Lotus Notes 7 Help - Filtering new mail using rules

MAIL AND ADDRESS BOOK

Filtering new mail using rules
You can use mail rules to have Notes act automatically on new messages you receive that meet certain conditions. For example, you could create a rule that checks for messages from a certain sender or that contain a certain subject and have Notes automatically move the messages to a certain folder, send copies of the messages to someone, or delete unwanted messages before you ever see them in your Inbox.

Notes stores the mail rules you create in the Rules folder in your mail database. You can go there to add new rules as well as work on the ones you've created. For example, you can edit rules, change their order so that one rule has priority over another, turn them off when you don't want to use them, or delete them entirely. Click any of these topics:

To create a rule
To manage rules
Examples: Mail rules

To create a rule

1. Open your mail database and in the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules.

2. From the menu, choose Actions - New Rule.

3. Choose one:

Condition -- to specify a condition by which to filter mail.

Exception -- to specify an exception for mail that will not be filtered.

4. Select a part of messages to check (such as "sender" or "subject"), select a state (such as "contains" or "is"), and enter the criteria to check for (such as the name of a certain person or a certain word). Don't use quotation marks for the criteria you enter.

For example, you could select "sender" and "contains," and then enter Alice to filter all messages sent to you by Alice French, Alice Stearns, and anyone else named Alice. Or you could select "Size (in bytes)" and "is greater than," and then enter 2000 to filter all messages sent to you that are greater than 2000 bytes.

Or, suppose you receive a lot of surveys that need to be completed by the end of each month. You could select "Form" and "is," specify the name of the form for that type of Notes document -- such as "survey" -- and then select that it should be moved to a folder named "EndofMonth." For more information on forms, see Finding the name of a document's form.

Note The "contains" condition works on partial words, and is not case sensitive. For example, you could select "sender" and "contains," and then enter Al or al to filter all messages sent to you by anyone named Al, Alice, Alex, or Alicia. Don't put quotation marks around entries in the condition field, or you may see an error message. If using WebMail, don't use a forward slash in the condition field.

Tip The "all documents" condition lets you perform an action on all messages that arrive in your mail while the rule is enabled. For example, you might select "all documents" and specify sending a copy to me@myself.com while you are out of the office.

5. Click Add.

6. Do any of the following:

What do you want to do? Procedure

Add more conditions Select Condition, select "AND" or "OR," and repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each new condition.

Add an exception Select Exception and repeat Steps 3 and 4.

Add more exceptions Select Exception, select "AND" or "OR," and repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each new exception.

Remove a condition or exception Click it in the "When mail messages arrive" box and click Remove.

Remove all conditions and exceptions Click "Remove All."

7. Under "Specify Actions," choose any of the following:

Action Description

move to folder Select and select a folder.

copy to folder Select and select a folder.

send copy to Select whether you want the forwarded copies to contain the full message, or the message headers only. The headers are the subject, the addresses, and the date and time at the beginning of the message; they don't include the rich-text content of the message.
Then enter address of one or more recipients, separated by commas or semicolons, or click Address to select addresses from an address book.
Note If you find that a rule using the "send copy to" action is not working, ask your administrator whether this feature has been disabled for your organization.

set expire date Enter a number and select days, weeks, months, or years.

change importance to Select an importance level.

stop processing No further action is required. Processing of all rules following this rule stops.

delete No further action is required. The message is not delivered to your Inbox.

8. Click Add Action.

9. Do any of the following:

What do you want to do? Procedure

Add more actions Repeat Steps 6 through 8 for each new action.

Remove an action Click it in the "Perform the following actions" box and then click Remove.

Remove all actions Click "Remove All."

10. Click OK. The rule is enabled (On) by default. You can disable it until you're ready to run it.

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To manage rules

What do you want to do? Procedure

Enable or disable a rule

In the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules, and highlight one or more rules.
From the menu, choose Actions - Enable or Actions - Disable.

Tip You can also click the check mark icon next to any rule to enable or disable it.

Edit a rule

In the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules, and click the rule you want to edit.
Choose Actions - Edit.
Make your changes and click OK.

Move a rule

In the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules, and click the rule you want to move.
Choose Actions - Move Up or Actions - Move Down until the rule is where you want it.

