Example: Fetch Small Article Bodies Only

Do Not Fetch Large Article Bodies
This rule is for offline readers or those who download bodies. When you set Gravity to retrieve article bodies, it fetches *all* bodies.It can be annoying to get stuck downloading articles with hundreds or even thousands of lines.
With this rule we create our own conditions to download (small) bodies and it can work automatically whenever headers are retrieved. We can even set the rule to act only on certain groups. We will make a basic rule first, then show how to make it better.

First, before we get into the rule, do NOT store bodies, in Tools - Global Options - Storage Uncheck "Retrieve and Store Article Bodies", if checked. If you have set individual newsgroups to store bodies - disable those too, if applicable.

Tools - Rules

Create (Add) a rule and give it a name;
Condition (adjust the number to suit):
NOT Lines > 100

Action:

ü              Retrieve Body

3. Enable this rule to act automatically on all articles (apply to incoming) .

4. (Optionally) Select to which newsgroups the rule should apply on the General Tab (you do not have to enable a rule for all groups).

Now, when downloading headers, Gravity will automatically evaluate each article and if the lines count is 100 or less, it will fetch the body.

The larger article's headers will be visible if you want to fetch some of the larger articles manually.

Or, maybe you don't want it to run automatically (enabled). In that case, run it manually when you feel like fetching the bodies. Even if you enable this rule for only certain groups, you can run it manually on *any* group, or multiple groups, or selected articles only. (Note: if you are offline and run this rule manually, Gravity may just tag the articles for download).

Our rule can be better. Maybe we have other rules that mark articles read, or we have Ignored Thread  (why download Ignored articles?). Or maybe we are on dialup and want to minimize download time. To exclude Ignored articles, we add more conditions.
Marked as unread And    (    Not    In an ignored thread    ) And    (    Not    Lines > 100    )

Be aware of rule order in the Main Rule Dialog

This rule should be listed AFTER rules that discard articles or marks them read, including the "Ignore Thread" rule, so that you don't waste time downloading article bodies that will only be marked read or deleted.

Also, it should come BEFORE rules that have to act on a BODY condition (so that the body is present for the rule).

You can add more conditions, such as

And

"From does not contain "Porky"