Outlook rule woes for noob

Ginger_Overlord · #1 09-30-2015, 02:32 PM

Hi,

Could someone point me in the right direction please?

Having terrible trouble with my Outlook rules and the fact that they are not working, well some of them work, some of them don't work and some stop working after a small amount of time.

The rules themselves are very simple - if an email comes from a certain address then deposit the email into specific folder.

I'm sure there are a whole host of solutions on here but I don't know where to start. I have attempted to repair the .pst file but this doesn't seem to work.

Hope you can help

Regards Ginger_Overlord

gmayor · #2 09-30-2015, 10:39 PM

Have you set the option 'Stop processing more rules' after moving the messages?

Ginger_Overlord · #3 10-01-2015, 02:33 PM

Hi Gmayor,

Thanks for your reply.

I have deselected the 'Stop processing more rules' option from all of my rules. In the rules wizard the only thing that is selected is the 'from people or public group'. Is this correct?

I have tried my Outlook again tonight and still none of the rules are working

Regards,

Ginger_Overlord

gmayor · #4 10-01-2015, 09:03 PM

It shouldn't be deselected, but selected if you don't want it to be affected by a subsequent rule.

If the rules are not working, are you certain the conditions you set are still valid and that a previous rule has not overruled the rules in question? Change the order of rules to ensure that there is no conflict between rules.

Ginger_Overlord · #5 10-01-2015, 10:58 PM

Hi Gmayor,

Thanks again.

I re-ordered my rules and run the rules again, no joy.

I have emails in my inbox now that should have been distributed to specific folders I have created for them but it just isn't happening. Anything else I could try?

Regards,

Ginger_Overlord

gmayor · #6 10-02-2015, 04:15 AM

Import the userform from the attached zip into the Outlook VBA editor and then call it with the following macro

Code:

Sub RunMyRules()
    frmRunRules.Show
lbl_Exit:
    Exit Sub
End Sub

which you can add to a ribbon button using the ribbon editor. You can use it to test run your rules to see where the problem lies.

Ginger_Overlord · #7 10-02-2015, 11:13 PM

Hi Gmayor,

Thanks for your continued help.

Unfortunately I have never used the VBA Editor and have no experience importing userforms. Is there a step-by-step guide I could use for these actions?

Regards,

Ginger_Overlord

gmayor · #8 10-03-2015, 04:50 AM

The VBA editor is essentially the same for all VBA enables Office applications so it would be essentially the same as that shown at http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm.

Extract the two files from the zip.

Press Alt + F11 to open the VBA editor, then from the File menu > Import File and select the file frmRunRules.frm from the zip. This will import the form to the VBA editor.

From the Insert menu select 'Module' and then paste the short macro from the first reply into that module.

Ginger_Overlord · #9 10-03-2015, 05:19 AM

Hi Gmayor,

Thanks for that, I successfully ran the Macros.

When I ran the Macros it asked me to run selected rules. I ran all my rules before it advised that the rules were executed against the inbox (all of them I think).

I'm not sure what I should be looking for here. I still have emails in my inbox that should of been sent to their designated folder.

Cheers,

Ginger_Overlord

gmayor · #10 10-03-2015, 10:25 PM

The idea was to run individual rules to ensure that they worked as intended. The macro provides a simple way to do that. We already know that the total rule set doesn't work for you and we are trying to isolate the problem. When you have found the problem you can recreate the rule so that it works.

Test the rule(s) that are leaving the messages in the inbox that should have been moved.

Ginger_Overlord · #11 10-04-2015, 08:45 AM

Hi Gmayor,

Yes, I ran some of the rules individually. I individually selected and ran the ones that don't appear to work but still got the same 'rules were executed against the inbox' message. Quite clearly something had 'ran' but the rule was never adhered to.

Strangely enough, I do have a couple of rules that work all the time but these are setup in a similar fashion to the ones that don't work. It's truly very odd. All rules are very simple, if email from 'X' then send to folder 'X'. It couldn't be any simpler.

Not sure where to go to with this now

Could the problem be that I have too many rules? is there a limit?

Thanks again.

Regards,

Ginger_Overlord

gmayor · #12 10-04-2015, 09:11 PM

You will get the message even if you select no rules to run. It just indicates that the process is finished. If you run a rule that doesn't do anything, check the rule conditions against the message and you may spot an anomaly. If that doesn't work, I regret I am out of ideas.

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