A message rule defines the actions that Office Outlook 2007 takes for a sent or received message if the message meets certain conditions specified by the rule. For example, you might create a rule that tells Outlook 2007 to move all messages from a specific Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) account into a specified folder rather than leaving them in your default Inbox. Or you might want Outlook 2007 to place a copy of all outgoing high-priority messages in a special folder.

In Outlook 2007, you use one or more conditions for defining a message rule. These conditions can include the account from which the message was received, the message size, the sender or recipient, specific words in various fields or in the message itself, the priority assigned to the message, and a variety of other conditions. In addition, you can combine multiple actions to refine the rule and further control its function. For example, you might create a rule that moves all your incoming POP3 messages to a folder other than the Inbox and also deletes any messages that contain certain words in the Subject field. Although not a complete list, the following are some of the most common tasks you might perform with message rules:

Whatever your message processing requirements, Outlook 2007 probably offers a solution through a message rule, based on either a single condition or multiple conditions. You also can create multiple rules that work together to process your mail. As you begin to create and use message rules, keep in mind that you can define a rule to function either when a message is received or when it is sent. When you create a rule, you specify the event to which the rule applies.

You create all message rules in the same way, regardless of the specific purpose of the rule. Rather than focusing on defining rules for specific tasks, this chapter explains the general process of creating rules. With an understanding of this process, you should have no problem setting up rules for a variety of situations. In fact, creating message rules is relatively easy, thanks to the Outlook 2007 Rules Wizard.

In Outlook 2007, choose Tools, Rules And Alerts. You’ll first see the Rules And Alerts dialog box, shown in Figure 11-1. The E-Mail Rules tab contains all the existing rules that you have defined. Outlook 2007 applies the rules in the order in which they are listed, an important fact to consider when you’re creating rules. To start the Rules Wizard, click New Rule.

Figure 11-1. The Rules And Alerts dialog box displays existing rules and allows you to create and modify message rules.

You might use certain rules all the time but use others only at special times. Each rule includes a check box beside it. Select this check box when you want to use the rule; clear it when you want to disable the rule.