Creating a rule

A rule is conditions plus actions. Every condition must match before the actions run.

Conditions

Each condition tests one field. Inbox → Rules → New rule → Add condition.

Field	Tests
Subject	The subject line
From	The sender's address
To	The recipients
CC	The CC line
Domain	The sending domain, without needing the full address
Body	The message body
Has attachments	Whether anything is attached
Item type	Email or calendar event
Tags	Tags already on the item
Age	How long ago it arrived
Time received	The clock time it arrived
Day of week	Which day it arrived
Business hours	Whether it arrived inside your working hours

Operators

Which operators you get depends on the field.

Text fields — Subject, From, To, CC, Domain, Body:

contains · does not contain · equals · does not equal · starts with · ends with · matches regex · is one of · is not one of

Number fields — Age, Time received:

equals · does not equal · greater than · less than · between

List fields — Tags:

contains · does not contain · is one of · is not one of

Prefer Domain over From

Domain equals harrowandco.com catches everyone at the client. From contains harrowandco.com does too, but it also matches a stranger writing about them. Domain tests the sending domain itself.

Actions

Action	What it does
Link	Attaches the item to a database row, so the email or meeting sits on the client or project record
Tag	Adds tags
Change state	Moves it through your inbox states
Snooze	Hides it until a time you choose
Notify	Sends you a notification
Dismiss	Clears it from the inbox

A rule can run several actions. Link then Tag then Dismiss is a common shape: file it against the client, label it, and get it out of the way.

Order, and stopping early

Rules run in priority order, lowest number first, and by default every rule gets a look at every item. An item can match several rules and collect the actions from all of them.

Turn on Stop processing in an action when a rule should be the last word. A newsletter rule that dismisses the item has no reason to let five more rules run afterwards.

Only enabled rules run. Disabling is not deleting — a disabled rule keeps its conditions and history.

Always dry run first

Save a new rule as a dry run. It evaluates normally and records what it would have done, without touching anything. Check the matches, then turn it off.

This matters most for Dismiss. A too-broad condition with a dismiss action removes mail you meant to read, and the fix is reading the audit log rather than the inbox.

Related

• Testing a rule — run one against real items before enabling it
• Rule templates — start from a working rule
• Analytics and audit — what actually fired