OVERVIEW
Target audience: Entire McGill community
You can define rules for handling and sorting emails as they are delivered to your Inbox. Rules can use various criteria to select email messages, such as Sender's name, Recipient's name or keywords in the Subject line. Rules can also select mail messages to target based on the date received.
In this article:
NOTE:
When creating rules, you can specify if the rule is client-based or server-based:
- Server side rules (preferred) run on the server, before mail is delivered to your app; they will apply to all your devices and apps.
- Client-based (local) rules only run on your current Outlook app; if you access your email on another device or app, the rule is not applied.
IMPORTANT note for faculty and staff
Faculty and staff are not allowed to systematically forward or sync your McGill email to an external (non McGill) email server.
Examples of common rules
- Emails sent to [Group Email Address] of which you are a member should automatically be placed in [Folder Name].
- Adding exceptions: Incoming emails sent to [Group Email] should be placed in [Folder Name] except emails sent by [Sender Name], whose emails you want to keep in your Inbox so that you will be sure to see them immediately.
- Emails from [Sender Name] should be placed in [Folder Name], or Junk Email, or the Deleted folder. (You can apply such a rule in addition to the anti-spam protection already available in Microsoft 365.
- Email that is an auto-reply should automatically be placed in [Folder Name].
Instructions for creating rules
The following resources are available from the Microsoft website:
- Use inbox rules in Outlook on the web - creates server-side rules, which apply to all devices and Outlook apps
- Manage email messages by using rules
