# Outlook in order: rules, categories and 15 minutes a week > Four decisions for every email, a few rules that sort mail for you, categories instead of a hundred folders — and AI that plans the whole system around your mail in half an hour. ## Why email eats up your day Not because of the number of emails, but because we read the same email several times. We open it, think “later”, close it. An hour later — the same again. An organised inbox means one thing: **every email is dealt with once.** Everything else — rules, categories, folders — just helps you do it faster. ## Four decisions for every email > **Schema.** The decision for every email: if no action is needed — archive or delete it; if action is needed and it will take up to two minutes — do it straight away; if someone else has to do it — forward it and mark it; if it takes longer — give it a category or snooze it until a specific time. ## Rules: let Outlook do the sorting A rule is “if … then …”: if the email is a newsletter, move it to the “Newsletters” folder. Three or four rules usually clear half the noise out of your inbox: - **Newsletters and ads** → a separate folder you read once a week. - **System notifications** (invoices, deliveries, online shops) → their own folder or category. - **Emails where you're only in CC** → a separate category: usually you just need to know. - **Emails from your manager or most important client** → a bright category, so they don't get lost.

What never to do with rules: automatically forward emails to external addresses, or automatically delete emails from unknown senders. The first is exactly what scammers do — see the lesson Invoice fraud.

## Categories instead of a hundred folders An email can be in only one folder, but it can have several categories at once, and it stays where it's easy to find. Five to eight categories are enough for almost everyone: by client or project, and by what needs doing (“Waiting for reply”, “This week”). When an email doesn't need you now but, say, on Thursday — **snooze** it. It disappears from your inbox and comes back at the time you set. ## Inbox order in half an hour — planned by AI You know what kind of email you get. AI knows which rules and categories to build from that. Copy and paste this: ```text You are my productivity assistant. Help me get my Outlook mail in order: plan the rules, categories and a weekly routine, then walk me through creating them. ABOUT ME - Job: [...] - Emails a day: [about ...] - What kind of email I get most: [e.g. client enquiries, system notifications, newsletters, internal emails, invoices] - What I most often miss now: [...] - Outlook version: [new Outlook / classic Outlook / Outlook on the web] PROCESS 1. ASK. Ask me the missing questions, one at a time. 2. PLAN. Suggest up to 8 categories, up to 5 rules and up to 5 folders. For each rule — why it's needed. 3. DO IT WITH ME. Walk me through creating each rule and category in my Outlook version. Wait until I write "done". 4. ROUTINE. Write a plan for a 15-minute weekly review. GOAL The job is finished when the rules are created and tested with a real email, and the categories are assigned — not when I have a list of tips. RULES - No rules that forward emails to external addresses. - No rules that automatically delete or automatically reply. - If you don't know the exact menu name in my version — say so and explain what to look for. - Answer in English. AT THE END Tell me what was created, and separately — WHAT YOU DID NOT CHECK. ```

🤖 AI route recommended

AI plans, Outlook does the work

The AI lays out the system around the kinds of email you get and walks you through every rule. If your company has Microsoft 365 Copilot, it can also summarise long threads or write a draft reply right in Outlook.

“Start with the rule that will cut the most noise from my inbox.”

Your job: click the buttons and test the rule with a real email. Don't paste the content of client emails into a public AI — just their types.

✋ Manual route

Your first rule in a minute

  1. Right-click a newsletter → Rules → Create rule.
  2. Condition — the sender; action — move it to the “Newsletters” folder.
  3. Tick the option to apply the rule to existing emails too, then save it.
## While you're creating rules — check for ones that aren't yours Open **Settings → Mail → Rules** and you'll see all your mail rules. If there's a rule there you didn't create — especially one that forwards emails elsewhere or moves them to a folder you never look at — take a screenshot and tell IT **straight away**. ## What to do today 1. Use the prompt above to plan your system, and create your first two rules. 2. Go through your list of rules — check there are none you didn't create. 3. Put the 15-minute Friday review in your calendar. ## Check yourself Five questions on what you've just read. At the end you'll get a certificate with your score.