Using Copilot to help create Outlook rules

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Written Tip

Hello, and welcome to another Byte-size Bulletin video, by The Final Step.

Outlook rules are a great way to automate the organisation of your inbox, but it can be difficult to get started and pick the right rules for your needs.

In this video, we’ll show you how to use Copilot to help create Outlook rules to better manage your emails.

What’s important to note before we start is that Copilot can’t actually create and implement the rules for you, but it can walk you through the steps required to make them.

You can use any Copilot version to do this, but we recommend using the web or desktop version. This allows you to follow your instructions in one window whilst creating them in your separate Outlook window.

I’m going to use the web version, so I’ll head to copilot.cloud.microsoft in my browser.

There are many rules you can add to Copilot, but as an example for this video, we’ll assume The Final Step is a client, and we’ll ask Copilot to help us create a rule to move all emails from The Final Step into a new folder called “Client: TFS”.

Be specific when asking your question. I wrote “add any emails from The Final Step company”, otherwise Copilot can mistake your request and assume The Final Step is a single user or email address and will give you difficult to follow instructions.

As with a lot of AI-related processes, trial and error is key. Change your prompts or ask Copilot to amend its response if you’re stuck – just play around and see what works for you.

Copilot has generated clear instructions for us to follow so we can create our new rule. Let’s follow them and see what result we get.

Go to the Home tab in Outlook and click Manage Rules & Alerts in the top ribbon. If you don’t have this on your ribbon, you can also find this under the File tab.

The Rules & Alerts window will open. Click New Rule, and then “Start from a blank rule”.

In here, we’ll select “Apply rule on messages I receive”, then click next.

In the conditions list, check “with specific words in the sender’s address”.

Click the underlined link for “specific words” in the bottom section. And then type in “thefinalstep.co.uk”.

Then, click next and check “move it to the specified folder”. Click the underlined link for “specified”.

Then, create a new folder called Client: TFS if it doesn’t already exist, and select it.

Then finally, click finish, then apply.

You’ve now created your new rule! All new emails that contain “thefinalstep.co.uk” in the senders address will move to our new folder as soon as they reach your inbox. If you want to run the rule against your current inbox and move existing emails to the new folder, just click back into Manage Rules & Alerts, select the desired rules and click “Run rules now”. This will move everything in your inbox to this folder.

Whilst Copilot can’t create and implement the rules for you, it is a useful tool to help you understand what rules might be beneficial to you, and walks you through how to create them. We’ve included a list of starting points that you might find helpful in the accompanying blog to this tip.

Thanks for watching another Byte-size Bulletin video, by The Final Step.