Message filters look at the "To", "From", "Subject", or other parts of
each email, and if they match certain content, they are placed into
pre-assigned folders in your email program (you can even send them to
the trash).
In the "Create filters" (or similar) portion of your email program,
you'll create the criteria for each filter. An example for the NSTA
chemistry list might be something like:
If "TO:" is "CHEMISTRY@NSTA.ORG" then move to the folder "NSTA-CHEM"
Filters can be "...IS..." or "...CONTAINS..." The first
requires an exact match, the second only a partial match.
An example of use of the second would be yahoogroups lists,
which add "[name of group]" to the subject line of each email,
and you could filter on "contains [name of group]" for these.
You will need to create the folders you want to filter to, but I
believe most programs will let you do this while you're creating
filters. If you have an older version of your email program, you may
have to create the folders before you create the filter.
Some programs (Thunderbird/Netscape, e.g.) allow you to "right click" ("click and
hold" on a Mac) on the address in an email and create a filter directly
from that point.
I hope these filters can help you be less annoyed by lists that receive
a lot of email. I have my filters running, and when I'm too busy to
read the lists I'm on, I just go to that box and "Select all" the
"Delete"
Happy emailing!
Lee Amosslee
Carondelet High School Science Teacher
Owner, ShopInBerkeley.com
Email program instructions
Eudora
Eudora has great online help pages, including animated images showing you which 'pull down' windows to select:
Easiest way is the "right click" on an email address in an email, then choose "Create filter from message..."
Or you can open the filter window from "Tools" "Message Filters" then click the "New" button.
In the "Filter Rules" window, the 'Name' of the filter doesn't matter, this is just for your information. The rest of the window should be pretty self explanatory:
1. Create the criteria for the filter
2. Select the folder you want to move the emails to.
Once you create the filter, you can test it by selecting it then clicking the 'Run Now' button. All the specified messages should be filtered retroactively.
For more help, open "Help", "Help and Support Center" then:
Using Netscape Mail
Organizing your messages
Creating Message Filters
I believe that the process for email is about the same:
Click the "Tools" menu
Select "Email filters"
Create your filter criteria
Select the folder to be filtered to
Your done!
If you are accessing your email by going to a web page using a web browser
(Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.), you can still probably filter your messages.
Look for a "Settings" or "Options" button and then look for filtering
options. You may need to create boxes before you start creating filters
in these programs.