How to automate the categorization of your email in Microsoft Outlook

As you will have accumluated tons of email, you have to find a way to manage them effectively. A good way to do that is to categorize your emails. In Microsoft Outlook, you can either categorize the emails into different folders or set a filter to block those julk mail. All versions of Microsoft Outlook including version 98, 2000 and XP supports this feature.

 

To categorize an email

For Microsoft Outlook 98

For Microsoft Outlook 2000

For Microsoft Outlook XP

To set a filter in Microsoft Outlook

For Microsoft Outlook 98

For Microsoft Outlook 2000

For Microsoft Outlook XP


To categorize an email

The auotmation of the categorization process can be done by setting up rules inside the Microsoft Outlook. Many different criteria can be added into the ruls. However, the following two situations are commonly used.

A. Rules based on email senders address: email address (e.g. s123456@mailserv.cuhk.edu.hk) or domain name (e.g. all email sent from @cuhk.edu.hk)

B. Rules based on keywords in the email title (e.g. Subject : Video conferencing).

Based on user defined rules, incoming emails will be collected into different folders automatically.

 

For Microsoft Outlook 98:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook 98 first.

2. On the "Tools" / "工具" menu, select "Organize" / "組合管理". Select "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈" as shown as follow:

3. After the "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈" window pop up, click "Exception List" / "例外清單".

4. Click "New" / "新增", base on your requirement to set the criterias. (e.g. sender's name or key words in title) After all click "OK" / "確定".

Note: You can add new folder to store those categorized email.

 

For Microsoft Outlook 2000:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook 2000 first.

2. On the "Tools" / "工具" menu, select "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈".

3. After the "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈" window pop up, click "Exception List" / "例外清單".

4. Click "New" / "新增", base on your requirement to set the criterias. (e.g. sender's name or key words in title) After all click "OK" / "確定".

Note: You can add new folder to store those categorized email.

 

For Microsoft Outlook XP:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook XP first.

2. On the "Tools" / "工具" menu, select "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈".

3. After the "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈" window pop up, click "New" / "新增", base on your requirement to set the criterias.

4. Click "New" / "新增", base on your requirement to set the criterias. (e.g. sender's name or key words in title) After all click "OK" / "確定".

Note: You can add new folder to store those categorized email.

 


To set a filter in Microsoft Outlook

You can set a filter to block junk mail (e.g. commercial bulk email or having adult content) by email or domain name (e.g. all email sent from @cuhk.edu.hk). However, you must pay attention to the setting in order NOT to filter normal incoming emails.

 

For Microsoft Outlook 98:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook 98 first.

2. On the "Tools" / "工具" menu, select "Organize" / "組合管理". Select "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈" as shown as follow:

3. After the "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈" window pop up, click "Exception List" / "例外清單".

4. Click "New" / "新增", base on your requirement to set the criterias. You can take the following setting as a reference:

a. select "Check messages when they arrive" / "當郵件到達時進行撿查", then click "Next" / "下一步".

b. select "suspected to be junk email or from Junk senders" / "似乎是垃圾電子郵件或來自於垃圾電子郵件寄件者", it will shown at the bottom edit box, click the underline phase which related your criteria then will pop up an edit window.

c. Click "New" / "新增" and input the email address or domain name. After input the list, click "OK" / "確定" and then click "Next" / "下一步".

d. select "delete it" / "刪除它", then click "Next" / "下一步".

e. click "Finished" / "完成", and click "OK" / "確定".

5. Once if you received those junk email, you can add the email address immediately to the exception list. Highlight the email, on the "Actions" / "執行" menu, select "Juck E-mail" / "垃圾電子郵件", click "Add to Junk Sender list" / "加到垃圾電子郵件寄件者清單" or "Add to Adult Content Senders list" / "加到成人內容寄件者清單".

 

For Microsoft Outlook 2000:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook 2000 first.

2. On the "Tools" / "工具" menu, select "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈".

3. After the "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈" window pop up, click "Exception List" / "例外清單".

4. Click "New" / "新增", base on your requirement to set the criterias. You can take the following setting as a reference:

a. select "Check messages when they arrive" / "當郵件到達時進行撿查", then click "Next" / "下一步".

b. select "suspected to be junk email or from Junk senders" / "似乎是垃圾電子郵件或來自於垃圾電子郵件寄件者", it will shown at the bottom edit box, click the underline phase which related your criteria then will pop up an edit window.

c. Click "New" / "新增" and input the email address or domain name. After input the list, click "OK" / "確定" and then click "Next" / "下一步".

d. select "delete it" / "刪除它", then click "Next" / "下一步".

e. click "Finished" / "完成", and click "OK" / "確定".

5. Once if you received those junk email, you can add the email address immediately to the exception list. Highlight the email, on the "Actions" / "執行" menu, select "Juck E-mail" / "垃圾電子郵件", click "Add to Junk Sender list" / "加到垃圾電子郵件寄件者清單" or "Add to Adult Content Senders list" / "加到成人內容寄件者清單".

 

For Microsoft Outlook XP:

1. Launch Microsoft Outlook XP first.

2. On the "Tools" / "工具" menu, select "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈".

3. After the "Rules Wizard" / "規則精靈" window pop up, click "New" / "新增", base on your requirement to set the criterias.

4. You can take the following setting as a reference:

a. select "Check messages when they arrive" / "當郵件送達時進行撿查", then click "Next" / "下一步".

b. select "suspected to be junk email or from Junk senders" / "似乎是垃圾電子郵件或來自於垃圾電子郵件寄件者", it will shown at the bottom edit box, click the underline phase which related your criteria then will pop up an edit window. Click "New" / "新增" and input the email address or domain name. After input the list, click "OK" / "確定" and then click "Next" / "下一步".

c. select "delete it" / "刪除它", then click "Next" / "下一步".

d. click "Finished" / "完成", and click "OK" / "確定".

5. Once if you received those junk email, you can add the email address immediately to the exception list. Highlight the email, on the "Actions" / "執行" menu, select "Juck E-mail" / "垃圾電子郵件", click "Add to Junk Sender list" / "加到垃圾電子郵件寄件者清單" or "Add to Adult Content Senders list" / "加到成人內容寄件者清單".

 

~ End ~