OL97: Cannot Create a Conditional Rule with the Rules Wizard

The Rules Wizard is a free utility that allows you to filter or sort e-mail messages based on user-defined criteria. It is available for download on the Microsoft Web site at: NOTE: Because the Microsoft Web site is regularly updated, the site address may change without notice. If this occurs, link to the Microsoft home page at the following address: If you want to create a rule that will move e-mail messages from the Inbox to a specific folder based on one criteria or another, you must use two rules to perform the action.

For example, to move all messages that contain either "Apples" or "Oranges" to a folder you created named Apples/Oranges, do the following:

1. Create a rule that looks for the text, Apples and moves it to the Apples/Oranges folder.
   1. On the Tools menu, click Rules Wizard.
   2. Click New to start creating the rule.
   3. In "Which type of rule do you want to create", select "Move messages based on content."
   4. Click "When I receive a message in my Inbox" as when to apply the rule.
   5. In the Rule Description, click "specific words", type Apples as the text to search for, then click OK.
   6. In the Rule Description, click "specified", click the Apples/Oranges folder, click OK, then click Next.
   7. Select the condition you prefer, such as "with specific words in the subject or body," then click Next.
   8. Select what you want to do to the message, such as "Move it to the specified folder," then click Next.
   9. Click to select any exceptions to the rule, then click Next.
   10. Type Apples as the name for this rule, click "Turn on this rule", and then click Finish.
2. Copy and modify the first rule.
   1. In the opening dialog box of the Rules Wizard, select the rule created in step 1.
   2. Click Copy, then click Rename. Type Oranges, in New Name, then click OK.
   3. In the Rule description, click Apples, then change it to Oranges in Search Text and click OK.
   4. In "Apply rules in the following order", click to check the Oranges rule, then click OK.

You cannot create a single rule which performs an action based on an "either/or" condition using the Rules Wizard for Microsoft Outlook 97.