Employee Community Email List Opt-Out Instructions

!Faculty Forum, !Staff Forum, and !Fac/Staff Forum are provided for informal community engagement and discussion.  Current faculty and staff may"opt-out" of the community lists by creating an Outlook email rule directing messages to that list to a folder for later review.

Create Outlook Rule on Outlook for Windows


  1. If you don't have a folder where you want these emails to go already, create one now.
  2. Click the File menu in the top left of the Outlook window, then click Manage Rules & Alerts.
  3. In the Rules and Alerts dialog box that appears, click New Rule.
  4. In the Rules Wizard dialog box, select Move messages sent to a public group to a folder . Click Next.
  5. In the next Rules Wizard dialog box, under the Step 2 section (at the bottom) click "people or public group" to select the group(s) this rule will apply to.
    1. In the Rule Address dialog box that appears, use the search to find the the group(s) (e.g.: !Faculty Forum, !Staff Forum, and/or !Fac/Staff Forum) that you want to opt out of, clicking on the To: button at the bottom of the page after selecting each.  Click on Ok.
  6. You will be back at the Rules Wizard dialog box, under the Step Two section click "specified" to choose the folder to move the emails to.
  7. In the Rules and Alerts dialog box that appears, select the folder that you wish to move the messages to. Click Ok.
  8. You will be back at the Rules Wizard dialog box, click Next.
  9. You will be at another Rules Wizard dialog box where you can specify additional actions if you so wish. If you just want to move the messages, click Next.
  10. On the next Rules Wizard dialog box you can specify exceptions, otherwise click Next.
  11. On the next Rules Wizard dialog box create a name for this rule and make sure you have Turn on this rule checked.  Click Finish.
  12. Back at the Rules and Alerts dialog box, you can now click OK or Apply to save this new rule for future messages.
    1. If you'd like, you can click the Run Rules Now... button to run this (and any other rules) now to apply to messages previously received but still in your inbox. If there was a message that fit the rule you just created it will have moved to the folder specfied.

Create Outlook Rule on Outlook for Mac


  1. If you don't have a folder where you want these emails to go already, create one now.
  2. On the toolbar at the top of your screen, click on MessageRulesEdit Rules.
  3. Make sure that your email account is selected on the side menu under "Server Rules". Click on the + sign to create a new rule.
  4. Give your rule a name.
  5. Under "When a new message arrives that meets all of these conditions" create conditions that match the following:
    1. In the first box, choose Sent To.
    2. In the second box, choose Is.
    3. In the third box, type in the group(s) you want to filter and opt-out of (e.g.: !Faculty Forum, !Staff Forum, and/or !Fac/Staff Forum).
  6. Under "Do the following", create actions that match the following:
    1. In the first box, choose move to Folder.
    2. In the second box, select the folder that you created. 
  7. Leave both checkboxes ("Do not apply other rules..." and "Enabled") selected. 
  8. Click OK
  9. Close the Rules window. When prompted to save changes, click Save

If you want to run this rule right away to move messages out of the inbox, go to Message > RulesApplyApply All

Create Outlook Rule in Webmail


  1. Log in to Webmail at https://www.spu.edu/webmail
  2. If you don't have a folder where you want these emails to go already, create one now.
  3. Click on the Gear icon at the top-right corner of the page and click View All Outlook Settings at the bottom of the menu.
  4. Click on Rules and then click + Add new rule.
  5. Give your rule a name.
  6. For "Add a condition", use the following settings:
    1. Select To.
    2. Enter the group(s) you want to filter and opt-out of (e.g.: !Faculty Forum, !Staff Forum, and/or !Fac/Staff Forum).
  7. For "Add an action", use the following settings:
    1. Select Move to.
    2. Choose the folder that you created.
  8. Click Save