How to Receive Mail Sorted by Account in Outlook

When you check for new mail, does Outlook lump it all together in your Inbox? Outlook is designed to do just that, but you need not find this universal Inbox appealing or useful.

Using Outlook's own rules engine, you can make it deliver incoming mail to different folders based on the account through which it was received. Setting up this more comprehensive alternative to sorting the Inbox by account is not hard.

You may just have to be a bit careful concerning interaction with other existing filters.

Receive Mail Sorted by Account in Outlook

To make Outlook filter mail to folders by account as it arrives:

• Select Tools | Rules and Alerts... from the menu in Outlook.
• Make sure the E-mail Rules tab is selected.
• Click New Rule....
• Look under or select Start from a blank rule.
• Make sure Check messages when they arrive is highlighted.
• Click Next >.
• Check through the specified account under Step 1: Select condition(s).
  • Outlook will automatically check on this machine only. This is okay, leave it so.
• Click on the underlined specified under Step 2: Edit the rule description:.
• Choose the desired account.
  • You'll set up one rule for each account you want to be filtered to a folder different from your default Inbox.
• Click OK.
• Now click Next >.
• Check move it to the specified folder under Step 1: Select action(s).
• Click the underlined specified under Step 2: Edit the rule description: again.

• Highlight the desired folder.
  • Using the New... button, you can create a folder for this filter action (a sub-folder of your stock Inbox folder, for example). Make sure the folder is set to contain Mail and Post Items.
• Click OK.
• Click Next >.
• Click Next > again.
• Optionally, change the name of the filter under Step 1: Specify a name for this rule.

• Click Finish.
• Repeat the filter creation for each account you want to move.
• If you place the per-account filters on top of all other rules, Outlook will move the messages but then still perform other actions of they apply to individual emails.
• Finally, click OK.