Managing your inbox is never easy these days. With important emails, you will have to manage them carefully. However, it might be tedious when you have to organize all to see what you want. If you usually use the Mail app on your Mac, then you can set up email rules so that you can manage emails more easily. Here is how to do this.
How to Access the Mail app Rules
When your Mail app opens, simply follow these steps below to access the Rules area.
1) Click on Mail from the menu and choose Preferences.
2) In the popup window, click on Rules.
3) Any rules will then be displayed on the screen. To create a new one, just click on Add Rule.
How to Create a Mail Rule
After clicking on Add Rule, there will be a box with various options that come with the type of Rule for you to create. Describe your Rule or just give it a name and then, continue to set it up.
Set up the conditions
The next step is to set up the conditions for the incoming email. After the word If, choose Any or All option in the drop-down box. Next, you have to set up the conditions and there are many options for you to choose from. Simply select from choices like:
- Who the email comes from, or what’s in the subject line
- The sent or received date
- Whether the sender is in your contact list or not, or is a VIP
- Set the email priority is high, normal, or low
- The email contains a type of attachment
Depending on your selection, there will be different options for you. For instance, Sender is in my contact list, or Message is junk mail, which will not offer any further conditions for setting up. However, others will ask you for additional conditions. For example, Attachment type can ask you to choose from a list or the sent or received date prompts you for the email age.
Set up the actions
Once you have successfully set up the conditions for incoming emails, it’s time to decide what actions should be taken. Choose one of the options below:
- Transfer the message to another mailbox
- Set the color of the message
- Automatically reply or forward the message
- Mark the message as read
- Delete the message
Also read: Introduction to Activity Monitor on MacOS
Similar to the conditions you set up, there are some actions asking for more details. If you select Move Message, you have to select the mailbox and folder. If you choose Set Color of Message, it requires you to pick the color and then apply to the background or text.
After you have your description, conditions, as well as actions set, all you need is clicking on OK. Your new rule is now ready to use. It will then appear in your list of Rules in Preferences.
If you‘d like to change a rule, simply choose it and click on Edit. Click on Duplicate if you want to copy a rule and make some changes. Choose Remove a rule if you no longer use.