Get Organized

Got 1400 messages in your in-box? It might be time to sort through the barrage. Outlook Express makes it easy to create folders and subfolders to store your messages in an organized manner. To create a new folder, click File, Folder, New (or type Ctrl-Shift-E.) Type a name for your new folder, choose where you want the folder to reside, and then click OK. You can also drag and drop folders from one spot to another in the main folder window.

You can direct incoming mail to specific folders by using the Rules command (the equivalent of the Filters command in Eudora). Click Tools, Message Rules, Mail to bring up the New Mail Rule dialog. Set the condition (such as who the message comes from or what size it is) and the action (to move or copy it to a specific folder, for example) for your rule. Then choose a name for your rule.

Under Rule Description, click the blue links for condition and action to get more specific. (The links appear only after you have selected conditions for your rule.) For example, if you chose "Where the From line contains people" for your rule's condition, click on the "contains people" link and then type in names or add them from your address book. If you selected "Copy it to the specified folder" for your rule's action, click on the "specified" link and then choose the folder you want the message copied to. When new messages come into the mailbox, they will get sorted into folders using the rules.