How to Filter Email in Outlook

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Keep your Outlook inbox organized with this easy-to-use guide

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methods

1 Filtering by Email Address

2 Filtering by Words

3 Sorting Your Outlook Inbox

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Questions & Answers

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Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: April 26, 2024 Fact Checked

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Is your Outlook inbox so unorganized that you can't find what you're looking for? Fortunately, it's easy to filter messages into different folders based on email address (sender or receiver), words, and phrases in any version of Outlook, including Microsoft Outlook 365. We'll show you how to create rules in Outlook to automatically filter incoming email messages, plus how to sort your existing emails.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Filtering by Email Address

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1. 1
   Click a message sent to or from an address you want to filter. This opens the message in the right panel.

   • For example, if you want to filter all mail sent from one email address, click an email from that sender.
   • If you want to filter messages sent to one of your email addresses, click a message addressed to that address.
2. 2
   Click the Home tab. It’s near the top-left corner of the window.
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3. 3
   Click Rules. It’s in the row of icons near the top of the screen, toward the center.

   • If you don't see this option, click the three dots at the far-right corner of the toolbar.
   • You can also right-click a message or folder and select Rules.
4. 4
   Click Always Move Messages From <sender> or Always Move Messages To <address>. A list of folders on your account will appear.
5. 5
   Select the folder to which you want these messages filtered. If you don’t see a folder you want to use, click New to create one, then select it.
6. 6
   Click OK. Future email sent to or from the email address you selected will be moved to the selected folder upon receipt.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Filtering by Words

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1. 1
   Click a message containing a word or phrase you want to filter. The word or phrase can be anywhere in the message, such as the subject, body, or header.
2. 2
   Click the Home tab. It’s near the top-left corner of the screen.
3. 3
   Click Rules. It’s in the row of icons near the top of the screen, toward the center.

   • If you don't see this option, click the three dots at the far-right corner of the toolbar.
   • You can also right-click a message or folder and select Rules.
4. 4
   Click Manage Rules & Alerts.
5. 5
   Click New Rule. It’s at the top-left corner of the window.
6. 6
   Select Move messages with specific words in the subject to a folder. Even if you don’t want to filter only words in the subject, select this option for now.
7. 7
   Click Next. A list of options and check boxes will appear.
8. 8
   Remove the check mark from “with specific words in the subject.” You can skip this step if you only want the filter to look at words in the subject line.
9. 9
   Select the parts of the message where the filter will look for the words. Choose at least one of these options:

   • with specific words in the subject or body
     • Example: You want to filter messages with the word “coupon” in either the subject or the body to a folder called Coupons.
   • with specific words in the message header
     • Example: You want messages sent through a certain mail server to go straight to the trash.
   • with specific words in the recipient’s address
     • Example: You want mail sent to support@yourdomain.com to go to a folder called Support.
   • with specific words in the sender’s address
     • Example: You want messages sent from anyone with the word “wiki” in their email address to a folder called Wiki.
10. 10
    Click Next.
11. 11
    Type the word or phrase and click Add. You can add multiple words and phrases if you wish.
12. 12
    Click OK. This brings you back to the list of filter conditions.
13. 13
    Click the specified link. It’s in the box at the bottom of the window as a part of the phrase “specified folder.” A list of folders on your email account will appear.
14. 14
    Select the folder you to which you want these messages filtered. If you don’t see a folder you want to use, click New to create one, then select it.
15. 15
    Click OK.
16. 16
    Click Next. Now you’ll see a list of actions Outlook can take based on the filter you created.
17. 17
    Check the boxes next to what you’d like to happen. Make sure “move it to the specified folder” (the second option) is checked so the message lands in its folder. The others are optional, but can be helpful based on your needs.
18. 18
    Click Next.
19. 19
    Enter a name for the filter. This is how it will appear in your list.
20. 20
    Check the box next to “Turn on this rule.” If you’d like, you can also check “Run this now” so the filter will scan the mail you’ve already received.
21. 21
    Click Finish. Future incoming messages will now be sorted based on the word or phrase you entered.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Sorting Your Outlook Inbox

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1. 1
   Open Microsoft Outlook. It’s usually in the Microsoft Office folder, which you’ll find in the All Apps area of the Start menu.

   • You'll want to use this method to search or filter all your current email.
2. 2
   Click Filter Email. This is next to a funnel icon in the "Find" grouping of the Home tab.
3. 3
   Select your filter. You can see all the emails marked as unread, has attachments, when they were received, if they are categorized, flagged or marked important, or based on the "Sent to" field.

   • For example, if you select "Has attachments," you will see a list of emails that have attachments (even if they are categorized into email folders that aren't the Inbox).
   • To clear the filter search, click the x in the search box.
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• Question

  How do you include multiple words in an email filter? Is it like this "job done" to filter only when these two words are seen together (using speech marks)?

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor
  Staff Answer

  This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  Yes, the multiple words should be inside the quotation marks, like "job done"

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