How to create rules in Outlook to sort your inbox automatically

What is an Outlook rule, and why does the setup depend on your version?

An Outlook rule is a saved instruction that tells Outlook what to do with a message automatically. You describe the mail you want to act on — this sender, that subject line, anything sent to a particular address — and tell Outlook what should happen to it: move it to a folder, flag it for follow-up, forward it to a colleague, mark it read, assign it a category, or some combination. From then on, every matching message is handled the way you specified, without you lifting a finger. It is the single most effective way to stop manually sorting the same kinds of mail.

If you have searched for how to create rules in Outlook and found instructions that did not match your screen, there is a good reason. Outlook is not one app — it is several, and they put the Rules feature in different places with different builders. There is new Outlook for Windows (the redesigned app replacing the classic desktop client), Outlook on the web (the browser version at outlook.com and outlook.office.com), and classic Outlook (the long-standing desktop app that ships with Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365). New Outlook and the web share almost the same rules interface; classic Outlook has a completely separate, older, and considerably more powerful one.

That split is the thing to get straight before you start clicking, because following the wrong set of steps is the most common reason people give up. In new Outlook and on the web, rules live in Settings under Mail, in a section called Rules, and you create one with an Add new rule button that walks you through a name, a condition, and an action on a single panel. In classic Outlook, rules live on the Home ribbon under a Rules button, and the full management happens in a dialog called Manage Rules & Alerts, where a New Rule wizard offers templates or a blank rule with a long list of conditions and actions. Same goal, two very different doors.

There is a second difference that matters even more than the interface, and it is about where the rule actually runs. New Outlook and Outlook on the web only create server-side rules — the logic lives on Microsoft's servers and executes the moment mail is delivered, whether or not any app is open. Classic Outlook can create both server-side rules and client-only rules; the client-only ones run inside the desktop app and only fire when that app is open and connected. Keep it in the back of your mind from the start: where a rule runs determines whether it works while your computer is asleep.

This guide covers all of it from scratch — step-by-step instructions for new Outlook and the web, separate ones for classic Outlook, a reference of the conditions and actions, how to run a rule on existing mail, how rule order and the client-versus-server split shape what happens, copy-and-adapt recipes, what the mobile app can and cannot do, and how to fix a rule that refuses to run. At the end we will look at how an AI email client approaches the same problem differently — by letting you write the rule in plain English and having an agent carry it out across every account you connect, not just one Outlook mailbox.

How do you create a rule in new Outlook and on the web?

New Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web use the same modern rules panel, so the steps below work for both. This is the simpler of the two builders: every rule needs at least a name, one condition, and one action, and you set all three on a single screen. You can add more conditions, more actions, and exceptions, but the minimum is those three pieces. The whole thing lives in Settings, not on the main toolbar, which is the part people most often miss.

1. 1

   Open Settings

   In new Outlook or on the web, click the gear icon in the top-right corner to open Settings. If you have several accounts connected, make sure the account selector at the top of Settings is pointed at the mailbox you want the rule to live in — rules are per-account.

2. 2

   Go to Mail, then Rules

   In the Settings pane, select Mail on the left, then choose Rules. This page lists any rules you already have and is where every rule for this account is created and managed.

3. 3

   Click Add new rule

   Select Add new rule to start building. A panel opens with a name field at the top, followed by a condition section and an action section.

4. 4

   Name the rule

   Give the rule a clear, descriptive name like Newsletters to Reading or Invoices to Finance. A good name makes the rule list readable later when you have several and need to find the right one to edit.

5. 5

   Add a condition

   Open the Add a condition dropdown and pick what the rule should match on — for example From and a sender address, Subject includes and a keyword, or My name is in the To box. Choose Apply to all messages if you want the rule to run on every incoming message regardless of content.

6. 6

   Add an action

   Open the Add an action dropdown and choose what should happen to matching mail — Move to a folder, Mark as read, Pin, Flag, Categorize, Forward to a recipient, or Delete. The action is the point of the rule, so this is the step that does the work.

7. 7

   Add more conditions, actions, or exceptions (optional)

   Use Add another condition to narrow the match, Add another action to do more than one thing, and Add an exception to carve out mail that should be skipped. Each extra condition tightens which messages the rule catches.

8. 8

   Save the rule

   Click Save. The rule goes live immediately and runs on Microsoft's servers, so it applies to new mail on every device — including your phone — without any app needing to be open.

