Creating email rules is another great way to keep your email organized. An email rule can be set up to instruct an email to go straight to a certain folder instead of to your inbox (please note that in many other email applications such as Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, the equivalent of Outlook’s Rules are called filters). Then you can decide when to check that folder, as needed. In Microsoft Outlook, you can use Rules to set up email filters.

There are two different methods to create a rule.

1. Create a rule based on the characteristics of a specific email you’ve already received. When you are viewing a message in your reading pane, right click on the message in your message list and select Rules>Create Rule. Alternatively, you can select Rules>Create Rule from the ribbon. You can then choose what the requirements for your new rule are, such as who the email is from, what the subject contains, and which email address it is sent to. These will be automatically populated with information from the email you were on when you selected Create Rule. Then check the box Move the item to folder: and select the folder.
2. Use the Rules Wizard to create a new rule from scratch. Select Rules>Manage Rules & Alerts either from the ribbon or by right clicking on a message. You can then click New Rule and use the Rules Wizard to create a new rule.

Here is a screenshot of what the first method looks like: