How To Create Rules In Outlook 2013 Step By Step

Last reviewed on March 11, 2021 No Comments

A security update disabled the Run a script option in Outlook 2013 and 2016's rules wizard. See Run-a-Script Rules Missing in Outlook for more information and the registry key to fix restore it.

A user wanted to know how to create an AND rule:

If the subject contains outlook AND word, do something

For example: "outlook AND word" to match on a Subject line of "Mail merge Outlook and Word", but not "Outlook Teams Meeting"

While Outlook Rules don't support AND within a rule, you can make it work using two rules. The first rule looks for one word, sets a category, and does not use stop processing more rules. The second rule looks for the second word (and can clear the category field).

Step 1: Create a rule that looks for one of the words and add a category if the word is found. Do not use Stop Processing.
rule 1 looks for a word and sets a category

Step 2: Create a second rule to look for the other word. You can use stop processing in this rule.
rule 2 looks for a word

The result: all messages with those two words in the subject are moved.
all messages with both words in the subject are moved

Use a Run a Script Rule

Instead of using two rules, you can a run a script rule to check for the presence of both words.

You will need to set a registry key to enable the Run a script option in Rules & Alerts in Outlook 2013 and newer. See Run-a-Script Rules Missing in Outlook for more information and the registry key to fix restore it.

run a script rule example

Sub ANDRules(Item As Outlook.MailItem)        If InStr(1, LCase(Item.Subject), "outlook") > 0 And InStr(LCase(Item.Subject), "word") > 0 Then      ' do something     ' use these actions for testing purposes        MsgBox "We have a match!!! " & Item.Subject        Else       MsgBox "No Match :( " & Item.Subject     End If  End Sub

To test the rule without needing to send messages to yourself, select a message and run this script.

' use this to test the script - select a message and run this macro Sub RunAndRules() Dim objApp As Outlook.Application Dim objItem As Object ' MailItem Set objApp = Application Set objItem = objApp.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Item(1)  'macro name you want to run goes here ANDRules objItem  End Sub

How to use the macros on this page

First: You need to have macro security set to the lowest setting, Enable all macros during testing. The macros will not work with the top two options that disable all macros or unsigned macros. You could choose the option Notification for all macros, then accept it each time you restart Outlook, however, because it's somewhat hard to sneak macros into Outlook (unlike in Word and Excel), allowing all macros is safe, especially during the testing phase. You can sign the macro when it is finished and change the macro security to notify.

To check your macro security in Outlook 2010 and newer, go to File, Options, Trust Center and open Trust Center Settings, and change the Macro Settings. In Outlook 2007 and older, look at Tools, Macro Security.

After you test the macro and see that it works, you can either leave macro security set to low or sign the macro.

Macros that run when Outlook starts or automatically need to be in ThisOutlookSession, all other macros should be put in a module, but most will also work if placed in ThisOutlookSession. (It's generally recommended to keep only the automatic macros in ThisOutlookSession and use modules for all other macros.) The instructions are below.

The macros on this page should be placed in a module.

Open the VBA Editor by pressing Alt+F11 on your keyboard.

To put the code in a module:

Right click on Project1 and choose Insert > Module
Copy and paste the macro into the new module.

More information as well as screenshots are at How to use the VBA Editor