Rules allow you to organize email automatically when it arrives in your inbox
 

Is your Outlook Inbox cluttered with email from everyone and everything?  If you are not aware, Outlook has a feature they call rules.  Rules allow you to organize email automatically when it arrives in your inbox.  For example, you can create a rule that will move an email to a specified folder based on a number of criteria.

Another great example of when and how to use a rule would be when you run an online store.  Say that when your online store receives an order it sends you an email.  You could designate a folder in your inbox so that when you receive and email from the online store it is automatically moved into your "Online Order" folder.   You could even generate a notification to pop-up or forward a notification to your iPhone, etc.

There are far to many criteria to list, but it could be based on the "From" address of the sender. Or if you have multiple accounts setup in Outlook, it could be based on the account it came from.  Moving email to specified folders it just one of the many things a rule can do.  A rule can also be based on the "Importance" flag or the "Follow Up" flag, or even create the follow up flag.

One of the simplest ways to create a rule is to right click on the email (before it is open) and there should be an option to "create rule" or it could just say "Rule" with some other options depending on what version of Outlook you are using.  One thing to be careful about is making sure you check an option to "stop processing" more rules.  If this is not done, although your mail will get moved to the specified folder, it will also be placed in your inbox. 

If you decide to try using rules to clean up your inbox, I would suggest you start simple and test before creating a bunch of rules and testing all of them at once.  You wont lose any mail, but it may accidentally be put in the deleted items box if you create a rule to move items to it.

If you have questions or need help creating rules in Outlook, give CCS retail Systems Support Department a call at 800-672-4806 or email us.

-Bryan