How to set up a mail filter in Microsoft Outlook 2000

These instructions apply to both POP and IMAP e-mail accounts.

1. Start Outlook.

2. On the Tools menu, click Rules Wizard.
(Outlook uses the term "rules," but rules and filters are the same thing.)

3. When the Rules Wizard dialog box is displayed, click the New button.

4. For the type of rule you want to create, click Check messages when they arrive. Then, click Next to continue.

5. In the conditions section, scroll down the list and select with specific words in the subject.

6. In the rule description section, click the link for specific words.

7. When prompted to specify a word or phrase to search for in the subject, type #### and then click Add. Click OK to close the dialog box.

8. Click Next to continue.

9. When prompted on what to do with the message, check the box for move it to the specified folder.

10. In the rule description section, click the link for specified folder.

11. Click the New button to create a new folder.

12. In the Create New Folder dialog box, enter the following information:

• Name: type Filtered Spam (or any name you wish)
• Folder contains: ensure that Mail Items is selected.
• Select where to place the folder: click the folder under which you want the Filtered Spam folder to be created. If you are using IMAP you may want to create the Filtered Spam folder on the server.

13. Click OK to close the Create New Folder dialog box.

14. When asked if you would like a shortcut to this folder added to your Outlook Bar, click Yes to add the shortcut or click No to not add the shortcut.

15. Click OK to close the dialog box.

16. Click Next to continue.

17. No exceptions are necessary, so click Next to continue.

18. Enter a name for this rule, verify that the box for Turn on this rule is checked and click Finish.

19. The last screen of the Rules Wizard will be displayed.

• If you have multiple rules, you will probably want the spam rule to run first. Rules are run in order from top to bottom.
• Select the spam rule and then click the Move Up button to move the spam rule to the top of the list.
• If you only want to run this rule on new messages, click OK to exit the Rules Wizard.
• If you want to run this rule on selected folders, ensure that the spam rule is checked and click Run Now.

20. If you chose to run the spam rule now, the Run Rules Now dialog box will be displayed.

• Ensure that spam rule is checked.
• If you want to run the rule on a folder other than the one displayed in the Run in Folder field, click Browse to select a new folder.
• Select the type of message to which you want the rule to apply: all, read, or unread.
• Click Run Now to run the spam rule on the selected folder.