Sorting through email can be a pain, but if you have the right rules set up in Mail, you can spend less time trying to control your inbox and more time doing things that are important.

Rules are one of Mail's most powerful features. You can basically set up a sequence of actions for the application to perform on its own with just the click of a button. Utilize this function to save you some time, or sort specific mail that you get a lot of. Read on to find out how.

Rule 1: Highlight Messages with Color

Sometimes, important mail doesn't grab your attention right away, which could leave the opportunity open for you to accidentally overlook it. Fortunately, you can set up a rule to highlight important messages either by their subject line, or its senders and recipients.

Navigate to Mail > Preferences > Rules > Add Rule. From here, give the rule a name, and then select Any from the "If any of the following conditions are met" drop-down menu. From the conditions list, choose "From" and then "Contains," and then type in the email address that you wish to match against. You can add multiple address by repeating this step after clicking the plus sign (+).

In the actions list, select "Set Color" and "of background," and then choose a color from the next drop-down menu. When you have finished specifying the rule, click the OK button to save the rule.

Rule 2: Highlight Messages that Contain a Specific Name

When you need to be on the lookout for emails mentioning specific names (or to highlight messages that have your name in them), then you'll want to use this rule.

In the conditions, set "Message Content" and "Contains," and then type in the name of the person or thing that you wish to match against. In the actions, select "Set Color of Message" and "of text/of background," and then choose your favorite color. Click OK to start highlighting those messages.

Rule 3: Automatically Forward Your Messages

If you are away on vacation, you may want to forward important messages from your work account to your personal account.

To do this, select "Subject" and "Contains," and then type in the subject of an email you wish to match. In the actions, select "Forward Message," and then type in the email address to forward the email to.

Rule 4: Create a Vacation AutoResponder

When you do want to go on vacation, you may wish to create an AutoResponder that will automatically let incoming email senders know you'll be late responding to their email.

To create an AutoResponder, select "Account," and then select the account you wish to apply the rule on in the second drop-down menu. In the actions, select "Reply to Message," and then click the "Reply message text…" button.

In the new window, type in the message that will be sent to the original sender upon receipt of their message. Remember to delete this mail rule when you get back so you don't annoy your co-workers.

Rule 5: Create an Sound Alert

If you get new emails a lot, then you may ignore the little "bing" sound that plays. To be alerted audibly when your boss emails you, however, apply this Mail rule.

Select "From" and "Contains," and then type the email address that you wish to be notified of. In the actions, select "Play Sound," and then select one of the sounds from the second drop-down menu.

Rule 6: Automatically Move Messages

As new messages come in, you can have them automatically sorted into their appropriate folders in Mac OS X Mail by using this Mail rule.

Select "From" and "Contains," and then type in the domain name that the email will be coming from. You can repeat this for multiple emails by clicking on the plus sign (+). In the actions, select "Move Message," and select the mailbox that you wish to move the message to. You can optionally click the plus sign (+) and select "Bounce Icon in Dock." Click OK to have your messages automatically moved for you.

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