About Rules

You can manage your e-mail messages by using rules to automatically perform actions on incoming messages. After you create a rule, Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access applies the rule to messages that arrive in your Inbox. For example, you can automatically forward all messages sent by Annik Stahl to your manager when they arrive in your Inbox.

To view your rules, click Rules in the Navigation Pane.

Notes A rule in gray type can't be modified by Outlook Web Access because its conditions can't be interpreted or it doesn't specify an action.

A rule in red type contains an error related to the folder you want the rule to move or copy the message to. Select the rule, click Modify, and then correct the rule.

To create a rule, see Create a rule.

Rules created with Microsoft Outlook

When you choose to create or modify a rule, Outlook Web Access checks your Microsoft Exchange server for rules you created using Microsoft Outlook.

If you use rules in Outlook, Outlook Web Access may interpret them differently depending on the version of Outlook you used to create them. In fact, some rules created with earlier versions of Outlook are incompatible with Outlook Web Access. For information about compatibility limitations, see the section below that pertains to your version of Outlook.

Outlook 97 and Outlook 98

Following are specific limitations to creating and using rules between Outlook Web Access and Outlook 97 or Outlook 98.

Rules based on message importance aren't supported. If you use Outlook Web Access to create a rule based on the importance setting of an incoming message, you won't be able to use the rule from Outlook 97 or Outlook 98.
Rules that specify more than one word in the message subject aren't supported. If you use Outlook Web Access to create a rule that examines the subject line of incoming messages for multiple words, the rule will retain only the first word specified when you view it from Outlook 97 or Outlook 98.
Outlook 97 doesn't support rules that perform an action on messages sent only to you. Also, Outlook Web Access doesn't support Outlook 97 rules that include the specification "sent directly to me."
Rules with conditions or actions that Outlook Web Access can't interpret, or rules with no action specified, are displayed in gray type.
If you use Outlook 97, make sure your mailbox contains at least one rule created with Outlook 97 before you use Outlook Web Access to create additional rules. Otherwise, Outlook 97 won't recognize the rules you create with Outlook Web Access.

Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2002

Following are specific limitations to creating and using rules between Outlook Web Access and Outlook 2000 or Outlook 2002.

If you create, modify, or delete rules in Outlook Web Access, any rules you disabled in Outlook 2000 or Outlook 2002 will be deleted.
Rules with conditions or actions that Outlook Web Access can't interpret, or rules with no action specified, are displayed in gray type.
If you open the Outlook 2000 or Outlook 2002 Rules Wizard after creating or modifying rules in Outlook Web Access, you will be warned about a client-server conflict. To preserve the rules you created in Outlook Web Access, select Server in the message box.