V
Vanguard
Outlook 2002 SP-2
Windows 2000 SP-4
All Windows Updates applied
POP3/SMTP e-mail accounts only (no Exchange, no HTTP, no IMAP)
I defined several rules which were working when I used the default setup
where Outlook 2002 would download the complete message (headers & body).
Then I decided to just download the headers. Go to Tools ->
Send/Receive Settings -> Define Send/Receive Groups -> select group and
click Edit -> select e-mail account -> select the "Download item
descriptions only" option. Instead of downloading the entire message,
you will now only get the headers for each e-mail pending in your
mailbox. You can also perform this function (without having to set this
option) by making sure the Inbox is highlighted and using the menu
Tools -> Send/Receive -> Work with Headers -> Download Headers From ->
select an account. I did not test in the last case, only when the
global option was set to always download description item only (i.e.,
always download only headers). Now when I receive new e-mail, a little
envelope icon appears in the Header Status icon column noting that I
will have to mark this message if I want to download it completely. If
I instead delete it, a line gets drawn through the Subject field, its
sits in my Inbox, and the DELE request gets sent on the next mail poll
at which time this message gets removed from my Inbox.
So now I'm only downloading the headers for e-mails. I sent myself a
test e-mail with a Subject line that should have been caught by a rule
which moves the e-mail into another folder. It never triggered. After
some further testing, I simplified the scenario by defining the
following rule and making it the only enabled rule:
Apply this rule when the message arrives
notify me using 'You have NEW e-mail'
I send myself a test e-mail. I then download headers-only. No popup
new-mail window appears. I then mark this message to get it downloaded
and then process marked messages (to start them downloading). Now the
rule triggers and I see the popup new-mail message. I change the
options from "download item descriptions only" to "download complete
item including attachments" (i.e., the complete message gets downloaded,
which is the default setup). I send another test e-mail and on the next
mail poll the entire message gets downloaded and the new-mail popup
appears.
It appears a defect in Outlook 2002 that it does NOT run rules against
header-only downloaded e-mails. Marking the header-only downloaded
e-mail and processing it so that its entire message then gets downloaded
does trigger the rules to run, or downloading the entire message in the
first place does trigger the rules to run. That means I cannot perform
a headers-only download for e-mails and get anti-spam rules to execute
against them. I have some of my own rules for catching spam. I also
use SpamPal which will mark e-mails as spam but you use a rule in
Outlook to detect that the suspect e-mail got marked with their
"X-SpamPal: SPAM" header or prefixed "**SPAM**" to the Subject header.
But since rules don't execute for header-only downloaded e-mails, my
anti-spam rules and the rule for SpamPal do not get executed against
them.
I wanted to experiment with downloading only the headers for e-mails in
order to reduce bandwidth and time wasted in downloading spam. None of
my anti-spam rules rely on the body of the e-mail and SpamPal detects
spam based on its origin (via headers) rather than on the content in the
body. Downloading just the headers would have been sufficient for these
rules - but it requires that the rules actually get exercised against
the header-only e-mail item. But Outlook 2002 has decided that rules
don't apply against header-only downloads (until you download the rest
of those e-mails).
I've been discussing the problem with the author of SpamPal. He has
Outlook 2000 and claims that rules do get executed against header-only
downloaded e-mails. I have Outlook 2002 and my instance does NOT run
rules against headers-only downloaded e-mails. So I'm looking for
someone else that has Outlook 2002/XP to see if rules will run for them
when they configure it to "download item descriptions only". Make sure
you disable all add-ons and COM plug-ins before testing. Also, use the
Send/Receive button (after making the option change for headers-only
downloads); using Tools -> Send/Receive -> select account might ignore
the headers-only option and instead download the entire message. I have
all the Office Updates and Windows Updates applied.
Thanks in advance to any and all Outlook 2002/XP users that help in this
issue. If OL2002 does not run rules against headers-only downloaded
e-mails, it sure seems a bug to me which I will then report. But it
could also be my environment or some update that farked over Outlook. I
have found nothing at http://support.microsoft.com that mentions rules
and the "download item descriptions only" option. Maybe rules are
supposed to run against headers-only downloaded e-mails in Outlook 2002.
The other guy said it works for him in Outlook 2000. Could be just my
problem.
