By the use of declarative rules, automation of tasks can be performed through an electronic personal information management (PIM) application. Rules can be used in a variety of different scenarios, for instance to trigger information retrieval tasks or to send out notifications when a pre-determined set of conditions are satisfied. The technology described is an integral part of the IBM Tempus Fugit [1] research project. Keywords PIM, Rule Engines, Java, XML, Messaging, Information Retrieval, AI