Tech-Ease: Email Questions and Answers

Quick answers to real classroom technology questions. An online service of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse.

ETC HOME
TECH-EASE HOME EMAIL FAQ SEARCH

What are rules, and how do I use them to manage my email?

A rule is a set of criteria and automatic actions that will be applied to new messages as they arrive in your mailbox. Your email program will first check to see if a new message meets the conditions you have specified, then it will perform an action such as move it to a folder. Rules can be used to manage your email by automatically organizing messages into folders as they arrive.
To set up a new rule:

Choose Mail, Preferences and click Rules.

Click Add Rule and type a descriptive name for the rule.

Mail, Preferences, Rules, Add Rule

Set the conditions necessary for the rule to apply to a message.

Add Rule Window

Choose actions to perform on messages that meet the conditions. To specify multiple criteria and actions, click the Add (+) button. If you have multiple rules, they're applied in the order in which they appear in the Rules list. Drag a rule in the list to change its order.

The rule will be applied to all future messages you receive. To apply the rule to messages already in your mailbox, first select them (you can use the Command + A shortcut) then right-click and select Apply Rules.

Right Click, Apply Rules

Additional Websites

The Internet: Ideas, Activities, and Resources

USF Laptop Initiative: Mail and iChat Basics (PDF)

Learn the Net: Email

Apple Support: Using Mac OS X Mail

ETC HOME
TECH-EASE HOME EMAIL FAQ SEARCH

Site Map | Submit a Question | About Tech-Ease | Privacy Policy | ETC Home
Tech-Ease for Mac is your source for just-in-time answers for classroom technology questions. A companion Tech-Ease for Windows site is also available. This collection is a part of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse. Funding for Tech-Ease content development has been provided by the USF College of Education and various grants from the Florida Department of Education. Copyright 2009 by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida.

			Quick answers to real classroom technology questions. An online service of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse.
ETC HOME	TECH-EASE HOME	EMAIL FAQ	SEARCH
What are rules, and how do I use them to manage my email? A rule is a set of criteria and automatic actions that will be applied to new messages as they arrive in your mailbox. Your email program will first check to see if a new message meets the conditions you have specified, then it will perform an action such as move it to a folder. Rules can be used to manage your email by automatically organizing messages into folders as they arrive. To set up a new rule: Choose Mail, Preferences and click Rules. Click Add Rule and type a descriptive name for the rule. Set the conditions necessary for the rule to apply to a message. Choose actions to perform on messages that meet the conditions. To specify multiple criteria and actions, click the Add (+) button. If you have multiple rules, they're applied in the order in which they appear in the Rules list. Drag a rule in the list to change its order. The rule will be applied to all future messages you receive. To apply the rule to messages already in your mailbox, first select them (you can use the Command + A shortcut) then right-click and select Apply Rules.			Additional Websites The Internet: Ideas, Activities, and Resources USF Laptop Initiative: Mail and iChat Basics (PDF) Learn the Net: Email Apple Support: Using Mac OS X Mail
ETC HOME	TECH-EASE HOME	EMAIL FAQ	SEARCH
Site Map \| Submit a Question \| About Tech-Ease \| Privacy Policy \| ETC Home Tech-Ease for Mac is your source for just-in-time answers for classroom technology questions. A companion Tech-Ease for Windows site is also available. This collection is a part of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse. Funding for Tech-Ease content development has been provided by the USF College of Education and various grants from the Florida Department of Education. Copyright 2009 by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida.