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Filtering and Forwarding Emails in Outlook

Outlook offers significant configuration options for handling incoming messages. In this guide, you will find instructions on blocking senders, marking senders as safe, setting up forwarding, and creating or removing inbox rules.

In addition to configuring the way your mail client filters emails, you may also follow the steps detailed in the following guide to report an email as malicious, or to report a false positive or false negative: https://www.uvm.edu/it/kb/article/proofpoint.

Blocking a Sender

If spam messages appear in your inbox, you can block the sender or domain. This is a quick and straightforward process, but it has limited configuration options. If you require a more complex rule, please see Creating an Inbox Rule below.

Outlook Online

Right click an email from a sender you wish to block, then select Block > Block sender.

Exchange Online Block sender.This will add the sender to your Blocked Senders list, found in the Blocked senders and domains section of your settings.

Outlook for Microsoft 365

Right-click on an email from a sender you wish to block, and then select Junk > Block Sender.Outlook Block Sender.This will add the sender of the selected email to your Blocked Senders list.

Managing Blocked Senders

Outlook Online

  1. Click the Gear icon near the upper-right corner to open the Settings menu.Exchange Online Settings icon.
  2. Within the Mail tab on the left side, select Junk email.Exchange Online Junk mail Settings.
  3. To block a sender or domain, click + Add under Blocked senders and domains, type in the address or domain name you wish to block, and then press the Enter key.Add to blocked senders list.
    Other options

    From here, you may also:

    • Edit an entry by clicking on the Pencil to the right
    • Delete an entry by clicking on the Trash can to the right

  4. Click Save at the bottom of the window to confirm your changes.

Outlook for Microsoft 365

  1. Select the Home tab, and then expand the Junk drop-down and click Junk E-mail Options.Outlook Junk E-mail Options.
  2. Select the Blocked Senders tab.Outlook Blocked Senders tab.From here, you can manually add an address or domain to the Blocked Senders list using the Add… button, or you can Edit or Remove entries in your Blocked Senders list.

Marking a Sender as Safe

Conversely, if you notice legitimate emails ending up in your Junk Email folder in Outlook, you can mark the sender of these emails as safe.

Outlook Online

  1. Click the Gear icon near the upper-right corner to open the Settings menu.Exchange Online Settings icon.
  2. Within the Mail tab on the left side, select Junk email.Exchange Online Junk mail Settings.
  3. To mark a sender or domain as safe, click + Add under Safe senders and domains, type in the address or domain name you wish to mark as safe, and then press the Enter key.Exchange Online add safe sender.
    Other options

    From here, you may also:

    • Edit an entry by clicking on the Pencil to the right
    • Delete an entry by clicking on the Trash can to the right

  4. Click Save at the bottom of the window to confirm your changes.

Outlook for Microsoft 365

Quickly mark a single flagged sender as safe

If you have an email in your junk folder from the sender in question, you can select the message first, and then in step 1 you can simply click Never Block Sender instead of Junk Email Options. If you do this, you can skip the rest of the steps.

  1. Select the Home tab, and then expand the Junk drop-down and click Junk E-mail Options.Outlook Junk E-mail Options.
  2. Select the Safe Senders tab and click Add.Outlook Add Safe Sender.
  3. Enter the address or domain name you wish to mark as safe and click OK.Outlook Add address or domain to safe sender list.
  4. Click OK at the bottom of the Junk Email Options window to confirm your changes.

Forwarding

Faculty, Staff, and other Employees should not forward their UVM emails to a non-UVM email service.

UVM Information Security Policy states that Protected University Information must NOT be stored on any non-UVM device or service (e.g, Gmail).

Protected University Information includes but is not limited to: Protected Personal Data (PPD), Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI), and Protected Student Information (FERPA). Read the policy here.

Outlook Online

  1. Log in to Outlook Online.
  2. Click the Gear icon near the upper-right corner to open the Settings menu.Exchange Online Settings icon.
  3. Within the Mail tab on the left side, select Forwarding, and then check the box marked Enable forwarding.Exchange Online enable Mail Forwarding.
  4. Enter the address you would like to forward your email to, and then click Save.Exchange Online enter forwarding address and Save.

Creating an Inbox Rule

Inbox rules can automatically move mail from your inbox to a selected folder, categorize messages by custom criteria, and much more.

Forwarding mail to a College of Medicine account

If you’re attempting to forward mail to a College of Medicine address, please see the Forwarding section above. Do not use inbox rules to forward mail.

Outlook Online

  1. Click the Gear icon near the upper-right corner to open the Settings menu.Exchange Online Settings icon.
  2. Within the Mail tab on the left side, select Rules, and then click + Add new rule.Exchange Online Add new rule.
    Other options

    From here, you may also make changes to your existing rules using the icons to the right:

    • Adjust the order that the rules are applied using the Up and Down arrows
    • Edit a rule by clicking on the Pencil
    • Delete a rule by clicking on the Trash can

  3. Enter a name for your rule.Exchange Online name mail rule.
  4. Choose a trigger condition, and then choose an action that should take place when the condition is met.Exchange Online add a condition and action.
    You can choose multiple conditions and/or actions

    Once you’ve chosen a condition or action, links to Add another condition or Add another action will appear.

  5. When you’re done, click Save.Exchange Online Save Settings

Outlook for Microsoft 365

  1. Select the Home tab.Outlook Home tab.
  2. Expand the Rules drop-down and click Manage Rules & Alerts.Outlook Manage rules & alerts.
    For rule suggestions based on the selected email, click Create Rule instead

    If you have an email selected and you’d like to create a rule that applies to messages like that one, click Create Rule instead of Manage Rules & Alerts. This will bring up a simplified rule creation window tailored to the selected message. For more general rule creation, click Manage Rules & Alerts and continue with these steps.

  3. In the Rules and Alerts window, click New Rule.Outlook New Rule.
  4. Some popular rules have templates you can select; otherwise, select one of the blank rules at the bottom and click Next.
    Editing rule descriptions

    Any conditions, actions, and exceptions that contain underlined values require you to make more specific selections. For example, a condition that triggers on a message arriving “from people or public group” will require you to specify the person or public group. Click on the underlined value to open a window that will let you select the appropriate choice(s).

  5. On the first page of the Rules Wizard, select any conditions that you would like to trigger the rule, make any necessary edits, and then click Next.
  6. On the next page, select any actions that you would like to perform when the rule triggers, make any necessary edits, and then click Next.
  7. On the third page, select any exceptions to the rule that you would like to add (if any), make any necessary edits, and then click Next.
  8. On the final page, specify a descriptive name for the rule, ensure Turn on this rule is checked, and then click Finish.Outlook Name and Turn on rule.

You should now see the rule with a check mark next to it in the list of Email Rules.

Removing Client-Side Rules

In Outlook (and other email clients), it’s possible to create rules that only affect the client on which they are configured. This typically happens if you try to create a rule that can’t be processed by Exchange, such as one that prints an email. If you try to create a rule like this, Outlook will warn you that the rule will be client-side only, and it will ask you to confirm.

Client-side rules will not carry over to a new computer, device, alternate email client, or Outlook Online. Additionally, it’s difficult to troubleshoot mailbox issues when IT does not have a complete view of the rules impacting your account. Thus, it’s highly recommended to use only server-side rules.

Outlook for Windows

  1. Select the Home tab.Outlook Homme tab.
  2. Expand the Rules drop-down and click Manage Rules & Alerts.Outlook Manage Rules & Alerts.
  3. Remove any client-only rules by selecting them, clicking Delete, and then clicking Yes in the confirmation window.
    Outlook Delete rule.

    Identifying Client-0nly Rules

    Client-only rules will say “(client-only)” to the right of the rule’s name.

Outlook for macOS

  1. Select the Home tab, and then expand the Rules drop-down and click Edit Rules…Outlook for Mac Edit Rules.
  2. Under the Client Rules section, look in each subsection for rules; remove rules by selecting them and then clicking the minus () sign.Outlook for Mac remove rule.
  3. Click Delete when prompted.Outlook for Mac confirm Delete.

Updated on September 18, 2024

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