Note Notes uses rules in the order in which they appear from top to bottom, so you can move the rules you want to have priority closer to the top. This way, if a new message you receive meets the criteria of two different rules, the rule that's closer to the top acts on the message first. (This is particularly important if you have rules that move or delete messages.)

Delete a rule

In the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules, and do one of the following:

To delete one rule, click the rule.
To delete more than one rule, click in the column to the left of each rule to select it.

Choose Actions - Delete.
Select Yes when Notes asks if you want to delete documents.

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Examples: Mail rules

The following rule automatically changes the importance of all messages from Tom Jenkins to high (which means Notes shows them with an exclamation point in the Inbox to catch your attention).

Example of a mail rule

The following rule automatically moves all messages that have the word "status" in the subject from the Inbox to the Status Reports folder unless (an exception) the subject also has the word "sales" or "project" in the subject.

Example of a mail rule

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Items in the rule conditions correspond to fields in the document properties of a mail message. Many of the items, such as Subject, have the same name as the field. The following table lists items whose names are different from the fields to which they correspond.

Item Field

Sender From and/or Principal

Internet domain SMTPOriginator (domain name portion only)

Subject Subject
Or
WebSubject

To SendTo

BCC BlindCopyTo

CC CopyTo

Delivery priority DeliveryPriority

See Also

Mail and Address Book

Managing junk mail

Sorting mail in a folder or view

Automating Tasks Using Simple Agents

Notes mail rules on the Lotus Developer Domain

Why do I get a Notes formula error message when I try to create a mail rule?

Specifying a schedule for client-based archiving

Glossary

Help on Help

All Help Contents

Glossary

Help on Help

All Help Contents

	What do you want to do?	Procedure
	Add more conditions	Select Condition, select "AND" or "OR," and repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each new condition.
	Add an exception	Select Exception and repeat Steps 3 and 4.
	Add more exceptions	Select Exception, select "AND" or "OR," and repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each new exception.
	Remove a condition or exception	Click it in the "When mail messages arrive" box and click Remove.
	Remove all conditions and exceptions	Click "Remove All."

Action	Description
move to folder	Select and select a folder.
copy to folder	Select and select a folder.
send copy to	Select whether you want the forwarded copies to contain the full message, or the message headers only. The headers are the subject, the addresses, and the date and time at the beginning of the message; they don't include the rich-text content of the message. Then enter address of one or more recipients, separated by commas or semicolons, or click Address to select addresses from an address book. Note If you find that a rule using the "send copy to" action is not working, ask your administrator whether this feature has been disabled for your organization.
set expire date	Enter a number and select days, weeks, months, or years.
change importance to	Select an importance level.
stop processing	No further action is required. Processing of all rules following this rule stops.
delete	No further action is required. The message is not delivered to your Inbox.

	What do you want to do?	Procedure
	Add more actions	Repeat Steps 6 through 8 for each new action.
	Remove an action	Click it in the "Perform the following actions" box and then click Remove.
	Remove all actions	Click "Remove All."

What do you want to do?	Procedure
Enable or disable a rule	In the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules, and highlight one or more rules. From the menu, choose Actions - Enable or Actions - Disable. Tip You can also click the check mark icon next to any rule to enable or disable it.
Edit a rule	In the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules, and click the rule you want to edit. Choose Actions - Edit. Make your changes and click OK.
Move a rule	In the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules, and click the rule you want to move. Choose Actions - Move Up or Actions - Move Down until the rule is where you want it. Note Notes uses rules in the order in which they appear from top to bottom, so you can move the rules you want to have priority closer to the top. This way, if a new message you receive meets the criteria of two different rules, the rule that's closer to the top acts on the message first. (This is particularly important if you have rules that move or delete messages.)
Delete a rule	In the navigation pane, click Tools and then Rules, and do one of the following: To delete one rule, click the rule. To delete more than one rule, click in the column to the left of each rule to select it. Choose Actions - Delete. Select Yes when Notes asks if you want to delete documents.

Item	Field
Sender	From and/or Principal
Internet domain	SMTPOriginator (domain name portion only)
Subject	Subject Or WebSubject
To	SendTo
BCC	BlindCopyTo
CC	CopyTo
Delivery priority	DeliveryPriority