Rules

Rules file, tag and flag new mail for you. A rule’s condition is a search, written in the same language as the search field, so anything you can find you can also sort. A rule runs either on your phone or on your mail server.

Device rules and server rules

	This Device	Server
Runs	On new Inbox mail, each time Loupe checks for mail	On the mail server, as mail arrives
While your phone is off	No; it catches up at the next check	Yes
Needs	Nothing	A server with Sieve, over ManageSieve (Dovecot, mailcow) or JMAP (Stalwart)
Forwarding	No	Yes

Gmail and Microsoft accounts don’t offer server rules; rules for them run on the device.

Create a rule

1. Open Settings › Rules and tap the compose button (New Rule).
2. Under When a New Message Matches, write the condition as you would search, for example from:@shop.example.com or s:invoice has:attachment. Leave it empty to match every message.
3. Under Accounts, choose which accounts’ mail the rule handles. All Accounts also covers accounts you add later.
4. Under Then, tap Add Action and choose what to do (see below). A rule can have several actions.
5. Under Run On, choose This Device or Server.
6. Give it a Name if you like (Loupe suggests one from the condition), and tap Save.

While you write the condition, Loupe shows the messages from the last 30 days that it would match, so you can check it before saving. If the condition has a mistake, Loupe explains it under the field.

Actions

Action	What it does
Move to Folder…	Moves the message to a folder. In a rule for several accounts, mail of the other accounts goes to the folder with the same name there.
Add Tag…, Remove Tag…	Adds or removes Important, Work, Personal, To Do or Later
Flag	Flags the message
Mark as Read	Marks it read
Move to Junk	Marks it as junk and moves it to Junk
Keep in Inbox	Leaves it in the Inbox and stops: later rules don’t touch it. Put such a rule first for exceptions, such as “my manager always stays in the Inbox”.
Forward To…	Server rules only. Sends every matching message on to another address, keeping a copy or not.

Stop Processing More Rules keeps later rules from acting on a message this rule matched.

Make a rule from a search or a sender

• From a search: search for what you want, tap the ⋯ button above the results, and choose Make This a Rule. The rule editor opens with your search as the condition.
• From a newsletter: in Subscriptions, long-press it and choose Create Rule…, or Block Sender.

Your rules list

• Rules run from top to bottom. Touch and hold a rule to move it.
• Each rule shows Device or Server, its condition and its actions, and a switch to turn it off without deleting it.
• Tap a rule to edit it, or to delete it with Delete Rule.

Apply a rule to mail you already have

Rules only act on new mail. To run one on existing messages, open it and tap Apply to Existing Messages…, choose Inboxes or All Mailboxes, and confirm. Forwarding is left out when applying to existing mail.

Server rules

Server rules keep working when your phone is off or out of battery. Loupe writes them into a Sieve script named “loupe” on your server.

The Server Rules section of the rules list shows each account’s state:

State	Meaning
On	The server runs Loupe’s rules.
Off	Another script is active on the server (see below), or none is. Saving a server rule turns Loupe’s on when no other script is active.
Not Available	The server offers no Sieve, over ManageSieve or JMAP.
Unknown	Loupe couldn’t ask the server.

If you already have a Sieve script

Many servers’ webmail (SOGo on mailcow, for example) keeps its filters in a Sieve script of its own. Loupe never replaces it. Instead, the Turn On Server Rules sheet shows the line it would add to your script so that the server runs Loupe’s rules after your own: tap Add to “script”. Nothing else in your script changes.

If the webmail later rewrites its script without that line, the Server Rules section shows Loupe’s rules as off again. Tap the account to add the line back.

What can’t run on the server

A server rule is fixed when you save it, and a server sees mail as it arrives. So some conditions can’t run there. Loupe tells you which and why, and offers Run on This Device Instead:

• read, replied, forwarded, draft or junk state (new mail has none yet);
• dates relative to today, such as newer_than:7d or after:yesterday (fixed dates like after:2026-03-01 work);
• account: (choose the rule’s accounts instead);
• patterns that use features the server’s regular expressions don’t have, such as \d;
• anything that needs a Sieve extension your server lacks, such as searching the message text.

You can see the exact script with Show Script in the editor.