How-to · for whoever sets things up
How mail sorts itself, and how to change what it does
Overview
A rule reads incoming mail and attaches a tag. A folder collects everything carrying a tag. The referral queue is itself just mail carrying one particular tag. Once that chain is clear, most of what the mail page does becomes adjustable.
Each system you have connected brings its own set of rules, already written. Most agencies never write one — they turn off the packs they don’t run and add a rule or two for their own quirks.
The chain
| Thing | What it is |
|---|---|
| Rule | A standing question about a message — who it is from, what the subject contains — and the tag to attach when the answer is yes. |
| Tag | A label on a message. Tags are written by rules; nothing else creates one. |
| Folder | A live collection of every message carrying one of its tags, plus anything pinned in by hand. |
Binding a tag to a folder pulls in mail that already has it — including messages from years ago, not only what arrives next. That is why a new folder is useful immediately rather than filling up over the following month.
Starting from a message
Do not start on the Rules tab. Start on a message that is an example of the thing you want to catch.
Open any message of the kind you want tagged — a referral, a court notice, a supervision reminder.
From the message’s actions, this offers the things it could match on: From this sender, From anyone at this domain, Subject contains. Pick the one that describes the kind of mail rather than this particular message.
If the message has nothing distinctive to match on, CaseLoop says so rather than offering a rule that would catch everything.
It counts what it would match across the mail you already have. That number is the whole safety mechanism — a rule meant for one social worker that matches four thousand messages is a rule you want to catch here, not after it has run.
Create rule saves it. From then on it runs on new mail automatically.
A new rule tags what arrives next. Apply to existing mail runs it backwards over your history, which is usually what you want — a folder with nothing in it is hard to judge.
The Rules tab
Rules are grouped by the program they came with. Each system you connect brings its own set — turn off any pack your agency does not run, rather than disabling its rules one at a time.
New rule on this tab, if you would rather start from the condition than from a message. The preview works the same way: it counts before it commits.
Tags and folders
Lists every tag in use. Unchecking one hides it from message rows on this device. It does not untag anything, and it does not change what folders collect — it is purely about visual noise on your own screen.
An empty Tags tab means no rules have matched anything yet. Tags only come from rules.
Create a folder and bind tags to it. CaseLoop proposes folders it can see would be useful, each with the count it would hold right now — which makes the decision obvious in a way a name never does.
Advanced
The Advanced tab has one switch worth knowing about: Show rule configuration adds Edit configuration to each rule’s menu, exposing the rule’s underlying definition.
The panel’s own warning is the right one: leave these alone unless you know the rule format. A malformed rule does not tag anything, and it will not tell you why in terms you can act on.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| A rule is on and has matched nothing. | Usually it is narrower than intended — a subject match on wording that varies, or a sender address that turns out to differ per message. Go back to a real example and use Tag messages like this… to see what it genuinely has in common. |
| A new rule tagged nothing even though you have matching mail. | It only applies to mail that arrives after it. Use Apply to existing mail to run it over history. |
| A rule caught far too much. | Turn it off — tags it already wrote stay, so nothing is destroyed — then rewrite it more narrowly from a real message and check the count before creating it. |
| Your folder is empty after adding a tag. | Then nothing carries that tag yet. Check on the Rules tab whether the rule that writes it has ever matched. |
| A tag disappeared from message rows. | Check the Tags tab — it is probably unchecked there. That hides it on this device only; the mail is still tagged and the folders still collect it. |
| Automated mail is not getting tagged. | Expected. CaseLoop recognises machine-generated mail — no-reply notices, auto-replies, system digests — and holds it back from content rules and filing deliberately, so a notification cannot file itself to a family’s case. |
| A referral did not reach the referral queue. | The queue is a tag. Find the message in Email and check whether it carries the referral tag — if not, that is a rule to widen, and the fix is on this screen. |
| You want to undo an Apply to existing mail. | Turn the rule off and tell us what it tagged. Bulk untagging is not something we expose, because it is far easier to do damage with than to recover from. |
Most agencies write two or three, apply them to history, and never touch the screen again. The payoff is every folder and every queue in the product being about your work rather than ours.