Mail Filters for MS Outlook

If you want to block unsolicited bulk email, or SPAM, a mail filter might help. MS Outlook 2000 has a simple to use system for creating mail filters. If you have not already turned on spam tagging, you will want to do that now.

Start the "Rules Wizard"

• Start Outlook, and click on the "Tools" Menu
• Click on the "Rules Wizard..." option, if it is not visible click on the arrows on the bottom of the menu to show all the hidden options.

Adding a simple filter

• To add a new filter, click "New..."
1. Select when the filter should be applied. For this example use "Check messages when they arrive". Then click "Next".
2. Select the properties that you want to match. For example if you wanted to match messages with the word "SPAM" in the subject then you would check the "with specific words in the subject" box. Next, in lower box, click on the "specific words" link.
3. To add the word "SPAM", type it into the "Add new" box and click add. When you are done click "Ok".
4. Once you have specified all the properties you want to match, click "Next".
5. Now that you have told Outlook what messages you want to act on, you must tell it what to do with those messages. For spam you most likely want to delete it, so check "delete it". And then click "Next"
6. At this point you can specify any messages that you want to exempt from the filter. You most likely don't need to check any thing here.
7. Give your filter a name and click finish
• Once you have created all the filters you want, click "Ok" and they will be applied to your mail.