The Internet Mail Rules Search Results page displays rules found as a result of your search. Active rules appear in bold type on this page. If there are one or more sub-rules associated with a rule, the sub-rule name appears as a link in the rule sentence. You can click the sub-rule link to access and edit the sub-rule.
Options on the Actions menu let you add rules and sub-rules, compile rules, mass update rules and edit rules. The Add Rule and Add Sub-Rule actions use the Rule Wizard to create valid routing rules. The Compile Rules option compiles rules, and must be used whenever you make a change to a rule or its position. You can also recorder rules by changing the position of a rule. Additional options for individual rules are available when you click the Rule ID link. These options let you copy or delete a rule.
The Default Rule ID#0, Create Exception, always occupies the last position among the rules. It is always active and is the rule that is used if an e-mail fails to meet the criteria of any other rules. You may not edit, delete or change the position of the Default Rule.
The order of your rules is very important. A rule's position determines when it will execute in relation to other rules. In general, you should place more specific rules before general rules, and place delete rules first, exception rules second, and database update rules last. If, for example, you want to delete messages from certain addresses, you should place that rule before rules that update the database. If you placed the delete rule after a database update rule, it's possible that a message would meet the update criteria and be processed before it could be deleted.
You can change the order of your rules by clicking in the Position field and changing the number. You must then click the Save icon and the Compile Rules action to make the new rule order active. When entering numbers in the Position field, the following rules apply when reordering:
Rules are sorted first by position, then by status, and finally by Rule ID.
A null position does not change the order.
A non-numeric position does not change the order.
You can assign the same position to several rules to move a group of rules. They are re-assigned position numbers based on their status and ID, so that if all moved rules have the same status, they will be numbered consecutively with the lowest ID receiving the lowest position number. Active and inactive rules are always separated, with active rules positioned above inactive rules.
If you assign a rule a position that is already in use, the position might be adjusted slightly during the reordering process. For example, if you change Rule ID 75 to position 3, and Rule ID 50 is already at position 3, Rule ID 75 will be placed in position 4 because the Rule ID sort places it after ID 50.
You can use decimals, 0, and negative numbers to adjust the position of a rule.
Rules that have not been compiled are not part of the active rules list and are not used to evaluate incoming e-mail. The red message text Please compile rules!!! appears below the page title whenever uncompiled rules exist. When you compile rules, you'll be notified of any that are invalid and asked to correct or make them inactive. Access to this function is restricted. Even though you can create, test, and reorder rules, you may not be able to compile them.
To edit an existing rule, click the Rule ID link to go to the Edit Rule record page or select the checkbox next to multiple rules and select the Edit action. Once you have made changes on the Edit Rule page, you must save and compile the rules.
The ability to copy an existing rule is useful when you want to use a complex rule as the basis for a new rule. Click the Rule ID link to go to the Edit Rule record page and select Copy Rule. The rule definition, action, and acknowledgement are copied and appear on the Entry - Copy from Rule page. When you save the copied rule, it is assigned the next available Rule ID and position number. You can change the position and reorder the rules.
You can delete rules that you are no longer going to use to respond to and route mail. Click the Rule ID link to go to the Edit Rule record page, select Delete Rule, and click OK in response to the confirmation prompt. You must compile rules after a deletion.
When you want to retain a rule but not use it for a time, you can make it inactive. Click the Rule ID link to go to the Edit Rule record page and select Inactive in the Status field. Once you've inactivated a rule, you can locate it during a search by selecting a Status of Inactive or All on the IMA Rules Search page. You can make an inactive rule active again, by selecting Active in the Status field. You must compile the rules each time you make a rule inactive or active.
Sub-rules let you extend the functionality of rules. Because there is a 2,000 character limit on the length of a rule definition, a rule, for example, that deletes messages based on the e-mail address could grow quite long as you continue to enter e-mail addresses. To manage such a rule, you could create a 'Delete Message' sub-rule for each letter of the alphabet, placing e-mail addresses in the appropriate sub-rule.
Sub-rules are similar to rules, except that they have no action and you cannot assign a position to them. You can call the same sub-rule from multiple rules, thus saving yourself the time of retyping the rule definition in multiple rules. Sub-rules can contain sub-rules.
You can create a sub-rule with the Add Sub-Rule option on the Actions menu on the Internet Mail Agent Rules Maintenance page. Sub-rules must have names and they must be unique. If you use the name of an existing sub-rule for a new sub-rule, you are notified of that fact when you save the sub-rule. Sub-rules can be edited, copied, deleted, and made inactive by clicking the Rule ID link and selecting the appropriate option.