Rules not reliable

  • Thread starter Thread starter Craig Hulett
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Craig Hulett

I've recently migrated from OE to Outlook 2002/XP and while I *never* had
issues with email rules not working in OE, they seem to be pretty
hit-and-miss in Outlook. Never mind the fact that multiple conditions must
use 'and' logic where OE supported 'and/or', meaning I now have to create
multiple rules in Outlook where one would suffice in OE. I'm finding that
even simple rules that just move email from the Inbox to another folder seem
to fail once in a while. The three or four that are a little more
complicated don't work much better.

For example, a rule that says: When an email has 'Question' in the subject,
forward it to X person, move it to Y folder and mark it as read. Worked
like a champ in OE. Now, it gets moved but the mark and forward bits don't
always work. Sometimes it gets marked as read, sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes it get forwarded, sometimes it doesn't. Also, I would think
looking for 'Question' in the subject would also work with 'Re: Question',
but that doesn't seem to be the case, either. It *is* looking for the string
anywhere in the subject, isn't it? More like '*string*' than 'string*', yes?
Just for fun, I added both to the rule.

There are no overlapping rules, each checks for a distinct and different set
of criteria. All say 'and stop processing more rules' so there's no
fall-thru to subsequent rules. I don't have tons of rules, only eight right
now. Any idea on what might be wrong or are the email rules in Outlook XP
just... broken? Thanks.

-craig
 
Have you applied all Office Service Packs?

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.


After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer
Craig Hulett <[email protected]> asked:

| I've recently migrated from OE to Outlook 2002/XP and while I *never*
| had issues with email rules not working in OE, they seem to be pretty
| hit-and-miss in Outlook. Never mind the fact that multiple
| conditions must use 'and' logic where OE supported 'and/or', meaning
| I now have to create multiple rules in Outlook where one would
| suffice in OE. I'm finding that even simple rules that just move
| email from the Inbox to another folder seem to fail once in a while.
| The three or four that are a little more complicated don't work much
| better.
|
| For example, a rule that says: When an email has 'Question' in the
| subject, forward it to X person, move it to Y folder and mark it as
| read. Worked like a champ in OE. Now, it gets moved but the mark
| and forward bits don't always work. Sometimes it gets marked as read,
| sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it get forwarded, sometimes it
| doesn't. Also, I would think looking for 'Question' in the subject
| would also work with 'Re: Question', but that doesn't seem to be the
| case, either. It *is* looking for the string anywhere in the subject,
| isn't it? More like '*string*' than 'string*', yes? Just for fun, I
| added both to the rule.
|
| There are no overlapping rules, each checks for a distinct and
| different set of criteria. All say 'and stop processing more rules'
| so there's no fall-thru to subsequent rules. I don't have tons of
| rules, only eight right now. Any idea on what might be wrong or are
| the email rules in Outlook XP just... broken? Thanks.
|
| -craig
 
Yep - Outlook 2002 (10.4712.4219) SP-2. Only missing the recent Office XP
Security Patch KB822036 I just went online and found.

-craig
Have you applied all Office Service Packs?

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.


After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer
Craig Hulett said:
I've recently migrated from OE to Outlook 2002/XP and while I *never*
had issues with email rules not working in OE, they seem to be pretty
hit-and-miss in Outlook. Never mind the fact that multiple
conditions must use 'and' logic where OE supported 'and/or', meaning
I now have to create multiple rules in Outlook where one would
suffice in OE. I'm finding that even simple rules that just move
email from the Inbox to another folder seem to fail once in a while.
The three or four that are a little more complicated don't work much
better.

For example, a rule that says: When an email has 'Question' in the
subject, forward it to X person, move it to Y folder and mark it as
read. Worked like a champ in OE. Now, it gets moved but the mark
and forward bits don't always work. Sometimes it gets marked as read,
sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it get forwarded, sometimes it
doesn't. Also, I would think looking for 'Question' in the subject
would also work with 'Re: Question', but that doesn't seem to be the
case, either. It *is* looking for the string anywhere in the subject,
isn't it? More like '*string*' than 'string*', yes? Just for fun, I
added both to the rule.

There are no overlapping rules, each checks for a distinct and
different set of criteria. All say 'and stop processing more rules'
so there's no fall-thru to subsequent rules. I don't have tons of
rules, only eight right now. Any idea on what might be wrong or are
the email rules in Outlook XP just... broken? Thanks.

-craig
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