How to Set Up Automated Email Rules in macOS?

When you use the Mac and have several different email accounts, your inbox can soon turn into a battleground of information overload. The flood of newsletters, reminders, client queries, social networking news, and personal emails is constantly pouring in, burying essential communications under piles of information.

Luckily, you do not need to manually sort out the mess every day. There is a great automation system included with the Apple Mail – the so-called Rules. You can set up certain rules for your email client to sort out, tag, flag, forward or even reply to incoming messages right upon their receipt into your inbox.

This tutorial covers all aspects of Apple Mail rules, provides step-by-step instructions for setting up both simple and complicated rules, and gives useful advice on how to maintain a well-organized inbox on macOS.

What Are Apple Mail Rules and How Do They Work?

In essence, an Apple Mail rule is nothing but an “If/Then” instruction that you set up within your email client.

• “If” (Criteria): You set up certain criteria that your messages need to meet. These could depend on the sender’s email address, keywords in the subject line, message size, VIP status, or even whether the message was sent specifically to you.
• “Then” (Action): Next, you set up actions that need to be performed by the Apple Mail application upon meeting the set criteria. The action might consist in placing the message into a particular folder, changing the text color, playing a sound file, forwarding the message to a colleague, etc.

If a new mail arrives, then Apple Mail considers your set rules in the order in which they have been arranged, that is from top to bottom. Once a matching rule is found, then the action is taken. It is important to understand this sequential checking process.

Guide: Setting up Your First Rule

It’s not too difficult to create an automatic rule in Apple Mail. Here is how to set one up that automatically sorts any emails coming in from a certain client or company into their very own folder.

Step 1: Create a Destination Folder

Create a destination folder where your emails will be placed before setting up your rule.

1. Launch the Apple Mail application on your Mac computer.
2. Right-click or control-click the mail account or On My Mac area in the left side panel, then click New Mailbox….
3. Give the folder a name, such as Client Projects, and click OK.

Step 2: Open the Rules Settings Panel

1. While having Mail active, from the top menu bar of your macOS system, choose Mail > Settings… (or simply use the keyboard shortcut Command +, ).
2. The Settings panel will be opened. Go to the Rules tab.
3. Press Add Rule in order to configure the rule.

Step 3: Define the Description and Conditions

Description: Provide a descriptive name to the rule you want to configure (for example, Sort Client Inquiries).

Conditions Section: Select the options that specify what situations the rule will be applied in. You’ll notice the drop-down menus that say, “If [any] of the following conditions are met:”

• If you have several conditions and need to set them up strictly, use all instead of any; or use any if only one of the conditions is needed to apply the rule.
• From in the first drop-down menu, contains in the second menu, and the e-mail address or domain in the field box (for example, @acme-corp.com).

Note: You can always add more conditions by clicking the + sign on the right side.

Step 4: Set the Actions

Carry out the following steps Section: Find out what occurs when a particular message meets your criteria.

• Choose Move message from the first dropdown box.
• Choose the destination folder which you made previously from the second dropdown box (for instance, Client Projects).
• Optionally: You can also add more actions by clicking on the + sign (Mark as Read, for example).

Step 5: Save and Apply

1. Click OK to save the rule.
2. You will get a dialog box from Apple Mail which will ask you: “Do you want to apply rules to messages in selected mailboxes?”
3. Click Apply if you wish to apply rules to the existing messages in your mailbox or else click on Don’t Apply.

Advanced Rule Configurations for Maximum Productivity

After you learn to use basic sorting, you are able to take advantage of the advanced rules for coping with complicated processes. Below there are three useful settings that any user of Mac should apply:

1. High Priority – Notification about VIP

In case you have to deal with important accounts or receive important messages from management, you will be able to set a rule that will break your “Do Not Disturb” mode or send you a special notification.

• Conditions: Sender is VIP or Subject includes Urgent.
• Actions: Sound plays (choose specific tone), Message color becomes Red, and Flag the message.

2. Automated Archiving of Newsletters

Newsletters make excellent reading material; however, their only downfall is that they disrupt your concentration at work.

• Condition: If the Subject field contains Unsubscribe or the Sender address contains the word “newsletter@”.
• Action: Move the email to a folder called Reading Material and Mark as Read.

3. Attachment Auto-Extractor/Saver

With reports or invoices being sent to you on a regular basis, it becomes possible to automate the process of saving these attachments right into a folder on your computer using a combination of AppleScript and mail rules.

• When: Subject has Invoice and Attachment.
• What to do: Use an AppleScript script to save these attachments into a pre-determined folder in your external drive or desktop.

Best Practices and Troubleshooting Rules in Apple Mail

Despite being excellent productivity tools, bad rule management could result in missed emails and infinite loops. Use the following tips to prevent such problems in the future:

• Order Matters (Rule Priority): As discussed previously, Apple Mail goes through rules starting from top to bottom. Put more specific rules like client sorting at the top of the list while more general catch-all rules should be at the bottom of the list. Otherwise, a general rule will act on an email and prevent a more specific rule from evaluating the email.
• Simplify Rules: Do not fill one rule with many conflicting criteria. It is much better to work with several smaller targeted rules than to troubleshoot one huge and complicated rule.
• Rules Syncing Between Devices: Rules made locally through Apple Mail on Mac OS do not necessarily sync themselves to the iOS devices (iPhone/iPad) unless they completely depend upon the server-based rules (e.g. iCloud server rules). In case you need strict automation between the devices, consider making rules via your webmail provider (Gmail, for example) or using iCloud Mail rules.
• Regular Updates: Review your rules periodically. With time, some of the projects get completed, clients’ email addresses change, and your subscription to the newsletters ends.

Epilogue

Email rules are the key to efficient emailing. Spending just a few moments setting up smart systems in Apple Mail for Mac will allow you to win back hours of wasted time and end your daily struggle with your inbox. Whatever you need to do – organize client tasks, sort newsletters, mark urgent emails, learning how to use rules in Apple Mail will turn your inbox into a highly productive tool.