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HOW TO USE OUTLOOK 2003 WITH GUMAIL: UNDERSTANDING RULES

What are rules for?

Did you ever wish that all the mail sent from your friends would automatically go to a special folder called "Friends," or all of your high priority messages would go to a special folder called "Urgent," or all the mail from your boss would go to the Trash? With rules, you can make these things happen! Rules can process your incoming e-mail messages in many different and useful ways. Once you learn the basics of creating a rule, don't hesitate to experiment with the many available settings.

Filters are client dependent. This means that you only see them take effect on the computer where you created them. Outlook 2003 rules will only work on the computer where you used Outlook 2003 to create the rule. Rules will not work with any other e-mail clients. Your rules and filters will not work in the background while Outlook 2003 is not running, but they will take effect when you login to your account.

Before You Begin Using Rules...

Try to get a general idea about how they work, and be familiar with some of their limitations:

  • Outlook 2003 rules only work on the computer where you created the rule. They will not work if you access your e-mail with another client like Thunderbird, or Mozilla, or other e-mail programs.  There are no filters that are available for GUWebmail Messenger Express.
     
  • Rules will only work on the computer where you originally created them, or on a computer to which you have copied your rule settings.  If you check your mail from a computer that doesn't have your rules saved on it, all new incoming messages will arrive in your Inbox.  They will not be processed according to your rules.
     
  • If you are running Outlook 2003 on two computers with the same rules at the same time, you may get two copies of each e-mail that arrives.
     
  • Rules are not a good idea for filtering mail into shared folders if the person who controls the Inbox will not be logging in often. This is especially important to remember if you sort mail into a shared folder so that others can do the work of processing your messages.  Your rules will only be applied when you log in to GUMail; any mail you receive between log ins will sit unread in your Inbox (until your next log in).
     
  • Related to the last issue, rules are only applied to unread messages in your own Inbox. Your filters cannot sort messages in another person's Inbox that is being shared with you.
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