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Set Your Message Rules

Use the message rules feature in your email client software to organize your data and to filter spam.

If you get a lot of email as I do you know how difficult it is to keep all your messages organized. By default, all your messages will end up in your inbox folder.

This can be painful especially when you know that not all these messages have the same priority. 

Some can wait for a couple of days before you read them - like some of those newsletters, but others need your attention NOW. 

On the other hand, some of these messages do not belong in your inbox in the first place - they're spam! So, here's the solution...

Set Filter Rules for Your Email

Outlook Express

1. On the Tools menu, click Message Rules, then Mail.

2. If this is the first filter rule you are setting, then go on to step 3. If you have one or more message rule already set, click New and go on to step 4.

3. Select the conditions by checking one or more of the check boxes. At least one box must be checked. You can target the From line, the Subject line, etc. Use any one or a combination of filtering criteria. NOTE: Hyperlinks appear in the Rule Description section or the New Mail Rule dialog box. You will need to click these links to specify the conditions. Multiple conditions or combinations of criteria can be set by using and or or.

4. Select the Action to be performed when the conditions are met. 

5. Give the rule a descriptive name instead of the default "New Mail Rule#1", "New Mail Rule #2", etc. This will help you to identify each rule in your list in case you need to edit any of the rules. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Note also that, you can create a new rule by selecting an existing rule and clicking Copy. You will find this useful when the new rule is somewhat similar to the one you are copying.

MS Outlook

As you'd expect, setting message filtering rules in Microsoft Outlook is very similar to doing it in Outlook Express.

Make sure you click the Inbox to select it.

Use the Rules Wizard from the Tools menu, then click New.

The Rules Wizard will guide you through the creation of your new message rule, by prompting you to select a type of rule and to make a rule description.

You can filter messages based on content, you can assign categories based on content, and so on.

Take note of the hyperlinks that appear in the Rule Description window at bottom. By clicking on these links you can define the criteria for handling the incoming messages.

If you select move messages based on content you can add several specific words or phrases that the program is to look for in the subject and body of the email. So...

Throw words that spam mailers frequently use to take kill spam messages, put a domain name in the box if you do not want messages from an address with a certain domain ending, or if you want all such messages to be kept in the same folder. I do this to separate messages that come to the different email addresses that I use.

As with Outlook Express, if this is not your first filter rule, you can copy an existing rule and modify it.

It is also helpful to create a rule based on a given message in your inbox. For example, if you get unsolicited email and want to ensure that messages from the same sender do not appear again your inbox, you can right click on the message, click Junk Email, then Add to junk senders list.

This assumes you had previously used the Organize feature on the Tools menu. Use the organize feature to make your messages more manageable. You will have a more pleasant Internet computer experience.

Yahoo WebMail

If you access your (Yahoo or similar) e-mail through a browser such as Internet Explorer, you may notice that there is a folder for Bulk mail.

This is where unsolicited messages or spam is placed if you have enabled the filtering feature. You can also send other messages to other folders - folders that you create. 

For example, if you subscribe to several newsletters dealing with different or unrelated topics, you might want to send these messages to different folders.

How to create a folder

Access your Yahoo mail account the way you usually do.

1. Look for the Add folder link (see image illustration here).

2. Enter a name for the folder. For example, if you want to put all messages from your favorite newsletter subscription into one folder, type the name of the newsletter, then click OK. When the screen refreshes, your new folder will be listed under the "My Folders" label (below the regular Inbox, Draft, Sent, and Bulk default folders).

3. It's time to tell Yahoo which messages you want to sort to your new folder. Click the Mail Options hyperlink and under the Management section, choose Filters.

4. Click the Add button to a new filter, give your filter a name and set the rules. The rules are the criteria by which you select which messages will go in your new folder. You can select messages based on the sender (From header), receiver (To/cc header), text in the subject line, and/or text in the body of the e-mail message.

5. Choose the folder to move the message(s) meeting the your criteria. You should see the folder you created in the drop-down list box.

6. Click Add Filter to activate you filter. Your new filter rule will be listed in the filter list box.

7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 to add other filter rules if needed.

M-a-i-n   M-e-n-u

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