Rules

Rules sort your mail as it arrives: move it to a folder, flag it, give it a category, forward it or answer it.

Rules run in this app, on this computer, while the app is running. They run on new mail in the Inbox (or in another folder you choose), top to bottom, after the spam filter: mail the filter moves to Quarantine never reaches them.

Make a rule from a message

The quickest way:

Open a message from the sender or about the subject you want to sort.
Click Create rule from this message above it (or Home > Rules > Create Rule…).
The rule starts out as "From contains the sender's address, then Move to folder", for the account the message is in. Pick the folder, change what else you need, then click OK. The rule is saved and works from the next new message.

Manage your rules

Open the Rules window with Home > Rules > Manage Rules…, File > Info > Manage Rules & Alerts, or File > Options > Rules > Open rules….

Add… makes a new rule; Edit… (or a double-click) changes the selected one; Remove deletes it.
Up and Down change the order. Rules run from the top.
Run now… applies the selected rule to the mail already in the folder it watches.
Save keeps your changes. Until you click it, the window says Not saved yet.

What a rule is made of

Name: optional, to tell your rules apart.

Enabled: clear it to keep a rule without running it.

Account: Every account, or one account. A rule that moves mail, or watches a folder other than the Inbox, needs one account, because folder names differ between accounts.

Runs on new mail in: the Inbox, or another folder of that account.

If a message matches: all of these conditions or any of these conditions. Click Add condition for each one:

Condition	Tests
From (name or address)	The sender's name or address
To or Cc	Any of the recipients
Subject	The subject
Message text	The text of the message
Header	A header you pick from the list
Attachment	has one or has none
Size	is larger than or is smaller than a size
Spam verdict	is or is not spam

Text conditions can be contains, doesn't contain, is exactly, starts with, ends with or matches regex (a regular expression).

Then: click Add action for each thing the rule does:

Action	Does
Move to folder	Moves the message to a folder of the account
Mark as read	Marks it read
Star	Flags it
Move to Trash	Moves it to Deleted Items
Forward to	Forwards it to an address
Reply automatically	Sends a reply with the text you type
Assign to category	Gives it a color category

Stop: don't run later rules on a message this one matches: rules below this one are skipped for that message. A rule that moves or deletes a message ends the list too.

Also apply it now to the messages already in this folder: runs the rule on the mail that's already there when you click OK.

Rules on mail that's already there

Run now… and Also apply it now only move, delete, mark as read and flag. They never forward or reply to old mail.

Automatic replies from a rule

Reply automatically takes care not to cause trouble. It never answers mailing lists, bulk mail, automated senders, no-reply addresses, spam or yourself, and it answers each sender at most once every few days. Its replies are marked as automatic, so other mail programs don't answer them back.

For an out-of-office message, use Automatic replies instead: for most accounts, those are kept by your mail server and go out even when your PC is off.