Filter email automatically

Filter email automatically

You can set up rules to automatically filter incoming email messages or reorganize email messages you’ve already received. For example, you can create a rule that forwards certain email messages to a specific email address. You can later edit and delete these rules as desired.

Set up rules to filter email

  1. In iCloud Mail, choose Rules from the Action pop-up menu in the sidebar.

  2. Click Add a Rule.

  3. Use the menus and text fields to specify the filtering conditions, then click Done.

    In the “Name or email address” field, enter a sender’s full or partial name, a complete email address, or an email address domain (the part of the email address after the @ symbol).

    The Add Rule window

  4. To add another rule, repeat steps 2 and 3.

    If you have multiple rules, they’re applied in the order in which they appear in the Rules list. To change the order, drag a rule up or down in the list.

  5. Click Done.

Important: If you apply rules to a folder and then delete the folder or change its name, make sure to update the rules for those folders accordingly. For example, you can’t forward email messages to a deleted folder.

Change or remove email filtering rules

  1. In iCloud Mail, choose Rules from the Action pop-up menu in the sidebar.

  2. Select the rule you want to change, then do any of the following:

    • To edit a rule, click Edit, specify new filtering conditions in the menus and text fields, then click Done.

    • To delete a rule, click Edit, then click Delete.

    • To change the order of rules, drag them up or down in the list.

      When you have multiple rules, they’re applied in the order in which they appear in the list.

  3. Click Done.

Note: It may take up to 15 minutes for new or changed rules to take effect on incoming messages.