has been installed on your computer, you can follow these steps.
Access the "Rules and Alerts" menu from the bar at the top of Outlook ("Home" tab -> "Move & Delete" heading -> "Rules" -> "Manage Rules & Alerts"), or by right-clicking on any email, hovering over "Rules" and then clicking on "Manage Rules & Alerts".
In the new window that appears, you can:
- Untick the box next to the rule in order to disable it. This will leave it in this menu, but it won't affect your emails and can be turned back on if need be
- Edit the rule using the "Change Rule" drop-down
- Create a clone of the rule by selecting it and clicking the "Copy..." button. In case you want to create a rule with some of the same settings but change others, without creating a new rule from scratch
- Delete the rule by selecting it and clicking the "Delete" button at the top
- Move the priority of the rule by selecting it and clicking the up or down arrows at the top
- Run the rule on emails already in your Inbox by selecting it and clicking the "Run Rules Now..." button
- Create additional rules using the "New Rule..." button
You can also double-click on an existing rule to edit the rule in a much more in-depth fashion.
Managing Existing Rules (OWA)
Should you wish to edit or delete an existing rule, and are using Outlook through the web (outlook.office.com), you can follow these steps.
Click on the cog wheel icon in the top-right of the page, and then on the "View all Outlook settings" option.
In the window that appears, select the "Mail" tab on the left, then the "Rules" option. From here, you can:
- Click the toggle next to the rule in order to disable it. This will leave it in this menu, but it won't affect your emails and can be toggled back on to re-enable the rule if need be
- Run the rule on emails already in your Inbox by clicking the triangle/play icon next to it
- Move the priority of the rule by clicking the up or down arrows next to it
- Edit the rule by clicking the pencil icon next to it
- Delete the rule by clicking the trash bin icon next to it
- Create additional rules using the "Add new Rule..." button