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One thing you won't want to be without is a homemade junk-mail zapper.
   technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Your software's "rules" can help you cope with mail


April 2, 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

   Wouldn't it be great if you could automate the way your mail is sorted?
   When the monthly letter comes in from the Butter Churn Society, it would go right into the "Butter Churn" folder, and when you got a note from Uncle Chester it would go straight into the "Chester" folder. And so on.
   Well, what are you waiting for? Chances are your e-mail software will do this already. Most mail programs let you create "rules" or "filters" that can stand between every letter that arrives and you. Even the simplest of rules or filters can sort letters into specific folders, and fancier ones can forward mail to other addresses, too.
   One thing you won't want to be without when you start using mail rules or filters is a homemade junk-mail zapper. You just create a rule or filter that sends mail from certain senders right into the trash. What could be easier?
   Rules and filters are great. I can't tell you exactly where you'll find them in your menus -- every program handles the menus a little differently -- but they shouldn't be hard to find. You might see them in a "Tools" menu, for example.
   In Netscape Messenger, the mail program I use as my main e-mail software, "Message Filters" are in the "Edit" menu. (Netscape Navigator and Netscape Messenger are part of the free suite of Internet programs called Netscape Communicator. All versions of Netscape -- for Windows, for the Mac and for Linux, for example -- use the same menus. I like that a lot since I use Netscape Communicator under Linux and Windows.)
   Netscape's rules are easy to use but not as powerful as those in, say, Outlook 98 or Outlook 2000. (Outlook Express, which is not the same as Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000, also has rules, but they're nothing like the ones in Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000. Despite the similar names, Outlook Express has no relationship to the other programs with "Outlook" in the name except for the fact they they all come from Microsoft and have poor Internet security.)
   Other mail programs that make good use of rules or filters are Eudora, available for Windows and for the Mac, and Star Mail, the e-mail program built into Star Office. (Star Office is a free suite of programs more or less compatible with Microsoft's Office 95 and Office 97 software. You can get Windows, Linux and Unix versions of Star Office from http://www.sun..com.)
   Don't try to do too much with rules at first. Always experiment with a rule that won't cause a problem if it fails to work right.
   For example, make a rule that looks for a certain word in the subject of a message and, if it finds that word, moves the message to a folder. (Create the folder beforehand and name it "Test.") The folder is a mail folder, not a folder on your hard drive. (Mail folders appear at the left of your mail program's main window if you have a typical program.)
   Save the rule or filter, make sure you turn it on -- in Netscape Messenger, rules or filters that are turned on have checkmarks -- and then send yourself a letter with that key word in the subject. Get your mail and see if your message was moved to that folder.
   If your rule worked, try fancier ones. You can divert mail from spammers into the Trash folder, or you can automatically forward mail if your software is advanced. (Netscape's method doesn't do forwarding, but Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000 do it just fine.)
   Rules ease your life a little. If you get a lot of mail, let the computer do the grunt work. You have better things to do.