Rules Wizard and Filters

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The Rules Wizard for Microsoft Outlook automatically processes both incoming and outgoing messages. You set conditions similar to those used for Microsoft Outlook filters, then indicate what action(s) you want to be performed on messages that meet those conditions.

Rules in the Rules Wizard apply to only to mail at the time its downloaded. They can be applied to mail after its downloaded using the Run Rules Now command.

Filters are used with Search folders, Custom Views, and Advanced Find. Filters are used with Outlook items in the data file and show or hide but do not move items. You can apply filters to any Outlook item type, not just email. Filters can show, hide, or highlight items in different colors based on a variety of conditions and criteria.

For Microsoft Exchange Server users, Rules Wizard automatically converts rules created with the Inbox Assistant feature (which Rules Wizard replaces). Exchange Server users also have an Out of Office Assistant for handling such things as vacation notices and Folder Assistant rules that run on public folders. See Server-based vs. client-based rules.

For a complete list of articles, see Rules Wizard and Filters index

Conditional Formatting by Contact Category

By Diane Poremsky February 3, 2012

A very frequent request is the ability to apply rules or automatic formatting to messages and meetings with people in specific categories. For example, the user wants a rule that moves all mail from people who are assigned the Green color category to the Green folder. Or they want to highlight all mail sent from  

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Using Rules Wizard

By Diane Poremsky September 11, 2011

The Rules Wizard for Microsoft Outlook automatically processes both incoming and outgoing messages. You set conditions similar to those used for Microsoft Outlook filters, then indicate what action(s) you want to be performed on messages that meet those conditions. Rules in the Rules Wizard apply to only to mail at the time its downloaded. They  

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To make automatic reply rules

By Diane Poremsky July 24, 2011

Microsoft Outlook and the Exchange client allow you to create rules to reply automatically to incoming messages with the Rules Wizard, Inbox Assistant and Out of Office Assistant. Out of Office Assistant | Outlook 2000 or 2002 Rules Wizard with Exchange Server | Other Rules Wizard Configurations | Inbox Assistant | Exchange Server Script |  

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Create a List of Rules

By Diane Poremsky January 4, 2012

Valk Beekman wanted to share this VBA code sample that creates a text file containing a list of the rules used by the default email account. When the rule contains an email address, the address (or display name) is added to the output. It needs a little tweaking to list all the actions and conditions  

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Create a Task from an Email using a Rule

By Diane Poremsky December 30, 2011

Create tasks from email as they arrive using a simple script and Rules Wizard. With a slight variation, you can create a task from the message you are reading in the reading pane. Complete instructions and ready-to-use code samples included.

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Rules and tools to filter junk mail

By Diane Poremsky July 24, 2011

Beginning with Outlook 98, you can use built-in junk mail processing, using either the Organize pane or Rules Wizard. However, results can be less than satisfactory, often putting wanted senders into the Junk Mail folder and not ignoring items sent with no From address (usually spam). I think Sue's low-maintenance method here may work better  

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Create rules that apply to an entire domain

By Diane Poremsky July 24, 2011

While this rule trick works in Microsoft Outlook 2010, it’s not necessary as Outlook 2010 includes a rule for “specific words in the senders address” which you can use instead. A similar rule exists for ‘words in the recipients address’. Is there a way to set up a rule so that all emails from a  

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To create a rule with wildcards

By Diane Poremsky July 24, 2011

Outlook doesn’t support wildcards in rules, so you can’t use use a * or ? character for wildcards. Instead, just specify the string you want to match. For example, if you want to match anything with “foo” in the subject text, then any the following would cause the rule to fire: Foobar Fools tofoo Note  

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Custom actions in rules

By Diane Poremsky July 24, 2011

Custom actions are not included with Microsoft Outlook, but are add-ons in the form of .dll’s created with C++ that add new capabilities to Outlook rules. Examples include printing automatically or adding a recipient to your address book. For a list of custom actions you can add, see: Custom Actions for Rules — Source code  

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Count Received Emails

By Diane Poremsky September 18, 2011

“How do I get the total number of emails I receive at a daily level? I see the number of email in my inbox, and the number of unread emails, but I want to know the number of emails I received yesterday.“ This is actually very easy to do: create a Search Folder that looks  

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