Creating a Rule to Sort Your Email

It is possible to create a rule in your student email account so that mail sent from your instructors can be sorted into separate folders automatically. This can be helpful to quickly locate emails sent by your instructors without sorting through your entire inbox.

To create such a rule, first log in to your student email account. From your inbox, select the gear icon in the upper right corner of the page, and select the Options link from the menu that loads:

In the left pane, select Inbox and sweep rules:

In the Inbox rules menu, select the + sign to begin adding a new rule:

Add a descriptive Name for the rule:

In the When the message arrives, and it matches all of these conditions dropdown menu, select It was sent or received and then Received from…

This will load a search menu. In this menu, click the >> symbol:

Next, select Directory:

Type your instructor’s name in the Search Directory field and press the enter key:

This will load a list containing everyone who meets your search criteria. Locate your instructor in this list, and click the + sign next to their entry:

Click OK in the upper left corner of the pane:

Next, in the Do all of the following menu, select highlight Move, copy, or delete and select Move the message to folder:

This will load a list of all of the folders in your inbox.

If you have not already created a folder for your class you can do so in this menu. To do this, right-click on the Inbox heading and select Create new subfolder:

This will load a blank field. Enter the name of the course in that field and press enter. This will create a new folder with your course’s name. Select that folder and click OK:

Next, click OK in the top right of the pane:

This will create the rule. Now, any email you receive from the instructor you selected will automatically be placed in the folder you indicated.

You can repeat the above steps to setup up sorting rules for your other courses, if desired.

The next resource will show you how to setup email on your phone or device.