To set up the rule, go to Tools->Rules and Alerts (or Rules Wizard). Create a new blank rule, and then select Check messages after sending. Select a condition if you want to copy certain items to the IMAP folder, or leave it blank to copy every item you send. Now click Next.

Choose "Move a copy to the selected folder" as the action and select the Sent folder on your IMAP server, then click Next. Set up any exceptions you want and click Finish. Now all messages you send, or those meeting the conditions you selected, are copied to the IMAP server. If you have two or more email accounts and disable saving sent items, you'll need to create rules for the other accounts if you want to save the sent messages.

If you don't want a second copy locally, open Tools->Options->Preferences->Email Options and remove the check from "Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder". If you have more than one account, you should create a rule for each account, otherwise all sent items are moved to the IMAP server's Sent folder.

A Knowledge Base article details this method using a condition of "messages using the Message form" so that it applies only to messages, not task or meeting requests. Although it says it's for Outlook 98 in Internet mail only mode, the same technique works for all versions that support IMAP accounts. The Knowledge Base article, "OL98: (IMO) How to Save Sent Items on an IMAP Server" can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=198852.

Diane Poremsky is the president of CDOLive LLC and a Microsoft Outlook MVP. She's author of Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours (Sam's, 2003) and coauthor of OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide). For questions or suggestions for future columns, write her at outlook@cdolive.com.