For years I used Outlook and recently switched to Office for Mac and
Entourage. In outlook I created rules that put all my incoming emails
into appropriate folders. I tried to do this in Entourage and found
it confusing. Can anyone explain how to use rules both for incoming
mail and to sort mail in current folders. For example, one specific
concern is I also use Gmail and it sends a copy of my sent mails via
pop to Entourage. I'd like to have all of these mails be placed in my
"sent mail" folder. Thanks for any thoughts. Bob
You can set Gmail to be used in Entourage as a POP server.
Rule Basics:
There are 3 different kind of rules in Entourage:
Mailing List Manager (MLM)
Junk Mail Filter
Rules (custom rules you create)
They run in the order listed above. The custom rules also run in the order
they are listed. (top runs first)
Use the MLM for all lists. Use rules for the remainder. Try to use
categories instead of individual addresses when possible. When a new address
is added to a contact in the Address Book then it will automatically be
acted on by the rule if you use categories in your rules. See example:
<
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/example/rule002.html>
1) POP Rules act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in the Inbox (On My
Computer), NOT when it arrives in any other folder. Once it's moved to
another folder it won't be seen by rules.
2) IMAP Rules are meant to act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in
the IMAP INBOX, not when moved to another IMAP folder.
3) Exchange Rules act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in the
Exchange Inbox.
See "Using Rules with Entourage" for help and examples:
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http://entourage.mvps.org/rules/index.html>
Get Started Lesson on using Rules:
Let's say you have no custom rules created. You have a ton of mail in your
Inbox and Junk folder . If it's in your Junk folder and it's good mail,
select "This is not junk" and add the entry to your Address Book.
[IMPORTANT] Having an up to date Address Book is key to managing your mail
and using rules. Assign a category to every entry in your Address Book. You
can select using command-select to quickly add a lot of entries to one
category.
Select the first message in your InBox. Can this message be sorted by
a category like Work, Buddy, Family, Announcements, Newsletters? If yes,
then assign a category to the contact and set a rule.
My Buddy Rule:
From is in category Buddy
Is not in a mailing list
Move to folder Buddy
Run AppleScript Play sound (I like to use this action so I can hear when I
get mail from my buddies)
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/sounds.html>
Look through other email in the Inbox and see if there are other emails
there from Buddies. Assign categories to these contacts if you haven't
assigned in your Address Book and run "All Rules". This will move all buddy
mail fro your Inbox.
Take the next message, create a rule. Can you assign this to a category, or
do you need a specialized rule?
Some specialized rules you might want:
Remove incoming attachments with one of the "remove attachment" scripts.
They will save, remove and link the saved files to the message, so you can
open the file directly from the message.
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/script/fav_scripts.html#favscript17>
<
http://scriptbuilders.net/files/saveattachments20041.0.0.html>
Also remove your outgoing attachments with a rule. This is assuming your
outgoing attachments are stored elsewhere on your computer. No need to have
them duplicated and filling up your database.
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/example/rule001.html>
I suggest that you create a rule for Junk Mail where "From is Me".
This catches the real spam where it appears the mail is from you and not
mail you send yourself. I like the first example. I haven't met a spammer
yet that uses Entourage for a sending client.
Junk Mail where "From is Me"
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/example/rule012.html>
Last, I HIGHLY suggest you use a nospam address for posting on newsgroups.
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http://www.entourage.mvps.org/get_started/tip019.html>
Hope this helps.
