How to Create Inbox Rules in Outlook Online? [7 Ways]

Have you heard about the rules in Outlook Online? This is the exact article to know about how to create inbox rules in Outlook Online.

Initially, I am unaware of these rules in Outlook Online, but after getting familiar with Outlook application I came to know about it. Here we go to know more about the rules in Outlook Online.

What is Outlook Online rule?
Types of rules in Outlook Online
Creating rules in Outlook Online from Mac
Creating an inbox rule in Outlook Online
Creating new rules in Outlook Online from Windows
Create a rule using an existing email in Outlook Online
Import rule in Outlook Online
Export rule in Outlook Online
Edit or delete a rule in Outlook Online
Advantages of setting up rules in Outlook Online

Table of Contents

What is Outlook Online Rule?

The rule in Outlook is nothing but organizing our sent and received emails. The method of saving our emails into a specific folder from the distribution is by adding an action or condition by applying the Outlook rule. The rules in Outlook allow us to flag, move and respond to emails automatically.

Through messages, we can easily create rules in Outlook. We can choose these actions and conditions from the rules wizard. These rules apply only to unread messages and may be unable to apply them to already sent or opened messages.

Types of Rules in Outlook Online

There are two rules in the Outlook application. Check below what they are and their difference.

Server-based rules in Outlook – Server-based rules will operate only on the email when Outlook is not operating in the backend. It is applicable only to messages sent directly to our mailbox, as the rules do not apply until the messages go through the server.

Client-based rules in Outlook – These rules are applied on our computer only instead of on our server. It is important to note that these rules only run when Outlook running.

Creating Rules in Outlook Online from Mac

We can create a rule that moves all our messages from the name to a folder called “Mail from [name].” If you are receiving mail from a contact group, we can automatically move it to a specific folder as well.

To create a folder to occupy all other emails, select the root mailbox, on the Organize tab, click New folder and also name the folder then click OK.
Click a particular email message with the sender or recipient you want to create a rule in the message list.
On the home tab of the Mac device, click Rules, Move Message from Sender’s name, or Move Messages to the recipient’s name.
Name the folder and click the folder name, click Choose then click OK.

If we try to create multiple rules, Outlook runs the rules in the order in which they are listed in the Rules window.

Creating an Inbox Rule in Outlook Online

Outlook rules are applicable to the messages we received from another person and they can be created from any other folder. Check below to know how to set rules in Outlook Online from Browser.

Step-1

Open Outlook applications from a browser such as Chrome, Internet explorer, or Safari.

Step-2

Click the Settings icon or gear icon which is on the top right corner and also scroll down then click View all Outlook settings.

Step-3

In the Settings page, go to Rules from the Mail option then click + Add new rule under the Rules page.

Step-4

Enter a name, Add a condition and also Add an action under the Rules page.

Step-5

Select from the drop-down list and specify the criteria you would like the rule to detect. If want to specify additional criteria for your rule to match, select Add another condition if required.

Step-6

As with like Add condition option, we have to Add another action to add extra action to take place in Outlook Online.

Step-7

If we like to add any exceptions to our rule, select Add an exception (optional). Check all the rule conditions are correct.

Add exception in Outlook Online — **Step-8**

After adding everything required details click Save to see the changes in Outlook Online.

Stop processing more rules – Tick to enable or untick to disable the option to stop processing more rules. The option to stop processing more rules is turned on (ticked) by default. With this option on, only the first rule will be applied when a message comes in that meets the criteria for more than one rule.

Keynote: Using Outlook on the web to modify your rules will delete any rules that were previously turned off using Outlook. If this issue arises, Click Cancel, and use Outlook to edit your rules. If you want to proceed, then click OK.

Rules are always run from top to bottom in the order in which they appear in the Rules window. To change the order of rules, select the rule you want to move, and then select the up or down arrow to move the rule to the position you want in the list.

Creating New Rules in Outlook Online from Windows

Creating new rules in Outlook from Windows is described below steps.

Step-1

Open Microsoft Outlook from the desktop application to create new rules in Outlook Online.

Step-2

Start by selecting the File option on the home page of Outlook to proceed with the next steps.

Step-3

In the left sidebar, click Info, then under the Account Information page click Manage Rules & Alerts.

Step-4

A page with Rules & Alerts will open below the Email Rules tab, click New Rule.

Step-5

On this page, we will see the Rules wizard window shows several templates for a new rule. Choose the template you want to use in the new rule in Outlook Online and click Next. (For example, we can choose Move Messages With Specific Words in the Subject to a Folder, if we want to move our emails containing a specific word in their subject line to a specific folder in our email account). See the below screenshot for your reference.

Step-6

Once you hit click Next, in the same Rule wizard page under step 2 click specific words to do the forthcoming steps.

Step-7

Now, we will see a Search Text window. Here type the specific words to search in the subject field. After adding the words click Add and also click the OK button.

Step-8

Again click the word Specified on the same Rule wizard page under step 2 in Outlook Online.

Step-9

Select the required folder from the Rules & Alerts page under choose a folder and click OK.

Step-10

Again it has taken us back to the rules wizard page click Next to proceed with the sequential steps for creating a new rule in Outlook Online.

Step-11

On the Finish Rule Setup screen, in Step 1 Specify a Name for This Rule field, and type a name for the rule. This can be any name of your choice, but try to use a different or unique one so you can easily identify this rule.

In the Step 2 Setup Rule Options section, to use the role for all your existing emails in addition to the new emails, enable or check the Run This Rule Now on Messages Already in “Inbox” option.

Also, Activate the rule by selecting Turn On this Rule Then, at the bottom, click Finish.

