Folders and Filters

You can sort mail in different folders according to specified criteria (sender, subject, date, etc.) using filters in order to organize incoming e-mail. Filters are very powerful, but in this guide we'll only be able to look at some simple filter rules. Feel free to explore the filters tool (Tools->Message Filters...).

Let's assume you want to filter incoming messages according to the sender and you have at least one message from that sender in your Inbox folder. You want all incoming e-mail from someuser@somecompany.net to go directly into the SomeUser folder.

Highlight the message from the sender you want to filter and select Message->Create Filter From Message.... The filter creation window (Figure 8.9) will appear.

Figure 8.9. The Filter Creation Window

The Filter Creation Window

If the SomeUser folder does not exist, click the New Folder... button. In the Name field, enter the name of the new folder (SomeUser in our example). The Create as a sub-folder of pull-down list specifies the parent folder for the one you're about to create. Select the desired parent folder by navigating the folder tree and selecting Choose this for the parent. Click OK to create the new folder.

And that's all. You can change the Filter name if you want to (by default the filter's name is sender's mail address). Use the More and Fewer buttons to add and remove filtering criteria to the rule and, once you are satisfied with your settings, click the OK button to accept the rule. You can create as many filtering rules as you want. By moving rules up and down in the Message Filters list, you can actually create a very complex and efficient set of filtering rules.