Direct support for this kind of rule was added in Outlook 2000 and is available in all later versions of Outlook.
In Outlook 97 and Outlook 98, it requires two rules. Let's say you want to move all messages that contain either "Microsoft Exchange" or "Microsoft Outlook" to a folder named Exchange/Outlook. First, create a rule that looks for "Microsoft Exchange" and moves matching items to that folder. Then, on the first screen of the Rules Wizard, click Copy to create a copy of that rule. Select the copied rule, and rename it if you like. Where you see "Microsoft Exchange" in the conditions at the bottom of the screen, click the underlined text and replace it with "Microsoft Outlook."
Here's another method, courtesy of Ronald Kuetemeier:
- For each phrase that you want to search for, create a rule that looks for that phrase and sets the category to "MyPhrase" or whatever you want to use. This category does not need to be on your master list.
- Below those rules, create a rule that looks for items with the "MyPhrase" category, then performs the desired actions (move to folder, etc.)
This technique can be very helpful for building complex sequences of rules with lots of exceptions (place in folder except if assigned to "MyPhrase" category).
More Information
- OL97: Cannot Create a Conditional Rule with the Rules Wizard