Knowledgebase

Incoming Rules let Thexyz Webmail sort your mail as it arrives: filing newsletters into a folder, forwarding certain messages to a colleague, replying automatically to a particular address, or discarding mail you never want to see.

Rules run on our mail servers, so they apply no matter which device or app you read your mail on.

Open your filters

Rules belong to a specific e-mail account, so you reach them through that account's settings.

1. Sign in to webmail at mail.thexyz.com.
2. Open your settings and choose My account.
3. Select E-mail Accounts & Aliases in the sidebar.
4. Click Manage E-mail Accounts and Aliases.

5. Select your e-mail address in the Accounts list.
6. Open the Filters tab.

The Incoming Rules window opens, listing the rules on that account with a priority number, a name, and whether each one is enabled.

If you manage more than one account here, the rules you create apply only to the account you selected. Set them up separately on each account that needs them.

Create a rule

A rule has two halves: conditions that decide which messages it applies to, and delivery actions that decide what happens to them.

1. Click New rule.
2. Type a name you will recognise later, such as "Newsletters" or "Invoices", and click Create.
3. Under Conditions, click Add condition. Choose the part of the message to test, such as the sender or the subject, choose how to test it, and type the value to look for.
4. Under Deliveries, click Add delivery action and choose what should happen. The options are described below.
5. Save the rule.

The delivery actions

• Deliver to folder — files the message into a folder you choose instead of leaving it in the Inbox. The most useful action by far.
• Deliver to e-mail — sends a copy on to another address.
• Delete message — discards the message. Use this sparingly, and see the warning below.
• Auto reply — sends an automatic response. Useful for an address like sales@ or bookings@. For a general out-of-office message, use Vacation Message in the same settings sidebar instead.
• Reject message — refuses the message, so the sender receives a delivery failure.
• Warning message — flags the message rather than moving or removing it.

Using more than one condition

Add as many conditions as you need. Each row has a Join setting that controls whether the conditions are combined with "and" (every condition must match) or "or" (any one of them is enough), and a negate option so you can match messages that do not meet a condition.

For example, "from contains @supplier.com" and "subject contains invoice" catches only that supplier's invoices, while "from contains @supplier.com" or "from contains @supplier.co.uk" catches mail from either of their domains.

Rule order matters

Rules are processed in the order shown by the Priority column, from the top down. Use Move up and Move down to reorder them.

This matters when two rules could both match the same message. Put the more specific rule above the more general one, so that, for example, a rule filing invoices from one supplier runs before a broad rule that files everything from that domain into a general folder.

Editing, disabling and deleting rules

Select a rule and click Edit to change it, or Delete to remove it. The Enabled column shows whether a rule is active, which is worth using when you are testing: switching a rule off is reversible, deleting it is not.

Three rules worth setting up

File newsletters out of the Inbox. Condition: the sender contains the newsletter's domain. Action: deliver to a folder called Newsletters. Repeat for each sender, or use one rule with several "or" conditions.

Keep a colleague copied on an address. Condition: the recipient contains support@yourdomain.com. Action: deliver to e-mail, addressed to your colleague. The original still arrives in your mailbox.

Acknowledge enquiries automatically. Condition: the recipient contains sales@yourdomain.com. Action: auto reply, with a short message saying you have received the enquiry and will respond shortly.

A word of caution

Delete message and Reject message act before you ever see the mail. A condition that is broader than you intended will quietly throw away messages you wanted, and there is no obvious sign that it is happening.

When you want mail out of the way but not gone, deliver it to a folder instead. If you do use a deleting rule, test it first with "deliver to folder" for a week and check what lands there before switching the action over.

Frequently asked questions

Do rules apply to mail already in my mailbox?
No. Incoming Rules act on messages as they arrive. Existing mail stays where it is.

Do rules work when I am not signed in?
Yes. They run on the mail server, so they apply continuously and are reflected on every device connected to the mailbox.

Should I use a rule to filter spam?
Generally no. Every Thexyz mailbox includes spam filtering that learns from what you mark as spam, and it will catch far more than a hand-written rule can. Rules are better for organising mail you do want. See our email hosting features for what the spam filter covers.

My rule is not doing anything.
Check that it is enabled, then check its priority, since an earlier rule may already be handling the message. Also check the condition value for typos and stray spaces, which is the most common cause.