Step-12

On the Rules and Alerts window, at the bottom, click OK followed by Apply button.

We are all set. Our rule is now created and it will filter and perform actions on our selected emails.

Read this to know more 5 Effective Methods to Set Passwords in Outlook Online

Create a Rule Using an Existing Email in Outlook Online

Use an email already in your email account as a base for creating a rule. Check the below steps to start the process.

Step-1

Open Microsoft Outlook from the desktop application to create new rules in Outlook Online.

Step-2

Start by selecting the File option on the home page of Outlook to proceed with the next steps.

Step-3

In the email, right-click from the mouse and choose Rule > Create Rule to create a rule in Outlook Online.

Step-4

A Create Rule window page will open To use these fields, make sure to enable the checkbox for each field. If you’d like to change the contents of the fields, you can do that without complication.

Step-5

On the same window, in the Do the Following section, you decide what action to be performed. For example, if you want to automatically move emails similar to the one which you have selected to a folder, enable the Move the Item to Folder option. Then click Select Folder.

Step-6

On the Rules and Alerts window page, select the folder to move into mails then select OK.

Back on the Create Rule window, click OK to create and save your created rule.

Keypoint: To access more customization options for our rule, then on the Create Rule window, click the Advanced Options button.

Import Rule in Outlook Online

Check the below steps to import rules in Outlook are:

Step-1

Open Microsoft Outlook from the desktop application to create new rules in Outlook Online.

Step-2

Start by selecting the File option on the home page of Outlook to proceed with the next steps.

Step-3

In the left sidebar, click Info, then under the Account Information page click Manage Rules & Alerts.

Step-4

From the list of many options, Select Import Rules and select the rule which you want to intend to import in Outlook Online.

Step-5

Finally, click Open to see the changes in the import rule in Outlook Online.

By the above method, we can import rules in Outlook Online.

Export Rule in Outlook Online

Follow the below steps to export the rule in Outlook Online. Here we go!

Step-1

Open Microsoft Outlook from the desktop application to create new rules in Outlook Online.

Step-2

Start by selecting the File option on the home page of Outlook to proceed with the next steps.

Step-3

In the left sidebar, click Info, then under the Account Information page click Manage Rules & Alerts.

Step-4

From the list of many options, Select Export Rules and select the rule which you want to intend to export in Outlook Online.

Step-5

Next, choose and give the name of the folder where you want to save the file. Then click Save.

The above steps will be followed while exporting rules in Outlook Online.

Read also How to Get Outlook Online Notifications on Mac? [7 Different Ways]

Edit or Delete a Rule in Outlook Online

We can edit or delete a rule in Outlook Online by the following method.

First and foremost, open an Outlook window and select the Change Rule option from the top left corner of our screen.
Now, from the drop-down menu, we can select delete a rule.
Alternatively, we can also select the Edit Rule Settings option to allow us to edit the changes in a particular rule.

Advantages of Setting up Rules in Outlook Online

There are some benefits to setting up the rule in Outlook Online. Let’s check what are they.

Enhanced Efficiency – Setting rules in Outlook Online helps to increase the focus on more important emails.

Sort mail by title – Outlook rules can help us to sort emails into folders based on the email title or folder name.

Time-saving – Sorting our emails into titles and folders can help us save more time than we would otherwise spend sorting through a large number of emails.

Messages to be monitored – The message rules in Outlook can help us to monitor messages from a different email.

Organize messages – It can also assist in distinguishing specific project messages from general work communications.

Email folders Creation – Using Outlook message rules, we can organize messages into different folders based on content and timeline.

Outlook Tips for Using Rules

Here are some Outlook tips to help us organize our inboxes:

Label Creation – Creating labels helps us to sort our messages into different tags. For example, some of the common labels in Outlook are follow-up, priority, and low-priority.

Reminder symbols – We can use the flag option to set reminders and alert us on due notice. The flagged(reminder) email appears on the daily to-do list in the Outlook calendar.

Create Sections – We can create a number of sections in our mailbox based on a time limit, emergency, importance, and project type. Creating these sections can help us to keep out spam and unwanted emails.

Unsubscribe emails – Unsubscribing from promotional and mailing lists can help us to reduce the volume or space of emails we receive. As a result, go through all the emails and retain only the important newsletters.

Make use of Outlook email templates – We can use the same template for all the emails that we frequently send. To access our pre-saved templates,

File >Save As >Outlook Template > Items > Choose Form > User Templates.

Save emails, calendar events, and notes to your desktop – Saving important notes, events or messages can help us remove our inbox and allows us to access important messages quickly. We can drag the object we want to save from our inbox and drop it on our desktop or in a folder.

Show emails as conversations – This feature is an effective one since we can view the lengthy emails in the conversation type. We can activate this feature by clicking view > show as conversation. To know more read this How to Turn Off the Conversation in Outlook Online.

Use the web-based option – A modern version of Outlook has a web-based view that allows us to access the content of our account from any device. It also allows us to access messages sent via the email app by entering the communications into our Outlook history.

Emails from specific senders can be blocked – If this feature is enabled, make sure you only receive the relevant message. Select Home > junk email options > choose the account to treat as spam.

Read also: How to Make an Email Group in Outlook Online? [4 Ways]

End Point

Outlook rules can help us save time by organizing our emails for us and also actioning certain items automatically. They are easy to set up, edit, and delete, so there is no reason not to use them, especially if you deal with a large number of emails every day.

This article entirely covered everything about rules in Outlook Online. People who don’t know about rules can easily understand by reading this article, only thing is to follow each and every step carefully and make changes in our device. I trust this article help out if you are facing any difficulties while creating rules in Outlook Online.