Filing mail automatically with rules
Mail rules file new messages by sender, subject or attachment: move to a folder, archive, flag or mark as read.
Updated 18 October 2026
Why this exists
School newsletters, receipts and other routine mail bury the messages from families that need you. A rule files that routine mail the moment it arrives, so your Inbox holds what matters. Rules never delete or forward anything, so no parent's message disappears unread.
A rule decides what happens to a new message as it arrives in your mailbox. Rules are yours alone; they do not affect anyone else's mail.
Make a rule
- Open Mail rules, or press Rules for filing new mail under your folders.
- Give the rule a name, such as "School newsletters".
- Under When a new message..., fill in at least one:
- Sender's name or address contains
- From is: a whole address, or a domain such as @school.nsw.edu.au
- Subject contains
- Has an attachment
- Under Then..., choose what happens: move it to one of your folders, Archive it, Mark it as read or flag it.
- Tick Stop checking rules after this one if later rules should not apply.
- Press Save rule.
How rules run
- Every condition you fill in must match. Capitals do not matter.
- Rules run in the order of the list. If two rules both say where a message goes, the later one wins.
- You can keep up to 50 rules and switch any of them off without deleting it.
Good to know
Rules never delete or forward mail. A rule that silently binned a parent's message would be a message nobody read, and forwarding would skip the checks on who may receive mail.