A useful shortcut skips the Settings trip entirely. In new Outlook and on the web you can right-click a message (or open its three-dot More menu) and choose Advanced actions, then Create rule, or simply Rules. Outlook pre-fills the sender and opens the rule builder, so you jump straight to choosing the folder or action — the fastest way to set up a rule for a specific person or service.

One optional setting on the new-Outlook rule panel is worth understanding: a checkbox usually labeled Stop processing more rules. When ticked, a message that matches this rule is not evaluated against any rules below it — which keeps two rules from both acting on the same message and producing a muddled result. If you only have a handful of rules that never overlap, you can ignore it; once your rules target overlapping mail, it is the lever that keeps them orderly. The rule-order section below covers how it works.

Managing rules afterward happens on the same Settings, Mail, Rules page. Each rule has a toggle to turn it on or off, an Edit control for its conditions and actions, a delete control, and up and down arrows that change its position — which matters because rules run top to bottom. If a rule is not behaving, this is where you inspect the conditions, check the order, and confirm the rule is enabled, since a disabled toggle is a common and easily missed cause of a rule that does nothing.

Because these apps only make server-side rules, there is no concept here of a rule that runs only when your app is open — your rules sort mail around the clock. The trade-off is a shorter action menu than classic Outlook's, with no app-bound actions like playing a sound or showing a desktop alert. If you need one of those, you need classic Outlook, the subject of the next section.

How do you create a rule in classic Outlook?

Classic Outlook — the desktop application that has shipped with Office for years — has a far more capable rules engine than the new app, with a wizard, ready-made templates, and a long catalog of conditions and actions. It is also where you will find the run-on-existing-mail and client-versus-server controls that the modern apps leave out. The trade-off is that the interface is older and busier. The steps below build a rule using the New Rule wizard, which is the standard path.

1. 1

   Open Manage Rules & Alerts

   On the Home tab of the ribbon, click Rules, then choose Manage Rules & Alerts. (You can also reach it through File, Manage Rules & Alerts.) The Rules and Alerts dialog opens, listing any rules you already have.

2. 2

   Click New Rule

   On the E-mail Rules tab, click New Rule to launch the Rules Wizard. If you have more than one account in classic Outlook, use the Apply changes to this folder dropdown at the bottom to choose which mailbox the rule belongs to.

3. 3

   Choose a template or start from blank

   The wizard opens with templates grouped under Stay Organized and Stay Up to Date — for example, Move messages from someone to a folder, or Flag messages from someone for follow-up. Pick a template that matches your goal, or scroll to Start from a blank rule for full control.

4. 4

   Set the conditions

   On the conditions step, tick the conditions that describe the mail to match — from people or public group, with specific words in the subject, sent only to me, marked as importance, and so on. Then click each underlined value in the lower box to fill in the specifics, such as the actual sender or keyword.

5. 5

   Choose the actions

   On the next step, tick what should happen — move it to a specified folder, assign it to a category, forward it to people or public group, flag message for follow-up, mark it as read, and more. Click each underlined value to set the specifics, like choosing the destination folder.

6. 6

   Add exceptions (optional)

   On the exceptions step, tick any conditions that should exempt a message from the rule — except if it is marked as importance, except if the subject contains certain words, and so on. Exceptions are optional but invaluable for carving out the one case you do not want caught.

7. 7

   Name the rule and set run options

   On the final step, give the rule a name. Here you can also tick Run this rule now on messages already in Inbox to apply it to existing mail, and confirm Turn on this rule is checked. Click Finish, then Apply, to save and activate it.

Like the modern apps, classic Outlook lets you build a rule straight from a message, often quicker than the full wizard. Right-click a message, choose Rules, then Create Rule. A compact dialog appears with the sender, subject, and recipient pre-filled as checkbox conditions and a short list of actions like moving to a folder; click Advanced Options to drop into the full Rules Wizard with the conditions already started. This is the fastest way to set up a per-sender rule in classic Outlook.

The classic wizard exposes one thing the modern apps hide: whether a rule is client-only or server-side. You do not choose this with a switch — Outlook decides based on your conditions and actions. If a rule uses only what Exchange can evaluate on the server, it runs server-side. The moment you add something only the desktop app can do — play a sound, display a Desktop Alert, or move to a local PST folder — Outlook converts the rule to client-only and labels it on this computer only. That label means the rule fires only while classic Outlook is open and connected, which the rule-order section unpacks.