Windows 2000 SP-4
All Windows Updates applied
POP3/SMTP e-mail accounts only (no Exchange, no HTTP, no IMAP)
I defined several rules which were working when I used the default setup
where Outlook 2002 would download the complete message (headers & body).
Then I decided to just download the headers. Go to Tools ->
Send/Receive Settings -> Define Send/Receive Groups -> select group and
click Edit -> select e-mail account -> select the "Download item
descriptions only" option. Instead of downloading the entire message,
you will now only get the headers for each e-mail pending in your
mailbox. You can also perform this function (without having to set this
option) by making sure the Inbox is highlighted and using the menu
Tools -> Send/Receive -> Work with Headers -> Download Headers From ->
select an account. I did not test in the last case, only when the
global option was set to always download description item only (i.e.,
always download only headers). Now when I receive new e-mail, a little
envelope icon appears in the Header Status icon column noting that I
will have to mark this message if I want to download it completely. If
I instead delete it, a line gets drawn through the Subject field, its
sits in my Inbox, and the DELE request gets sent on the next mail poll
at which time this message gets removed from my Inbox.
So now I'm only downloading the headers for e-mails. I sent myself a
test e-mail with a Subject line that should have been caught by a rule
which moves the e-mail into another folder. It never triggered. After
some further testing, I simplified the scenario by defining the
following rule and making it the only enabled rule:
Apply this rule when the message arrives
notify me using 'You have NEW e-mail'
I send myself a test e-mail. I then download headers-only. No popup
new-mail window appears. I then mark this message to get it downloaded
and then process marked messages (to start them downloading). Now the
rule triggers and I see the popup new-mail message. I change the
options from "download item descriptions only" to "download complete
item including attachments" (i.e., the complete message gets downloaded,
which is the default setup). I send another test e-mail and on the next
mail poll the entire message gets downloaded and the new-mail popup
appears.
It appears a defect in Outlook 2002 that it does NOT run rules against
header-only downloaded e-mails. Marking the header-only downloaded
e-mail and processing it so that its entire message then gets downloaded
does trigger the rules to run, or downloading the entire message in the
first place does trigger the rules to run. That means I cannot perform
a headers-only download for e-mails and get anti-spam rules to execute
against them. I have some of my own rules for catching spam. I also
use SpamPal which will mark e-mails as spam but you use a rule in
Outlook to detect that the suspect e-mail got marked with their
"X-SpamPal: SPAM" header or prefixed "**SPAM**" to the Subject header.
But since rules don't execute for header-only downloaded e-mails, my
anti-spam rules and the rule for SpamPal do not get executed against
them.
I wanted to experiment with downloading only the headers for e-mails in
order to reduce bandwidth and time wasted in downloading spam. None of
my anti-spam rules rely on the body of the e-mail and SpamPal detects
spam based on its origin (via headers) rather than on the content in the
body. Downloading just the headers would have been sufficient for these
rules - but it requires that the rules actually get exercised against
the header-only e-mail item. But Outlook 2002 has decided that rules
don't apply against header-only downloads (until you download the rest
of those e-mails).
I've been discussing the problem with the author of SpamPal. He has
Outlook 2000 and claims that rules do get executed against header-only
downloaded e-mails. I have Outlook 2002 and my instance does NOT run
rules against headers-only downloaded e-mails. So I'm looking for
someone else that has Outlook 2002/XP to see if rules will run for them
when they configure it to "download item descriptions only". Make sure
you disable all add-ons and COM plug-ins before testing. Also, use the
Send/Receive button (after making the option change for headers-only
downloads); using Tools -> Send/Receive -> select account might ignore
the headers-only option and instead download the entire message. I have
all the Office Updates and Windows Updates applied.
Thanks in advance to any and all Outlook 2002/XP users that help in this
issue. If OL2002 does not run rules against headers-only downloaded
e-mails, it sure seems a bug to me which I will then report. But it
could also be my environment or some update that farked over Outlook. I
have found nothing at http://support.microsoft.com that mentions rules
and the "download item descriptions only" option. Maybe rules are
supposed to run against headers-only downloaded e-mails in Outlook 2002.
The other guy said it works for him in Outlook 2000. Could be just my
problem.