How To Filter Emails in Outlook to a Folder [using Rule and new search Folder]?

Outlook users in multiple fields create a specific working pattern and make their work smoother, the difficult task is filtration, there are several criteria according to the user to filter the emails in different segments of work.

Filtering and sorting emails manually in Outlook really a time-consuming task. Outlook provides you with a rule section, which allows the user to command outlook to meet certain criteria.

In this article, you will learn “How to Filter Emails in Outlook to a Folder using Rule and New Search Folder.” 

How Outlook apply Rule to Existing Mail?

As a matter of fact, setting up rules in Outlook correctly can help you organize your inbox, deal with unwanted emails, manage your email subscriptions, and much more.

In Outlook, there is an organized template for filtering in an organized manner, or you can create your own template according to your requirements. The following picture and video illustrate some of the templates provided by Outlook Check.

outlook email management

You can see when you select the template, the pre-designed rule description in step 2 appears, all you have to do is select the hyperlink and make changes if required.

How to Filter Emails in Outlook?

Here is Step by Step guide on how to filter emails in outlook.

Firstly, you must be clear about what reason you required filtration in outlook.

We will learn all default templates and learn how outlook email management works.

Open Outlook >> Click Home Tab >> Rules >> Manage rules and alerts.

can you block emails on outlook

How to Move Messages from Someone to a folder in Outlook?

move messages from someone to a folder in outlook
  • Select move messages from someone to a folder in outlook and you will get the prebuild rule book in the step 2 section.
  • The first question is from people or a public group, click on the hyperlink, and now you have to select the people or group. (Basically, these people or groups are the lists of contacts you have created, if not it’s better to import the contacts in outlook.
how to create a rule in outlook
  • The next question is where you want to move (to the specific folder). That means that every time you receive a message from your selected email address or Group, that message will automatically be automatically routed to your specific folder. Click the hyperlink “Specific” of the third message.
email rule
  • I have cleared a separate folder of that, you can click new to generate a new folder and click next.
  • Click Finish, and your rule is created for moving messages from someone to a folder in outlook.
select group mail

To move all existing messages from the sender located in the current folder to the filter’s target folder, Click Run rules now >> Select the rule and select apply rule to All messages and click Run Now.

setting up rules in outlook

That will Run this rule now on messages already in the current folder.

Filter Emails & Send to Folder [Using New Search Folder]

New Search Folder is the customized folder designed to separate and keep a copy of the specific nature of emails from your desired folder, whether by size, date, address, or any other multiple options.

A new search Folder consists of a predefined filter, and you can also create your own customized filter and create a new search folder.

Go to Folder Tab, from the ‘New‘ section click on ‘New Search Folder‘, which consists of multiple sections with subsections.

  • Reading Mail
  1. Unread Mail
  2. Mail Flagged for Follow up
  3. Mail either unread or flagged for Follow up
  4. Important Mail
  • Mail from People and Lists
  1. Mail from and to a specific person
  2. Mail from Specific Person
  3. Mail send directly to me
  4. Mail send to public groups
  • Organizing Mail
  1. Categorized mail
  2. Large Mail
  3. Old Mail
  4. Mail with attachment
  5. Mail with Specific Words

Once you select any of them, Outlook asks too few minor related questions, and everything is set, relevant email messages create a copy with a new search folder.

Let’s understand a few examples with pictures for better understanding:

Filter Large Mail – New Search Folder

Select Large mail from the New Search Folder dialog box, Now the minor step, click on choose and enter the size “Show mail getter then”, and click OK.

Large than 100 KB folder under new search folder created with emails getter than 100KB.

Mail from Specific Person – New Search Folder

In this example, you can create a new search Folder with the emails received from a specific person.

Select New Search Folder, select mail from a specific person, and select choose.

A select name dialog box appears, select the email address/ groups from the list or enter the email/s under from section and click OK.

Also, the Black Friday folder appears under the newly created search folder, which contains all the emails received from the group members.

Use the Filter Email Feature and Copy all to the Folder

Microsoft Outlook consists of one feature filter email, you can filter emails from the email list according to your required criteria, copy all of them and transfer them to the specified folder.

Click on Home Tab, go to filter email, and click on the drop-down list, you find a few categories by default, from the bottom of the drop-down list, there is an option for a customized filter ‘More filters’, that will directly walk you through the search bar.

The search bar is designed to find any type of group of emails. once you have the list of emails, you can transfer, them or copy-paste them to a specific folder.

Once all filtered emails are on your screen, go to the inbox of your respective email, click the right mouse button, and select new folder.

The new folder appears, just below the inbox, name your folder.

Now all your required emails are filtered, and a new folder is also available, click Ctrl-A to select all the emails, now hold one email message from your mouse left button, and drop it into that newly created folder.

That is another simple method to Filter Emails in Outlook to a Folder.

Why Do You Need the Filtering Feature in Outlook and Create a Separate Folder?

You don’t have to turn your filter on, but it can help improve your productivity with both personal and business email.

Here are some of the top reasons you may benefit from the filter feature and separate them in a folder:

  • Search for specific messages. If you’re always looking for emails from a specific person (like your boss) or type of email (like travel plans), you can use the filter option to keep those emails separate from everything else.
  • Save searches. If any searches become a regular activity, you can separate them into a specific folder and get back to them at any time.
  • Forward emails to folders. You can create a filter rule to recognize specific emails as soon as they come in and send them into a folder. It’s a handy feature for keeping track of important correspondence.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, by changing the “one for each folder rule,” you can select which folders you want to filter.

For instance, if you have dozens of folders in your Inbox and only want to filter certain ones for meeting requests, you can set those specific folders, but keep all others.

Whether you use the Rule function or the new search folder, the purpose is to separate emails from specific criteria.

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