Set up Your Email

by | Jun 12, 2022

Fast Filing in Outlook

If you have a lot of Outlook folders for filing emails, we recommend installing SimplyFile [US $50, free 30-day trial], which makes Outlook email filing fast and easy.

Inbox Rules

Emails convert quickly and easily to tasks in Outlook. However, some email will slip into your Inbox with flags, categories, and priorities that can interfere with proper processing. Therefore, we need to take a minute to set three quick Inbox rules to prevent you from having to worry about some of these problems.

Inbox Rules: Clear Categories

  1. Press Ctrl+1 to switch to the Email view.
  2. Select your active Inbox.
  3. Go to the Tools menu.
  4. Click Rules and Alerts.
  5. Click New Rule at the top of the screen.
  6. Under the Start from a blank rule heading, select Check Messages when they arrive and click Next (bottom of the screen).
  7. On the next screen, check the box next to Assigned to category category.
  8. Then click the underlined word category in the lower box, and select the category that you see in incoming emails. (NOTE: In Outlook 2003, you need to create a separate rule for each possible category in incoming emails. This is inconvenient, but Outlook 2003 provides no alternative.)
  9. Click Next (bottom of the screen)
  10. On the next screen, check the box next Assign it to the category category.
  11. Then click the underlined word category in the lower box, and select a catch-all category (like “Outside”) to assign it to. (NOTE: In Outlook 2003, you cannot clear the category entirely. This is inconvenient, but Outlook 2003 provides no alternative.)
  12. Click Next (bottom of the screen).
  13. Click Next to skip the Exceptions screen.
  14. Name the rule Clear Category (name of incoming category), check the box to Run this rule now on messages already in “Inbox”, and click Finish.

Outlook 2003 will now help you clear categories on incoming email.

Inbox Rules: Clear Low Importance

Importance on an email translates to Priority when you turn Outlook email into tasks. For you, Priority will be used to indicate when you will do a task. Other people shouldn’t decide when you do your tasks, so set a rule to clear incoming Importance on emails:

  1. Go to Tools > Rules and Alerts.
  2. Click New Rule (top of screen).
  3. From the list, choose Check messages when they arrive (second from bottom) and go to the Next screen.
  4. Check the box next to Marked as importance (near top of list).
  5. Click on the blue, underlined word, importance in the box labeled Step 2.
  6. Choose Low, click OK, and then click Next.
  7. Click Mark it as importance in the new screen.
  8. Click the underlined word, importance again, select Normal this time, and click OK.
  9. Click Next.
  10. Click Next again to skip the Exceptions screen.
  11. Name the rule Clear Low Importance and click Finish.

Inbox Rules: Clear High Importance

For the same reasons stated in Clear Low Importance, you don’t want High Importance emails. Set the following rule to clear them. It is almost the same procedure as the one above.

  1. In Rules and Alerts click New Rule.
  2. Choose Check Messages when they arrive.
  3. Check the box next to Marked as importance.
  4. Click the blue, underlined word importance in the box labeled Step 2.
  5. Choose High, click OK, and then click Next.
  6. Click Mark it as importance in the new screen.
  7. Click the underlined word, importance again, select Normal. Click OK.
  8. Click Next twice.
  9. Name the rule Clear High Importance and click Finish.