How to Set Up Rules in iCloud Mail

Rules are iCloud Mail’s filters: they act on email as it arrives — moving it to a folder, forwarding it and more. You set them up on iCloud.com, and you can have up to 500.

Create a rule

1. Go to icloud.com/mail and sign in with your Apple Account.
2. Click the Settings button at the top of the Mailboxes list, then choose Settings.
3. Select Rules in the sidebar, then click the Add button at the top right.
4. Name the rule.
5. Under Message, use the pop-up menu and text field to describe which emails it applies to.
6. Under Action, choose what the rule does.
7. Click Add.

New or changed rules can take up to 15 minutes to start working on incoming email.

Change the order

Rules run in the order they appear. In Settings › Rules, drag a rule up or down the list. Put specific rules above general ones.

Edit or delete a rule

In Settings › Rules, select the rule. Change its conditions and click Save Changes, or click Delete.

Keep rules and folders in step

If you delete or rename a folder that a rule uses, update the rule — Apple notes, for example, that email can’t be moved to a folder that no longer exists. To create or reorganise folders, use the Move button or the Mailboxes list on iCloud.com.

Forward only some emails

A rule can forward matching email to another address — useful when you don’t want everything forwarded. Each rule can have only one forwarding address, so use one rule per destination.

Test before you rely on it

Wait 15 minutes after saving, then send yourself a matching email and check where it lands. If it doesn’t move, check the conditions under Message and whether a rule higher in the list acts first.

Rules worth setting up

• Receipts and order confirmations into a “Receipts” folder.
• Newsletters into a “Reading” folder.
• Mail from a family member forwarded to a shared address.

Rules don’t remove junk — for that, see stopping spam in iCloud Mail. If email goes missing, check your rules first, then recover deleted iCloud email. A rule you didn’t create could mean someone else has access — see iCloud Mail security.

Elsewhere: Gmail filters · Outlook rules · Yahoo filters.