How do I set up an Outlook rule that matches on "word 1" *and* "word
two" rather than "word 1" or "word 2". I am using Outlook 2003 and
trying to move all messages that contain both of two different
X-HEADERS into a special folder. The headers can appear in any order
and are not nessisarily next to each other.
When I click on the "Specified Folder" link and try to add more than
one word, the rule does an "OR" rather than an "AND" - that is, the
rule triggers if either of the headers are there, rather than both. I
only want ot triigger the rule if both are there.
I know there are ways to do this with multiple rules, but that will
get complicated fast - I'd much rather know the general way to do a
"AND" in an Outlook rule.
Thanks! |
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
31 Jul 2005 16:37 PDT
bigjosh...
According to this post by Richard on MailArchive.ca, he's
having the opposite problem. The rules he makes with multiple
entries automatically set up as AND rather than OR:
http://www.mailarchive.ca/lists/microsoft.public.outlook/2004-01/1004.html
I don't own Outlook 2003, but if the following support
page at the University of Iowa is accurate, the option
to set up multiple entries doesn't come when you click
on "Specified Folder" - that simply sets up the folder
to which email with the multiple headers will be moved.
http://www.its.uiowa.edu/cs/exchange/filter.html
Based on the instructions on that page, in order to
accomplish what you want, you would first check the
box next to "with specified words in the message header".
Then click on the link to "specified words" and enter
the two headers. I believe the proper manner would be
to enter a semi-colon between the two, or perhaps, a
semi-colon with a space, as in:
X-List-Remailer: i-list@heron.com;X-List-Remailer:
j-list@micron.com
or:
X-List-Remailer: i-list@heron.com; X-List-Remailer:
j-list@micron.com
or even:
X-List-Remailer: i-list@heron.com AND X-List-Remailer:
j-list@micron.com
According to Richard's complaint, this will default
to moving only mails that contain BOTH X-headers.
I don't know about Outlook 2003, but in Outlook Express,
when you click on the link to the header entries you made
above, to edit them, there's often an Options button
available in many of the dialogues, which allows you to
specify whether multiple entries are AND or OR in nature.
If this is lacking in Outlook 2003, Richard states that
the default is AND.
You would then click "Next", and then check "move
it to the specified folder". Then click on the link
for "spedified" and select the folder to which you
want the mail moved.
Click through the "Okay"s and give the rule a name.
Make sure to check the box on the naming page that
says "Turn on this rule".
That should do it. As I said, you may have to play
with the syntax of what to put between multiple
entries, but it should get you where you want to be.
Since I'm unable to verify this, as I don't have a
copy of Outlook 2003, I won't post this in the
official answer space until you verify that it has
worked for you.
Let me know where this takes you...
sublime1-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
bigjosh2-ga
on
31 Jul 2005 17:53 PDT
The post on MailArchive.ca refers to the behavior where Outlook will
AND multipule criterial in the same rule, which is different than
ANDing multiple strings in a "search for" inside of a single criteria.
Also, I've tried all the syntaxes that you've suggested, along with
many others to try to get "OR" to show up between search strings, but
in every case clicking on OK inside the "Search For" dialog box puts
quotes around the entered string and then Outlook searches for the
whole thing.
So for example, entering [One OR Two] ([] for clarity, not actually
entered) creates the search string ["One OR Two"]. Entering ["One" or
"Two"] enters [""One" or "Two""]. You get the idea. Double quotes,
single quotes, semicolons, if there is a trick I haven't found it.
Thanks.
-josh
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Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
31 Jul 2005 19:08 PDT
Ohhhh...you're talking about searching, rather than message
rules. That's a whole other story, and probably a lot harder.
Then again, maybe you could use a message rule to accomplish
the same thing. While message rules are normally applied to
incoming mail, in some MS programs, like Outlook Express,
there's a button for "Apply rule now", though I think it
only applies the rule to the Inbox.
Is there no way to know in advance the headers you want to
locate via this search and create a message rule that moves
them to a certain folder so you don't have to search for
them later? I know that doesn't help the current situation,
but it might offer an alternative for the future.
sublime1-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
bigjosh2-ga
on
31 Jul 2005 20:01 PDT
No, I am talking about messages rules.
In outlook 2003, when you set up a message rule "with specific words
in the header" as the criteria, and then you go to set what specific
words it should look for, the dialouge box that comes up is called
"Search text", probably becuase it is going to search for that text
inside the headers whenever an emial comes in.
It is this "Search Text" box that is the problem - I can't figure out
how to get it to search for one term AND an other term. When you add
multipule terms using the "add" button, it does an OR search on the
multipule terms.
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Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
31 Jul 2005 21:15 PDT
josh...
Okay, I think I'm getting it now. What I would suggest
trying is to enter one header at a time, instead of
entering both at the same time. So, click on "specific
words" in the phrase "with specific words in the message
header", and enter the first header, and click Okay:
X-List-Remailer: i-list@heron.com
So your window should now look like Figure 7 on the page
I gave you:
http://www.its.uiowa.edu/cs/exchange/filter.html
Then try clicking on the link for the header you added,
which is now in the "Edit the rule description" box,
and add the second header as a separate item. Look for
an Options button after you enter the second header
that might give you the choice of searching for both
or either.
If that doesn't do it, after you've added the first
header, instead of clicking on the link for the added
header, try clicking a second time on the "specified
words" link you used to add the first header, and if
that allows you to add a second header, perhaps in a
different manner than the previous option, once again,
look for a previously greyed-out Options button to
appear.
This would be so much easier if I owned the program...
; )
sublime1-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
bigjosh2-ga
on
02 Aug 2005 09:10 PDT
Yes, this is the crux of the problem - there is no "options" button or
anything like that when you add a new term, there is only an "add" or
"cancel" button. When you hit "add", it adds the new word to the list
below, and automatically inserts the word " or " after the previous
item. You can't click on the "or". There is nothing obvious that would
change it.
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