Creating Email Rules in InboxBridge
Email rules are the engine behind InboxBridge. Define conditions to match incoming emails and pair them with automated actions — from forwarding and labeling to auto-replying and routing to Slack. Rules run automatically so your team stays organized without manual sorting.
Step 1: Navigate to Rules
In InboxBridge, click Rules in the left navigation. The rules list shows all your active and inactive rules, their conditions, and how many times each has been triggered.
- Rules run in the order shown — drag to reorder by priority
- Toggle any rule on or off without deleting it
- The rule trigger count helps you identify your most active rules
Step 2: Create a Rule with Conditions
Click New Rule and name it clearly (e.g., "Route VIP Client Emails"). Under Conditions, click Add Condition to define your matching criteria.
- From: Sender's email address or domain contains a value
- Subject: Subject line contains, starts with, or exactly matches text
- Body contains: The email body includes specific keywords
- Has attachment: Email contains a file attachment
- Use Match ALL (AND) or Match ANY (OR) to combine conditions
Step 3: Add Actions
Under Actions, define what happens when the conditions match. You can add multiple actions that all execute when the rule fires.
- Forward: Forward the email to one or more email addresses
- Label: Apply a color-coded label for easy filtering
- Auto-reply: Send an automatic response using a template
- Route to Slack: Post to a Slack channel with email details
- Webhook: Send the email data to an external URL
- Mark as read / Archive: Organizational cleanup actions
Step 4: Set Rule Priority Order
The order of rules matters. Rules are evaluated top-to-bottom, and by default, an email can match multiple rules (and trigger all their actions). Reorder rules by dragging the handle on the left of each rule.
- Enable Stop processing after this rule to prevent subsequent rules from applying to the same email
- More specific rules should generally come before broader catch-all rules
- Priority rules for VIP senders or critical keywords should be at the top
Step 5: Activate and Test Rules
Save the rule and ensure it's toggled Active. Use the Test Rule feature to simulate an email against your conditions before going live.
- Enter a sample From address, Subject, and Body in the test form
- InboxBridge shows whether the email would match and which actions would fire
- Check the Rule Logs after real emails arrive to verify the rule is working correctly
💡 Tip: Create a rule that automatically labels emails with your domain name in the subject (e.g., subject contains "invoice" or "payment") and routes them to your finance team — this keeps billing-related emails out of the general inbox and ensures they're never missed.