Automation Rules

Whenever Newsman retrieves new headers, you can have Newsman apply user-defined rules against headers that are "Complete" in your database. To access the Automation Rules, click on "Automation" in the Navigator...


Using these Rules, you can process headers in the following ways:

• Mark Interesting - Matching headers will be colored using the "Interesting" color in the Message List.
• Mark Read - Matching headers will be marked as read.
• Mark Keep - Matching headers will be marked "Keep" so they can't be deleted.
• Move to a folder - Move messages to a user-defined "Saved Items" folder.
• Score - Apply a score value to headers that match the rule.
• Download - Complete messages that match your rule will be added to the Queue for download.
• Delete - Move the messages to the Trash folder.

To create a new Rule, click the "New" button on the Automation Rules toolbar. To edit an existing rule, select it and click the "Edit" button.

The Automation Rule editor


The options in the Automation Rule editor are very similar to those in the Filter Builder for the message list. In fact, you can create a filter in the Filter Builder (for testing) and then use the "Copy settings from..." button to import your filter into the Automation Rule editor.

Automation Rule Actions
The "Actions" section is where you specify what the rule should do when a header matches the rule you have created. Newsman Pro can perform the following actions on a header that matches your rules:

• Delete - Message is moved to the Trash folder.
• Body Only - Deletes the BODY for a matching message.
• Ignore Replies - Automatically creates an internal filter to ignore any replies to matching messages.
• Mark Interesting
• Mark Keep
• Mark Read
• Score - Apply a score value to the header. This value can be used for filtering and sorting purposes and can also be used as matching criteria for other Automation Rules.
• Move Message - Moves a matching header to a "Saved Items" folder.
• Download Bodies - Download the body for the matching header.

Actions can be combined (except for "Delete") so that you don't need to have separate rules for each action.

Each rule has a name or description that is assigned to it by you. Rules are applied to stored headers in alphabetical order based on this rule description. When a message matches a rule, the options that are enabled for that rule are applied to the header. A header can match more than one rule, but only if the rule preceding the current rule has not moved the header out of the Workgroup to a "Saved Items" folder. To have rules processed in a particular order, make sure that you name your rules so that they are displayed in the rules list in the order you want them executed. Partially downloaded messages that become complete will be processed by the Automation Rules and Newsman will Queue the unretrieved segments automatically if you have enabled "Download Bodies" in your Automation Rule.