rule won't run automatically

[Guest]

I can't get a rule to run automatically on emails that arrive in my In-box.
But, if I manually choose the Run Rules Now option, it works fine!
I've studied the Help section and read all the posts online on this subject,
and tried deleting the rule and re-creating it, but nothing has helped.
I have Outlook 2003 SP2, using Microsoft Exchange Server account.

What I'm trying to do is have certain emails moved to a specific folder.
My company has a web-site that has a generic email address for inquiries:
(e-mail address removed). Lucky for me, those emails are actually sent to me
(the To field still shows the info@ address). But, 95% of the messages are
junk/solicitations/bogus inquires, so I want to move all of them to my Junk
E-mail folder, for review or deletion later.
Here's what I set up:
Junk mail rule (client-only):
Apply this rule after the message arrives
where my name is not in the To box
and on this machine only
move it to the "Junk E-mail" folder
except where my name is in the Cc box
or except if from "the IT dept"
or except if sent to "3 distribution lists I am part of"
or except if subject contains "EBS notice"
or except if sender is in "Global Address List" Address Book

The rule started out a bit more simple, but I added the exceptions as I
realized a few legitimate emails were being moved as well. I have tried
changing the name of it and making it more simplistic, but it still will not
work automatically.
This rule USED to run automatically, but as of the last week or two, it will
only work manually. I didn't make any recent upgrades or changes to my
computer (which is a laptop), so it is a mystery to me why it stopped
working. I suppose it's possible that our IT dept made some kind of system
change that affected it, but I don't know what that could be.
By the way, I only had one other rule, which was a completely separate rule,
and that one still worked automatically just fine. But, just in case, I have
deleted that one until I can get this rule to work first (and deleting that
one had no effect on this problem - the junk mail rule still doesn't work
automatically.)
Any help will be appreciated!!

 

[Vanguard]

in message

I can't get a rule to run automatically on emails that arrive in my
In-box.
But, if I manually choose the Run Rules Now option, it works fine!
I've studied the Help section and read all the posts online on this
subject,
and tried deleting the rule and re-creating it, but nothing has
helped.
I have Outlook 2003 SP2, using Microsoft Exchange Server account.

What I'm trying to do is have certain emails moved to a specific
folder.
My company has a web-site that has a generic email address for
inquiries:
(e-mail address removed). Lucky for me, those emails are actually sent to
me
(the To field still shows the info@ address). But, 95% of the
messages are
junk/solicitations/bogus inquires, so I want to move all of them to my
Junk
E-mail folder, for review or deletion later.
Here's what I set up:
Junk mail rule (client-only):
Apply this rule after the message arrives
where my name is not in the To box
and on this machine only
move it to the "Junk E-mail" folder
except where my name is in the Cc box
or except if from "the IT dept"
or except if sent to "3 distribution lists I am part of"
or except if subject contains "EBS notice"
or except if sender is in "Global Address List" Address Book

The rule started out a bit more simple, but I added the exceptions as
I
realized a few legitimate emails were being moved as well. I have
tried
changing the name of it and making it more simplistic, but it still
will not
work automatically.
This rule USED to run automatically, but as of the last week or two,
it will
only work manually. I didn't make any recent upgrades or changes to
my
computer (which is a laptop), so it is a mystery to me why it stopped
working. I suppose it's possible that our IT dept made some kind of
system
change that affected it, but I don't know what that could be.
By the way, I only had one other rule, which was a completely separate
rule,
and that one still worked automatically just fine. But, just in case,
I have
deleted that one until I can get this rule to work first (and deleting
that
one had no effect on this problem - the junk mail rule still doesn't
work
automatically.)
Any help will be appreciated!!

The "on this machine only" means that if you ever run Outlook on another
host to look at your mailbox and folders (which are up on the Exchange
server) then that rule will not run.

Typically a run not running providing that the trigger clauses should
fire means that a prior rule is triggering on that same e-mail (and
probably has the stop-clause). If a prior rule moves that message and
has a stop-clause then no further rules get exercised against that
message. The rule runs manually because it is the only rule you are
exercising against the message. What happens when you enable ALL the
rules and then run all of them against that message?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your response, but...

host to look at your mailbox and folders (which are up on the Exchange
server) then that rule will not run.

I already took off the "on this machine" clause, in case that was a problem,
and it still doesn't work.

Typically a run not running providing that the trigger clauses should
fire means that a prior rule is triggering on that same e-mail (and
probably has the stop-clause). If a prior rule moves that message and
has a stop-clause then no further rules get exercised against that
message. The rule runs manually because it is the only rule you are
exercising against the message. What happens when you enable ALL the
rules and then run all of them against that message?

I don't have any other rules, this one is it, so I don't know how any prior
rules could be acting on or moving these messages? And the messages don't
move, they just sit there in bold in my inbox.
I'm not sure what you mean by "enable ALL the rules and then run all of them
against that message" ?
Please clarify - thanks!

 

[Vanguard]

Since you only have one rule listed and if it is enabled then all rules
are already enabled. The idea was that if you had other rules was to
manually run them all together to see if they all work together when ran
manually since you already mentioned the one rule worked when ran
manually.

Disable junk filtering. Check your block senders list.

How often are you polling the mail server (check the send/receive
settings)? Make it at least 5 minutes or longer.

If connecting to an Exchange server, try disabling Exchange cache mode
in Outlook.

I'm not sure why you differentiate between the To and Cc headers when
testing if an e-mail was sent to you (i.e., that it had you in the
recipients list). Logically there is no difference between these
fields. Lastly you might want to simplify your rule by splitting it out
into multiple rules. This also lets you target in on the rule where the
condition isn't quite defined right. You might try the following rules
rather than trying to pile multiple exceptions within one rule which may
not have the effect that you want:

<delete - any blacklist rules>

<keep - sent-to-me rule>
Apply this rule after the message arrives
where my name is in the To or Cc box
stop processing more rules

<keep - known sender rule>
Apply this rule after the message arrives
sender is in "Global Address List" Address Book
stop processing more rules

<keep - whitelist-by-sender rule>
Apply this rule after the message arrives
if from "the IT dept"
stop processing more rules

<keep - whitelist-by-maillist rule>
Apply this rule after the message arrives
sent to "3 distribution lists I am part of"
stop processing more rules

<junk - catchall rule>
Apply this rule after the message arrives
move it to the "Junk E-mail" folder

Put the whitelisting rules at the top (if you have a blacklist rule then
put that before the whitelist rules). If the prior rules don't manage
to determine which mails to keep, the rest are junk and the purpose of
the last catchall rule. That is, other than for blacklist rules, you
filter in what you want to keep.

The whitelist or filter-in rules simply leave the message in the Inbox
because no action is taken on that mesage.