Outlook performs pre-defined actions automatically on all the incoming emails. These Outlook rules help filter out e-mails into folders. Some mails directly get permitted to the ‘focused’ folder, some into the ‘other’ folder and some to the ‘spam’ folder. But this may not always work. Some users do face the issue of these rules not working properly. This blog article is aimed at giving you solutions on how you can fix the “Outlook Rules not Working” issue.
Here are the possible reasons why your Outlook rules may not be working- too many rules, the file size of these rules could be large, some files/rules may be corrupt, rules are complicated etc.
If you are facing issues with the ‘Outlook rules not working‘ issue, for a mailbox, you need to check the below solutions:
Ensure that rules are enabled as per the below steps:
In case, the rules refer to a mailbox folder that has been deleted, you may face a problem. Check the dependencies of a rule by double-clicking it in the same Rules and Alerts dialog box. If you come across a file that refers to a deleted folder/file, you can replace the folder/file with an existing file.
If the SRS (send/receive settings) file is damaged in Outlook, that may cause the problem of the Outlook rules not working. You can reset the SRS file as per the below steps:
You can divide Outlook Rules into – client-based rules and server-based rules. Client-based rules only work when the Outlook email client is running. Whereas, rules that work even when Outlook is closed, are server-based rules.
If it is a client-based rule, then it will be mentioned in the list of rules, as shown below:
If the rule is client-based, it’s possible that it won’t work in Outlook 2016, 2013, 2010, or other versions. Additionally, Outlook may not run when emails are received. To make the rules work even when Outlook isn’t running, log in to your account via web-based access, i.e. Outlook Web Access, and recreate the rules there.
P.S: Furthermore, out of both server-based rules and client-based rules, server-based rules will be applied first, followed by client-based rules.
The email address is set to where the journaling NDRs (non-delivery reports) are supposed to land.
Transport rules, inbox rules, MRM (messaging records management) will not work on the mailbox that is set to receive journaling NDRs. This is by design and could be the reason why inbox rules are not working on that mailbox.
If you want inbox rules to work, then you will need to change the email address to some other email address.
To change the email ID, please run the following PowerShell command while connecting to Exchange Online: Set-TransportConfig -JournalingReportNdrTo email
To completely remove the email address, kindly run the following PowerShell command: Set-TransportConfig -JournalingReportNdrTo $null
You can delete the rules and then recreate them if the above solutions fail, or if the rules are corrupted/damaged. For this, follow these steps:
Additionally, you can specifically delete rules that don’t work, instead of all the rules. For this, follow these steps:
We keep uploading new blogs quite frequently on our website- keep an eye out for those. Here’s a blog that talks about some hacks that talks about 7 outlook hacks that will help you increase productivity in 2022.
Lastly, if you need help with more such IT Solutions, feel free to reach out to us. We’ll be happy to resolve your queries.