We're going to use the Rules Wizard in Outlook to create a really simple rule - one that moves any messages with the text "CLLR" into a folder for phone messages. Hopefully, this will inspire you to take a closer look at Rules and see how powerful they can be in helping you organize your emails and info. Let's do this.
- Go to Tools > Rules and Alerts
- Click on New Rule
- You should get a dialog box that looks something like the one pictured here. I'm using Outlook 2007 for these screen shots, they look quite similar to 2003. If you have an older version, you should still be able to follow along.
- Click once on the predefined definition that says "Move messages with specific words in the subject to a folder".
- Then, on the lower portion of the dialog box, click on the blue "specific words" link that will lead to another dialog box. Here you want to enter a key word that will trigger the rule. You can use "Caller" but careful with that one since it's a real word that might not just have to do with a phone caller, how about something that's not a real word like "CLLR" - whatever you want - I'll let you decide on that one. (Click ADD, then OK to close.)
- Now click on the blue hyperlink text that says "Specific
folder". That will open another dialog that will allow you to choose the folder we created yesterday. (Click OK to close.) - You're almost done - you can follow the wizard as it guides you through the remaining dialog boxes - which are quite self explanatory and shouldn't require too much input from you other than an exception to the rule if you want one (isn't there a saying about that?).
- At the end, be sure to name your rule and turn it on. Your screen might look something like the one pictured right.
That's it for today. Tomorrow, we tackle the receptionist - let's hope she's not bigger than you are.
