Outlook e-mail rules are admittedly rather complex. It may help you to understand them if you follow the steps required to define a few different kinds of rules.
This first rule example shows you how to define a rule that moves all messages from a certain domain to a specified folder. It would be useful if, for example, you are doing some contracting work for a company and are interacting with several people there. This rule moves all e-mail that you receive from anyone at that company into one folder, helping you to stay organized.
The first step is to create the folder:
In the mail Navigation Pane, click the location where you want to place the new folder. You can click a mailbox if you want the new folder to be at the top level in that mailbox. You can also click an existing folder to create the new folder within that folder.
Click the arrow next to the New button on the toolbar and select Folder from the menu. Outlook displays the Create New Folder dialog box.
Enter the new folder name in the Name box.
Make sure that Mail and Post Items is selected in the Folder Contains list.
Now that you have created the folder, you can proceed to defining the rule:
Choose Tools Rules and Alerts from the Outlook menu to display the Rules and Alerts dialog box.
On the E-Mail Rules tab, click the New Rule button. Outlook displays ...