The classic Manage Rules & Alerts dialog is also where ongoing maintenance happens, with a few tools the modern panel lacks. Change Rule lets you rename a rule, add actions, or copy it; Copy duplicates a rule so you can adapt it for another folder or account; and the up and down arrows reorder rules, which determines the order they run. There is also a Run Rules Now button for applying selected rules to a folder of existing mail on demand — the classic-only answer to how you make a brand-new rule act on messages you already have, covered in its own section below.

What conditions and actions can an Outlook rule use?

Every rule pairs conditions (which mail it catches) with actions (what happens to that mail), and optionally exceptions (what to skip). Classic Outlook offers the longest list; new Outlook and the web offer a streamlined subset of the most-used items. The table below shows the common conditions and actions and which versions support them, so you can tell at a glance whether the rule you have in mind is possible in your app. Where a feature is classic-only, it is usually because the action depends on the desktop app being open.

A few of these deserve a closer look. Move to a folder is the workhorse — the action that does the actual organizing. In Outlook, unlike Gmail, a folder is a true container: a message lives in one folder at a time, so moving it removes it from the inbox cleanly. Pair Move to a folder with Mark as read on low-stakes mail and your unread count starts reflecting only messages that genuinely need you.

Assign a category is the more flexible cousin and works differently: a category is a colored tag that sits on a message while leaving it in place, so you can label mail as, say, Finance or Travel without moving it out of the inbox. Because a message can carry more than one category, this is the closest Outlook gets to Gmail's labels. A common pattern is a rule that both moves a message to a folder and assigns it a category, filing and tagging in one step.

Flag for follow-up turns a rule into a lightweight task generator: any matching message gets a flag and shows up in your flagged and To-Do views — handy for mail from a key client or your manager. Forward to a recipient routes mail to someone else automatically, though many organizations restrict or block automatic external forwarding for security, so a forward rule that works for internal addresses may be silently stopped when it points outside the company.

The bottom row of the table — play a sound, display a Desktop Alert, and similar notification actions — exists only in classic Outlook, and choosing one converts the whole rule to client-only, since a server has no speakers or desktop to act on. If round-the-clock sorting matters more than the alert, leave these actions off so the rule stays server-side. This trade-off between fancy actions and reliable execution is the quiet theme running through the whole rules feature.

How do you run an Outlook rule on existing messages?

By default a new rule only acts on mail that arrives after you save it; the messages already sitting in your inbox are left untouched. That surprises people who build a rule to clean up a backlog and then watch it do nothing to the pile that is already there. How you apply a rule to existing mail depends, once again, on your version — and this is one area where classic Outlook is clearly ahead.

• Classic Outlook, at rule creation: on the final step of the Rules Wizard, tick Run this rule now on messages already in Inbox before you click Finish. The rule applies to the existing inbox immediately as well as to all future mail.
• Classic Outlook, any time after: open Home, Rules, Manage Rules & Alerts, and click Run Rules Now. Choose which rules to run and which folder to run them against (including subfolders), then click Run Now to sweep the existing mail.
• New Outlook and the web: there is no Run Rules Now button and no run-on-existing checkbox. A rule you create here only acts on incoming mail going forward; it will not reach back over messages already in the folder.

That last point is one of the sharpest differences between the versions, and it is worth planning around. If you are in new Outlook or on the web and need to clean up a backlog, the rule alone will not do it. The practical workaround is to use search to gather the matching messages (for example, search for the sender), select them all, and move or categorize them manually in one pass, then let the rule keep the folder tidy from there. It is a one-time chore the modern apps cannot automate, whereas classic Outlook's Run Rules Now does exactly this in a couple of clicks.

The Run Rules Now dialog in classic Outlook is more flexible than it first appears. You can select more than one rule to run in a single pass — useful after building a batch of new rules — choose the target folder from a Browse button, tick a checkbox to include subfolders, and use a Run Rules on dropdown to limit the pass to, for instance, only unread messages, so you do not disturb mail you have already dealt with.

One caution: when you run rules on existing mail, the actions apply for real and immediately, including move and delete. A rule with an over-broad condition can file or trash a lot of mail in one go. The safe habit is to run a new rule on a small or unread-only subset first, confirm it did what you expected, and only then run it across everything — and to test any deleting rule as a move-to-folder or categorize rule first.

How do rule order and client-versus-server rules affect what happens?

Two behind-the-scenes mechanics decide whether your rules do what you intended: the order they run in, and where they run. Both are easy to overlook and both are common sources of a rule that seems broken when it is actually working exactly as configured. Understanding them turns rules from something that occasionally surprises you into something predictable.

