Use inbox rules to automatically perform specific actions on email messages that come into your inbox.
Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook helps you create and review inbox rules using natural language. You can ask Copilot to set up rules that organize incoming email such as moving, categorizing, or deleting messages and quickly review which rules are active, without opening the Rules settings page.
You can use inbox rules to automatically forward or redirect messages sent to your mailbox to another account. Messages that are forwarded will appear to be forwarded from you.
After making changes to classic Outlook rules, the next time you open the Rules and Alerts dialog you get the error below: “There was an error reading the rules from the server. The format of the server rules was not recognized.” Below are a set of steps that we can reproduce the issue.
Users get error "There was an error reading the rules from the server ...
Rules are either executed before a message or item reaches your device (server-side) or when the message or item arrives on your device (client-side). The way rules are executed depends on which conditions and actions are included in them.
After you create a list or a library in Microsoft Lists, SharePoint, or Teams, you can create rules to automate tasks such as sending someone a notification when data changes in the list or a new file is created in the library.
As soon as a message has met the criteria for a rule, no other rules are applied. However, you can define a rule so that messages that meet its criteria are still available for other rules.
Rules let you handle email messages automatically based on a variety of different criteria. For example, you can move all messages from someone into a folder, or immediately delete all messages from a pesky online shopping site.
Training: Use Sweep, Archive, rules, and more in Outlook on the web to organize your inbox. Watch this video to learn how.