If your Outlook Inbox feels slow or acts up weirdly, then you need to archive or delete irrelevant emails. The manual email archiving can be a time-consuming and tiring process. Microsoft does offer a Focused Inbox function, but it’s limited to filtering out relevant emails for the user. Another useful addition is Outlook Rules. It’s Outlook’s version of IFTTT. With Rules, one can create multiple automation to move certain emails to archive or delete the mails section. In this post, we will guide you through the Outlook Rules function, and we will create some rules to auto-archive emails from Outlook. The post will also cover another Outlook bonus trick to unsubscribe irrelevant emails from one place. Let’s get started.
Create Auto-Archive Rule From the Email
The Outlook Rules function is only available for Outlook Mac, Windows, and Web. You can’t access the Rules function on mobile. For this post, we’re going to use the Outlook web as it works the same on every platform. Step 1: Open Outlook web and sign in using Microsoft account credentials. Step 2: Select an irrelevant email and open it. Step 3: Tap on the three-dot menu and select Create Rule. Step 4: Create a rule to move the messages from the sender to the Archive folder. After that, all the emails from the sender will move to the archived inbox directly. You can still access them from the Archive menu in the folders.
Create Auto-Archive Rules From Outlook Settings
The trick mentioned above moves all the emails from the sender to archive items. What if someone wants to archive emails with certain subjects or keywords from the message body? For example, I’m exhausted by the loan offers, Coronavirus updates, or any other marketing junk from my bank. However, my bank account’s monthly statement and credit card bills are something I refer regularly. If you have a similar preference on topics or subjects, follow the steps below to setup some rules. Step 1: Open Outlook web and head to Settings. Step 2: View all Outlook settings, and it will pop out the dedicated settings menu. Step 3: Select the Rules option and select Add new rule. Step 4: Let’s name it Bank Rules and add a condition. Step 5: Add keywords that no longer are relevant to you, I have added the message terms such as Loan, EMI, etc. Step 6: Create a rule to move all the emails to the Archive folder and hit save. Now, whenever you receive the emails with Loan, EMI, or Important keywords, they will be automatically moved to the Archive folder. Let’s create another useful rule. Shall we? Every company out there is sending out Coronavirus-related emails to users. While I applaud their efforts, sometimes it gets tiring to read news about the deadly virus daily. With the help of Outlook Rules, you can auto-archive those mail before it catches up your attention. Step 1: Open Outlook web and navigate to Settings > Mail> Rules. Step 2: Let’s give the new rule ‘Coronavirus’ name and add conditions. Step 3: Add conditions such as if the message body includes the keyword (Like Corona virus or COVID-19) and then move those emails to the Archive folder. I have created dozens of Outlook Rules. It’s a powerful function, and the possibilities are endless. Here is how I use it. Whenever I’m on a holiday trip, I create a rule to move all the incoming emails to a ‘During Travel’ folder to ensure they never interrupt me during family time. Some sketchy companies keep sending out email junk in my Outlook Inbox. They leave me no choice but to create an auto-delete rule to remove those emails.
Unsubscribe Email Senders
The auto-archive function is useful when you want to keep inbox clean from bogus emails. But if you want to stop receiving emails from the sender completely, you have to use the unsubscribe function from the email. However, finding that tiny unsubscribe button in every mail can be time-consuming and boring. Thankfully, with Outlook Web, you can see all the email senders with a unsubscribe button in one place. Step 1: Open Outlook web and head to Settings. Step 2: Navigate to Mail > Subscriptions. Step 3: Here, you will see the list of email senders with a big unsubscribe button. Step 4: Unsubscribe the unnecessary ones from the menu, and you can also tap on the three-dot menu to block the sender. I use this feature once in a quarter to remove the irrelevant emails from the list.
Keep Your Email Inbox Clean
Microsoft Outlook packs an excellent Rules function. You can use it to auto-delete, auto-archive incoming mails, move them to different folders for a certain time, and even unsubscribe the unnecessary sender from the single menu. It has improved my email experience by a mile. How you plan to use Outlook Rules? Sound off in the comments section below. Next up: Looking to level up your Outlook experience? Read the post below to find 15 best Outlook keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