Rules run from top to bottom, in order. When a message arrives, Outlook checks it against the first rule, then the second, and so on, applying every rule it matches unless something stops the process. This matters whenever two rules can act on the same message: if one rule moves all mail from a client domain into a Clients folder and a second below it flags anything with urgent in the subject, a genuinely urgent client email matches both — so the order and actions need to cooperate rather than fight. Reordering with the up and down arrows is how you control this priority.

The companion to ordering is the Stop processing more rules option (named this in classic Outlook, surfaced as a similar checkbox in new Outlook). When a rule with it set matches a message, Outlook stops checking that message against any rule below. It is the deliberate way to say this rule is the final word for this kind of mail. The classic mistake is unintended: a broad rule high in your list with Stop processing turned on can silently prevent a more specific rule below from ever running. So when a rule that looks correct never fires, check first whether an earlier rule is matching the same mail and halting the chain.

Now the where-it-runs question, the single biggest cause of the my Outlook rules do not run when my computer is off complaint. New Outlook and the web make only server-side rules, which run on Microsoft's infrastructure the instant mail is delivered, around the clock. Classic Outlook makes both kinds: a classic rule is server-side if every condition and action can be evaluated on the server, but it becomes client-only the moment it includes something only the desktop app can do, and Outlook labels such rules on this computer only.

The practical takeaway: to sort mail reliably no matter the device or whether your computer is awake, keep rules server-side. In classic Outlook that means resisting the app-bound actions — no sound, no Desktop Alert, no moving to a local PST folder — and sticking to move to a server folder, categorize, flag, and forward. Watch the rule list for the on this computer only label; if it appears unintentionally, find which action triggered it and drop it to let the rule run on the server.

There is a related quirk that confuses people who use both classic Outlook and the web. Server-side rules created in classic Outlook also show up and run in Outlook on the web, since they live on the same Exchange mailbox. Client-only rules do not — they exist solely inside the classic desktop app, invisible to the web and to new Outlook. So if you built a rule in classic Outlook and cannot find it in the web rules list, it is almost certainly client-only — which is also why a rule can appear to work at your desk but not on your phone. The accidental middle ground to avoid is a client-only rule you did not mean to create, quietly failing to sort your mail every time your laptop is closed.

Which rule recipes sort an Outlook inbox best?

The fastest way to learn rules is to copy working ones and adapt them to your own senders. The recipes below cover the jobs that clear the most clutter for the most people, written so they work in any version — the condition and action names match the modern builder, and classic Outlook offers the same capabilities under slightly different wording. Brand names, addresses, and keywords are examples; swap in your own. Build a handful of these and your inbox starts maintaining itself.

A few notes on making these behave. The newsletter recipe matches the word unsubscribe because legitimate bulk senders are legally required to include an unsubscribe link, so it appears in nearly every newsletter and rarely in personal mail. For sender-based rules, matching a whole domain (@clientdomain.com) rather than one address captures everyone at a company in a single rule. The separate-direct-mail recipe uses a condition on whether your name is in the To box — one of Outlook's genuinely clever built-in conditions — to split mail where you are merely CC'd from messages aimed directly at you.

Build these in priority order, because rules run top to bottom. Put your protect rules on top — the handful that make sure mail from your manager, a key client, or anything marked high importance never gets buried — with Flag for follow-up or a VIP category, and consider giving the most important one Stop processing more rules so nothing below it can quietly move that mail away. Below those sit the file-and-forget rules (newsletters, receipts, social, alerts): the Move-to-folder-plus-Mark-as-read combinations that do the bulk of the decluttering.

Two refinements help in practice. Use folder and category names you will recognize at a glance, with a shallow folder tree — a parent Finance folder holding Receipts, Invoices, and Statements keeps the folder pane tidy. And resist attaching Delete to anything in the file-and-forget tier: moving mail to a folder keeps it searchable at no real cost, so unless a sender is worthless forever, file it instead. Reserve Delete for recurring junk you have first watched a move-to-folder rule catch cleanly — and remember that in new Outlook and the web, none of these rules touch the existing backlog, so you will sort what is already there by hand once.

You also do not need a large rule set to feel the difference. Most people get the biggest cleanup from just three rules: one for newsletters, one for receipts, and one to flag or categorize mail from key people. Build those three, live with them for a week, and add more only where clutter still bothers you. Starting small makes it obvious which rule is responsible when something behaves unexpectedly — a habit that pays off far more than launching twenty rules at once and untangling them later.

Can you create Outlook rules on the mobile app?

