Outlook rules not running automatically

[John W]

I recently applied two updates to my system (KB952142 and kb962871). I had a
rule in place to pre-screen incoming emails and move them to folders based on
the senders email address in the FROM field. Since the two updates were
applied the rule no longer runs on incoming messages automatically yet if I
run it manually it runs fine. Before going through uninstalling the updates
are there any suggestions for troubleshooting?

 

[kntx]

I am having the EXACT same issue with all my messages that have rules
regarding
pre-screen incoming emails and move them to folders based on the senders
email address in the FROM field. Yes, when run manually the work fine. Very
annoying!!

 

[F.H. Muffman]

I recently applied two updates to my system (KB952142 and kb962871).

I had a rule in place to pre-screen incoming emails and move them to
folders based on the senders email address in the FROM field. Since
the two updates were applied the rule no longer runs on incoming
messages automatically yet if I run it manually it runs fine. Before
going through uninstalling the updates are there any suggestions for
troubleshooting?

Well, honestly, if you think those two updates were what caused them to stop
working, then the first step of troubleshooting is to uninstall them.

Otherwise, the more likely reason things like this happen is that there's
another rule that was also recently created that is also affecting the messages
and that's overriding the rules.

 

[kntx]

I deleted my last few rules that I had created, and the rest of my rules seem
to be functioning properly now.....go figure. Is there a maximum number of
rules that can be created, or is it more so that I somewho created a rule
that impacted every other rule?

Regardless, thanks for the tip!!

 

[F.H. Muffman]

I recently applied two updates to my system (KB952142 and kb962871).

I deleted my last few rules that I had created, and the rest of my
rules seem to be functioning properly now.....go figure. Is there a
maximum number of rules that can be created, or is it more so that I
somewho created a rule that impacted every other rule?

Rules are run in order of how they appear in the list. If two rules affect
a message, it can cause moves to not happen because something else needed
to happen. Move rules either need to be last, or you could put the 'stop
processing more rules' action in on them so that a later rule doesn't cause
problems.

There is a maximum number of rules, but that will actually prevent you from
creating rules.

 

[John W]

I would tend to agree with the possibilty that there was a conflicting rule
but in my particular case I have not added any new rules recently. The one
that stopped working has been in place since 9/2008 when I installed Outlook
2007 and added it. It appears to have ceased functioning only after the 2 MS
updates were applied. I guess I will have to attempt removing the updates
and see if it fixes the issue...

 

[John W]

Breaking the Rules.....

To all the viewers of this thread. I removed the MS patch KB952142 and vola
my rules now work as before. Hopefully someone from MS is monitoring this
thread and will relook at the code. Thanks to all for your feedback and I
hope that this helps.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

To all the viewers of this thread. I removed the MS patch KB952142 and vola
my rules now work as before. Hopefully someone from MS is monitoring this
thread and will relook at the code. Thanks to all for your feedback and I
hope that this helps.

Generall, no one from MS monitors these newsgroups. Support calls for update
issues are always free. Log a call.

 

[John W]

All:

It appears that KB952142 unmasked a problem with my .pst's. I recevied a
recommendation from "Roady" on another thread suggesting I run the
"scanpst.exe" tool. I did as advised and error were found in my .pst's.
After a few days I re-applied the KB952142 and eveything is working as
expected. Thanks again Roady..

Regards,
John

 

[John R. Hamilton]

I had the same problem. I do believe it is a Microsoft "BUG". Sometimes my
rules work and sometimes they don't. Often, I had to run manually. All in
all, the rules I set worked just fine when run manually. Even after
performing all the tips and tricks from MVP Outlook professionals, I still
had the same problem !!!! Here is my solution that WORKED for me as my rules
NOW run automatically with my VBA scripts.

a) Click Tools, Macro, Visual Basic Editor.
b) In the project explorer to the left, expand Microsoft Office Outlook
Objects
c) Double Click "ThisOutlookSession"
d) Copy and past the following code

Private Sub Application_Startup()
MsgBox "Welcome, " & Application.GetNamespace("MAPI").CurrentUser
Application.ActiveExplorer.WindowState = olMaximized
End Sub

e) Save the Visual Basic Program.
f) Close.
g) Done.

I know this doesn't make sense, but I think that the VBA macro library is
NOT loading properly at the start of Microsoft Outlook. I think the startup
event forces the loading of the VBA scripts properly. I don't think it
matters what code you place just as long as it is something to properly start
the VBA macros.

Anyway, again, I know that the above doesn't make any sense but it WORKED
for me. All the other LOGICAL solutions by the MVP professionals and other
users simply just did not work, which those other solutions should have
worked. Therefore, this leads me to believe that there is a BUG is the
Outlook product.

Again, it worked for me and I am NOW happy and I have stopped wasting hours
looking for a solution.

If this SOLUTION worked for you, please let me know. If this solution works
for you, please make a post so that Microsoft will know where to look for
this goofy bug in the Outlook product.

I hope this works for you as I spent over 200 hours trying to fix this same
problem.

John R. Hamilton