The choose a folder dialog will now pop-up. Select "Inbox - Messages from the boss" on the left, and then click OK.

FIGURE P

Select your folder. Click picture for a larger image.

Notice there is a New button in this dialog. You could have created your folder now, rather than before the rule creation process. I like to create all my rule-related objects first. Since there's invariably something I didn't think of, this is a good practice to get into to make sure you're thinking your rule processing pattern through carefully.

As you can see in Figure Q, the "specified" hyperlink has changed to the name of your folder.

FIGURE Q

The rule now knows where to file the message. Click picture for a larger image.

As you might also have noticed, there's another condition that's been added automatically to your rule, "And on this machine only". This is a squirrelly little "feature" that Outlook tends to insert into rules -- and one that annoys me.

Basically, the intention is to make sure this rule doesn't fire when you're accessing your email on another machine, and might not have this set of local folders. But it tends to be problematic, because this is implying you're either using a server machine with local folders, some variant of IMAP, or an Exchange server.

Bottom line: if you're only running on your local machine and you're not talking to IMAP or an Exchange server, you can probably delete this line. I usually just ignore it.

Click Next and we'll move on to the exceptions screen, as shown in Figure R.

FIGURE R

There are no exceptions to this rule. Click picture for a larger image.

In the case of this particular rule, there are no exceptions. To be fair, exceptions are incredibly powerful and you'll want to try them out. But since we're doing a very basic rule (and we've got 19 screenshots in this article as it is), we'll save exceptions for another day.

For a good article on a complex rule that uses exceptions, read "Building a complete rule-based application" at http://www.outlookpower.com/issues/issue200505/00001569001.html.

Since we're not putting any exceptions into our current rule, click Next.

Giving this a name
Hang in there, Dear Reader. We're nearly done. All that's left is to give this rule a name. As you can see in Figure S, I've creatively named this rule "Mail from the Boss" and made sure the rule is turned on.

FIGURE S

Name it and enable it, and you're good to go. Click picture for a larger image.

There you go. A step-by-step scratch-built rule for you to use as a model for all your future rules.

Here's one final tip: remember rules process literally what you tell them. If your boss sends you an email from derbossdude@hotmail.com, this rule isn't going to pick it up, even though it's mail from your boss.

You'll need to be somewhat diligent and make sure all your rules work the way you expect and make sure you both check your rule scripts (what we just built) and the contents of the "Inbox - Messages from the boss" folder on a regular basis.

Now, go forth and rulify!

For more than 20 years, David Gewirtz, the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone? and The Flexible Enterprise has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and can be reached via email at david@zatz.com.