Tips for Filtering Email

Filtering mail using MS Outlook.

  1. In MS Outlook, from the Tools main pull-down menu, select Rules Wizard.
  2. The Rules Wizard dialog box will pop up. From the upper right hand side of the dialog box, select New to create a new rule.
  3. You will be asked Which type of rule you do want to create? Select Check messages when they arrive, and click Next.
  4. You will be asked Which condition(s) do you want to check? Scroll down in the upper window, and select With specific words in the subject. Click on the underlined words Specific Words in the lower window.
  5. A new dialog box will appear, titled Search Text. In the Add New text entry box, type ‘(off topic)‘ (without the single quotes), and click Add.
    • After this initial entry, you may add any other variations you think you might receive, i.e., ‘[off topic]‘, etc. (again, without the single quotes). Click Add after each entry. In the lower window of this dialog box, you will see the a growing list of all of the types of text that this rule will look for. When your list is complete, click Ok.
  6. You may receive a warning indicating that you are creating a rule that looks for multiple phrases, and that this rule won’t work with previous versions of Outlook. Click Yes to create the rule.
  7. You will see that there is description of the rule in the main dialog box. Click Next.
  8. Now you have to decide what to do with any messages that come in labeled as off topic posts.
    1. If you want all off topic messages put in a special folder from which you may read or may just delete later, select Move it to a specified folder. (Skip to 8-2 if you just want to delete all incoming off topic posts.)
      • Click the underlined word Specified in the lower window in order to select the folder the off topic messages should go to. A new dialog box titled Rules Wizard will open. A list of your mail folders will appear. Select New in order to create a new folder.
      • A new dialog box titled Create New Folder will appear. In the Name text entry box, label the new folder SF WoW Off Topic. In the Folder Will Contain text entry box, select Mail Items. In the third box, which displays an overview of your mail folders, select where you want this new folder to sit within your mail folders hierarchy. You may be asked if you want to create a shortcut to this folder. Click No.
      • You will be returned to the rules wizard dialog box, with your newly created folder selected. Click Ok.
    2. If instead you never want to read off topic posts, in the window labeled What do you want to do with the message?, click Permanently Delete It.
      • You will receive a warning that all messages that match this rule will be permanently deleted with no way for you to retrieve them. Click Yes to agree. If you don’t like the idea, click No and select Delete It rather than Permanently Delete It.
  9. Click Finish. You will be asked to prioritize the order in which any rules you have should be applied. If you have never created rules in MS Outlook before, you can leave this “Off Topic” rule as the first to be processes for incoming messages. Click Ok. The rule will now be applied to incoming messages.

You can get a lot fancier if desired, such as making rules for other SF WoW subject line identifiers. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to email our Listmom.

Filtering mail using MS Outlook Express.

From the main MS Outlook Express window (rather than an individual email), do the following:

  1. From the Tools main pull-down menu, select Rules Wizard.
  2. Select the New button
  3. Select Check messages when they arrive and click Next
  4. Under Which conditions do you want to check scroll down until you see From people or distribution list and check that box.
  5. In the box below the top box, click on the words People or Distribution List. Type directly into the box on the right hand side ‘new-sfwow@yahoogroups.com‘ (without the single quotes) and click Ok.
  6. In the bottom box you should now see new-sfwow@yahoogroups.com in the place where it used to say People or Distribution List. If it doesn’t, go back to step 5 and try again.
  7. Click Next
  8. Check the top checkbox telling Outlook that you want to move it to the specified folder.
  9. In the box below, click on the words Specified Folder. It will pop up a box where you can either select a folder, or create a new folder by clicking the New button.
  10. Click Next
  11. You can now add additional conditions and filter on any words you choose.

Filtering mail using Eudora Pro.

  1. From the Tools main pull-down menu, select Filters.
  2. The Filters dialog box pops up. In the lower left-hand corner, click New
  3. On the right hand side, at the top:
    • For Match, select Incoming
    • For Header, select Subject
    • For Contains, type ‘SF WoW‘ (without the single quotes)
    • Leave the next few fields as they are
    • For Actions, select Transfer to
    • Select a mailbox to transfer all SF WoW email to, or click New and create an SF WoW mailbox
  4. Close the Filters window. When asked to save changes, click Yes

Changing your email settings to receive Individual, Digest or No Email

  1. Log in at Yahoo groups and go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups
  2. Click on Edit My Groups
  3. Under Message Delivery, select Individual Emails, Daily Digest or No Email (handy when you go on vacation).
  4. Click the SAVE CHANGES button before you leave the page or it won’t save your changes.

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