This is the question that sends a lot of people in circles, so the answer up front: no, you cannot create or edit rules in the Outlook mobile app on iPhone or Android. The mobile app is built for reading, triaging, and sending mail on the go — it deliberately leaves rule creation out. There is no Rules section in the mobile Settings, and no way to build a when-this-then-that instruction from the phone the way you can on a computer.

The reassuring part is that this does not mean your phone misses out on rules. Because the rules you build in new Outlook or on the web are server-side, they run on Microsoft's servers and apply to your mailbox everywhere, including the mobile app. So a rule you create on a computer to file newsletters or flag your manager's mail has already done its work by the time you open the app on your phone — the newsletters are in their folder, the flagged mail is flagged. You get all the benefit of rules on mobile, just not the ability to set them up there.

If you must create or change a rule with only a phone in hand, the workaround is to open Outlook on the web in your phone's browser rather than the app. Mobile browsers can usually request the desktop version of a site, and from the full web interface you can reach Settings, Mail, Rules and build a rule normally. It is cramped, but it works in a pinch. The cleaner approach, when you can wait, is to set rules up at a desktop and let them run everywhere — which is exactly what server-side rules are designed for.

How do you fix an Outlook rule that is not running?

When a rule does not behave, the cause is almost always one of a short list of usual suspects. Work through these in order and you will resolve the large majority of problems without guesswork. The steps reference both builders, since the diagnosis is similar across versions.

1. 1

   Confirm the rule is turned on

   In new Outlook or the web, open Settings, Mail, Rules and check the toggle next to the rule. In classic Outlook, open Manage Rules & Alerts and confirm the checkbox beside the rule is ticked. A disabled rule does nothing, and this is the most commonly missed cause.

2. 2

   Check for a client-only rule

   In classic Outlook, look for the on this computer only label. If it is there, the rule only runs while the desktop app is open — which is why it may seem dead when your computer is off or when you check from your phone. Remove the app-bound action if you need it to run server-side.

3. 3

   Look for an earlier rule that stops processing

   Because rules run top to bottom, a broad rule higher in the list with Stop processing more rules turned on can prevent this one from ever running. Scan the rules above it for one that matches the same mail and halts the chain, and reorder or adjust as needed.

4. 4

   Inspect the conditions against a real message

   Edit the rule and compare its conditions to an actual message that should have matched. A stray space, the wrong field, or a keyword that does not appear exactly as typed are frequent culprits. Tighten or correct the condition so it matches the real mail.

5. 5

   Remember new rules skip existing mail

   A new rule only acts on incoming messages. In classic Outlook, use Run Rules Now to apply it to the backlog. In new Outlook or the web, there is no such option — sort the existing mail by hand once, then let the rule handle new arrivals.

6. 6

   Verify forwarding is allowed

   If a forward action does nothing, your organization may block automatic external forwarding for security. Test by forwarding to an internal address; if that works but external does not, the policy is the cause, not the rule.

7. 7

   Recreate the rule from a message

   If nothing else works, right-click a message that should match, choose Create rule (or Rules, then Create Rule in classic), and rebuild from Outlook's pre-filled conditions. This sidesteps a malformed condition you may not be able to spot.

If a rule is matching too much rather than too little — moving or deleting mail you wanted to keep — tighten the conditions: add a second condition (a sender domain alongside the keyword), narrow a loose subject keyword, or add an exception for the case causing false hits. And before you attach a Delete action, run the rule for a while as move-to-folder or categorize instead, so you can see exactly what it would have deleted in a safe folder before trusting it to throw mail away.

There is a deeper reason rules are so prone to these quiet failures, and it is the same reason a different approach can help. Rules match literal text and metadata; they have no understanding of what a message means, only whether its raw content contains the exact strings you typed. A rule built to catch invoices sails right past a message that says your statement is ready, because the word invoice never appears. You end up patching one literal rule with another, chasing every phrasing a sender might use, and new wording slips through until you add yet another rule. The maintenance never quite ends.

If you take one habit from this guide, make it caution with destructive actions: never let a rule move large volumes or delete without first watching what it catches in a safe folder. The second is a periodic review — every few months, open your rules list, delete what no longer applies, tighten anything that has drifted, and confirm none have quietly turned client-only. A lean, well-ordered set is far easier to trust than a sprawling one nobody remembers building.

How does AI Emaily turn plain-English rules into action across every account?

