Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
[Date Sent] [Is Less Than] 3 days old
[Message Content] [Does not contain] Mavericks
4. From the provided pop-up menus, choose the action you want the rule to per-
form on a message if (and only if) it matches the condition you just specified.
(Just ahead I explain how to handle rules that include multiple actions.)
Here are some examples:
[Move Message] to mailbox: [Filed]
[Set Color of Message] [of background] [Blue]
[Reply to Message]
(
Click the button and fill in your reply
)
[Mark as Read]
(If you use a rule to move a message, choose your target mailbox carefully. In
general, unless you mean to specifically archive the message to a local mailbox,
you'll want to move it to a server-based mailbox—most likely in the same ac-
count—so the message will be available on all your iOS devices and other Macs.)
5. Click OK.
An alert appears, asking if you want to apply your rules (including the one you
just created) to messages in selected mailboxes.
6. Click Apply or Don't Apply, as you prefer, but I generally suggest clicking Don't
Apply, because applying new rules to messages in open mailboxes can have un-
expected and potentially unpleasant results.
7. If you're finished creating rules, close the Preferences window.
Your new rule now checks all incoming messages for matches and performs the actions on
them that you set.
Rules can get quite elaborate. For example, you can click the plus button to add multiple
conditions and choose Any or All from the pop-up menu at the top of the dialog to specify
whether the rule is triggered if at least one condition is met (
any
) or if they must all be (
all
).
Likewise, a rule can perform several consecutive actions, such as marking a message as read,
replying to it, and moving it to a mailbox.
