If you use email rules, even if you don’t end up using this tip, make sure that you understand that email rules can potentially hide entire conversations.
I recently fell far behind on a project because I wasn’t aware a project had even started until my boss asked me where I was on it. I wasn’t aware of the project because I was using a rule to move auto-emails from a service into a folder and when a person replied to the email the rule stashed the reply away as well. An entire conversation with action items continued from an email I was moving to another folder. I knew nothing about it.
Problem: I get, quite literally, thousands of emails a week; I would be inundated with dings and pop-ups galore if I removed my rules. I needed to find a way to stash the auto-emails but keep replies/forwards in my inbox. The auto-email came from an actual user’s email account so I couldn’t just set the rule to move emails from the address, because I’d miss emails from that person.
Solution: I knew there was an exception property to rules and if that could recognize replies/forwards then I could keep my rules. Well, there is no really good way to figure out if an email is a reply or a forward, but here’s what I did to make sure rules didn’t bite me in the future:
- Click on the Home tab in Outlook
- In the Move Section, click Rules – Manage Rules & Alerts
- Select a rule
- Click Change Rule – Edit Rule Settings…
- Click Next until the text at the top says, “Are there any exceptions?”
- Select the checkbox next to “with specific words in the subject”
- At the bottom, click the link that says, “specific words”
- In the text box, type in “RE:” (without quotes) and press OK *
- Type in “FW:” (without quotes) and press OK *
- Click finish
- Repeat steps 3 through 10 for every rule to which you want to apply this exception
Now you’ll receive emails that are a reply or a forward even if a rule applies to them!
* Enter “RE:” and “FW:” exactly how you would see them if someone replied to your email or sent you a forward.
Author: Darren Pope
Darren is a data architect within the Development Operations Department and has been with MFA Oil Company since 2010.