Outlook rules do one mailbox's sorting with keyword-and-metadata logic, and they do it differently in each version of the app. If Outlook is your only mailbox and your needs are simple, the recipes above will carry you a long way. But the friction we kept hitting — rules that only understand literal text, rules whose setup changes depending on which Outlook you opened, and rules that only work inside one account — is exactly the gap an AI email client is built to close. AI Emaily is an AI-native email client that works across every account you connect, Outlook and Gmail and any IMAP mailbox alike, with one rule system that spans all of them instead of a separate, version-specific rule list per provider.

The first difference is how you create a rule. Instead of deciding which builder you are in and translating your intent into condition fields, you describe what you want in plain English: move anything from my accountant to Finance and mark it read, or flag emails from clients when they mention a deadline. AI Emaily's rules brain reads that sentence and builds the rule for you. It ships with 15 ready-made templates for the jobs people automate most — newsletters, receipts, VIP senders, travel, and so on — and it suggests AI-matched rules based on the patterns it sees in how you already handle mail, so you are not starting from a blank panel. The keyword-versus-meaning gap narrows because the system understands what an invoice or a deadline actually is, not just whether a word appears.

The second difference is what happens after a rule matches. An Outlook rule moves, flags, and categorizes — it sorts, but it does not act. AI Emaily pairs the rules brain with an AI agent that goes a step further: draft the reply a matched email needs, summarize a long thread before you open it, or surface the one message in a pile that genuinely requires you today. Crucially, the agent works under your control. In Copilot mode it prepares the action and waits for your approval before anything is sent, with undo and a full audit trail, so automation never means losing the final say. You get the hands-off sorting of a great rule set plus a layer that handles the response.

The cross-account part is where the everyday friction of multiple inboxes disappears. If you run a work Outlook account, a personal Gmail, and maybe a project mailbox on your own domain, Outlook rules can only ever touch the Outlook one — and even there, the rule you built in classic Outlook might not show up in the web app. The other accounts need their own, separate rule systems. AI Emaily collapses that into a single place: you write a rule once — keep anything about the Q3 launch together and flag it — and it runs the same way no matter which account the mail arrives in, and no matter which device you are on, including your phone, where Outlook itself cannot create rules at all. One rule, every inbox.

It also changes how maintenance feels. A keyword rule set tends to decay: senders change addresses, a new newsletter slips past your conditions, a rule that once worked starts catching the wrong mail, and a rule you built quietly turns client-only and stops running when your laptop is closed. Because AI Emaily's rules understand categories of mail rather than brittle exact strings, they adapt as your patterns change, and the AI-matched suggestions surface new rules worth adding before clutter piles up. The result is closer to an inbox that stays sorted on its own than one you are forever re-tuning by hand.

You can try it without committing anything. AI Emaily's Free plan is $0 and connects your accounts with the plain-English rules and core agent so you can feel the difference on your own inbox; Pro is $17.99 per month billed annually for the heavier automation and higher limits. If keeping Outlook rules straight across versions, accounts, and the client-versus-server split has started to feel like a part-time job, it is worth seeing what describing a rule once — and having it run everywhere — feels like instead. You can create an account at app.aiemaily.com/signup.

• Plain-English rules with an AI-matched brain — describe the outcome and let it recognize concepts (receipts, newsletters, VIPs), not just exact text.
• 15 ready-made templates plus AI-matched suggestions, so you start from working examples instead of an empty panel.
• An AI agent that drafts replies, summarizes threads, and surfaces what needs you — with your approval, undo, and an audit trail.
• One rule system across every account you connect — Outlook, Gmail, IMAP — set up and adjusted from any device, including your phone.

Where does this leave your inbox?

Outlook rules are worth setting up, and now you know how regardless of which app you are in. Start by identifying your version: new Outlook and the web build rules in Settings, Mail, Rules with Add new rule, while classic Outlook uses Home, Rules, Manage Rules & Alerts, New Rule. Build each rule from at least a name, a condition, and an action, lean on the recipe table for the common cases, and use the create-from-message shortcut to set up per-sender rules fast.

Keep the mechanics in mind: rules run top to bottom and Stop processing more rules can halt the chain; new rules skip existing mail unless you run them on it (and only classic Outlook can); server-side rules run everywhere while client-only ones run only when the desktop app is open; and the mobile app can use rules but cannot create them. For a lot of people that is plenty, and three good rules will transform a messy inbox in an afternoon. When you outgrow keyword logic — when you want rules you can write in plain English, that understand what your mail means, that run across every account from any device, and that can act on a message rather than just file it — that is the moment an AI email client like AI Emaily earns its place. Either way, the goal is the same: an inbox that sorts itself so the only mail in front of you is the mail that needs you.