The final destination on the email journey could also be your least-cost option for providing content management because it requires no additional software. Microsoft Outlook provides two content-management methods: the Rules Wizard (or the Inbox Assistant) and the junk email list. In the absence of server-side content management, these tools are your last resort.

As Figure A shows, an advantage of using the junk email list to manage content is that you can use the Automatic Formatting feature to color-code possible offensive material, without the risk of losing content by deleting the message. You can also use the junk email list with the Rules Wizard to move suspect messages out of your Inbox. As with any client-side solution, you must implement the solution many times, once for each client. Fortunately, you can export Inbox rules from one client and import them into another.

Unfortunately, Inbox rules aren't as powerful as server-based content-management software and lack certain flexibility. Searching for words within an email message uses the logical OR instead of AND; therefore, any hit will trigger the rule. Another disadvantage is that rules can be Outlook client-based and won't work unless the Outlook client is running. Simple rules to monitor content and move messages to folders will run on the server, unless the folders are in a personal store (.pst) file. The rules don't work with Outlook Web Access (OWA) because OWA provides no way to set rules.