Not Outlook Express, but Outlook 2003.
I just imported my message rules from OE to O and seem to lose the ability to specify “and” vs. “or” when using multiple criteria. For example, I am putting mail into various folders based on words that appear in the sender, or in the subject line.
However, now I can only use words in the sender AND in the subject line. Which means most of what I am looking for gets missed. In OE you could click on the “and” and change it to “or” but no such option appears to be present in O.
I have looked at Outlook Help and MS web site & knowledgebase but to no avail. Any Outlook Dopers there?
Without seeing your rules, it’s hard to say, but in most programming environments compound conditions that include an OR can usually be broken into two separate conditions, so:
If SUBJECT contains “Banana” or BODY contains “Fishcake” then <action>
can be performed as:
If SUBJECT contains “Banana” then <action>
If BODY contains “Fishcake” then <action>
Of course, care must be taken that the two halves of the condition don’t contain overlapping criteria(which may not be possible here), or <action> will be performed twice.
Specifically dealing with Outlook’s Rules Wizard:
When you check a box, it generally becomes an “and” condition. Thus, if you check “subject contains specific text” and “where my name is in the to: box,” then both conditions have to be met.
Once you check a box (e.g., “with specific words in the body”), you click on the highlighted “specific words” in the lower pane. A window is displayed. Type in the first string of text and click “add.” Type in the second string and click “add.” When you’re done, click OK.
Now the rule will apply if either string is in the e-mail where indicated.
If you need to use two different conditions, (i.e., “with specific words in the body” or “where my name is in the to: box”), you need to create two separate rules; I don’t believe you can create an “or” condition with two of the checkbox options.
Outlook rules is not a programming environment, it’s not that sophisticated. You get a list of criteria and you can check boxes as to which criteria you want to use (e.g., words in subject line, recipients, people on the To line). Then for each criterion you specify exactly which strings to scan for. You end up with rules that look like this, where the underlined parts are hotlinks that you can update:
Apply this rule after the message arrives
with ‘Job Search Results’ or ‘Job Agent Report’ in the subject
and with ‘Monster.com’ or ‘CareerBuilder.com’ in the subject
move it to the Job Search folder
See that little word “and”? In Outlook Express, it’s a hotlink and you can select “and” or “or”. But in Outlook 2003, the more expensive, bells & whistles, gee whiz version, this capability disappears.
The upshot is that I have to write one rule for the subject scan and another for the sender scan. PITA.
CookingWithGas
This may help recreate the above…
I made this filter in Outlook 2K (which may be totally different than Outlook 2003) by using the rule wizard to create a filter for job related info.
The operatives are in parenthesis (and)& (or). These were system generated.
The wizard provides the following options that might meet your needs;
Notify me when important message arrives
Apply this rule after the message arrives
With ‘Monster.com’ (or) ‘CareerBuilder.com’ in the senders address
(And) with "job Search Report’ (or) "Job agent report’ in the subject.
Notify me using “incoming JOB MESSAGE!!!” /user defined message received in place of “new mail, read now”/
(And) mark it as ‘High importance’ /easier to see on long lists of email/
(And) move it to the ‘your specific folder’ folder. /user defined folder/
No CookingWithGas is talking about an or between conditional statements that would be different columns, if not different tables. Outlook’s help actually specifies that in the syntax of rules an “or” can only be used if it is a drop down option. The syntax for rules is basically if a then …else …. None of this fits with what CookingWithGas is after.