The average professional receives around 121 business emails per day. Without some form of organization, finding the messages that actually matter becomes a significant time cost. Outlook rules solve this by automatically routing emails into folders based on criteria you define, including words in the subject line.
How to Set Up a Rule in Outlook for a Specific Word
- Right-click on an email that contains the word or phrase you want to filter
- Select "Rules" from the dropdown menu, then "Create Rule"
- Select "Subject Contains" and enter the words you want to filter on
- Tick the box for "Move the item to folder" and click "Select Folder" to choose or create your destination folder
- Click OK to activate the rule
The rule applies to future emails automatically. You can also choose to run it on existing emails in your inbox.
Why This Is Worth Setting Up
- Saves time filtering through high-volume inboxes to find specific project or client messages
- Keeps your primary inbox focused on the emails that require attention
- Separates different types of communication into distinct folders, such as "Social Media Mentions" versus "Sales Inquiries"
- Reduces the stress of an overflowing inbox by ensuring low-priority messages do not compete with important ones
Other Ways to Keep Outlook Organized
Rules are one tool among several that help manage email volume effectively:
- Labels and categories: Sort messages with tags like "Priority," "Low Priority," or "Follow Up" without moving them to separate folders
- Multiple inbox sections: Set up views based on importance, urgency, or required action time
- Focused Inbox: Outlook's built-in filtering separates important messages from newsletters and promotional content automatically
- Unsubscribe from inactive lists: Reducing incoming volume is more effective than organizing around it
- Flags and reminders: Flag emails that require follow-up so they appear in your To-Do bar
For teams that are drowning in email, moving more communication to Microsoft Teams channels is worth considering. Threaded conversations in Teams are easier to follow and search than email threads, and relevant people are included without the "reply all" problem.