size of Outlook rules on Exchange server

[Amedee Van Gasse]

According to this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/886616
there is 32 kB (or 32 KiB?) per user on the Exchange server to save
the rules defined in Outlook.

One of our users got the error:
One or more rules could not be uploaded to Exchange server and have
been deactivated. This could be because some of the parameters are not
supported or there is insufficient space to store all your rules.

I checked her rules, and all of them are of the type: incoming mail -
if sender = email address - move to folder. The folder exists, it is
not moved or deleted. I cannot find unsupported parameters so it must
be a size issue. It is true that she has many rules.

I have been helping her to clean up her rules, but without good
results.
I feel like I'm doing shotgun debugging. I change one thing, cross my
fingers, and try to save. Most of the time it doesn't work. I'm
working in the dark.

Is there any way I can see the current size of the Oulook rules? I
would like to find out, for every little change I make to a rule, how
many bytes I save.

Versions: Exchange 2003, Outlook 2003.

 

[andy webb]

You could use a tooll like Outlook Spy or MFCMAPI to get at the size info of
the rules items. Not real direct or simple, but it can be done.

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

According to this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/886616
there is 32 kB (or 32 KiB?) per user on the Exchange server to save
the rules defined in Outlook.

One of our users got the error:
One or more rules could not be uploaded to Exchange server and have
been deactivated. This could be because some of the parameters are
not
supported or there is insufficient space to store all your rules.

I checked her rules, and all of them are of the type: incoming
mail -
if sender = email address - move to folder. The folder exists, it is
not moved or deleted. I cannot find unsupported parameters so it
must
be a size issue. It is true that she has many rules.

I have been helping her to clean up her rules, but without good
results.
I feel like I'm doing shotgun debugging. I change one thing, cross
my
fingers, and try to save. Most of the time it doesn't work. I'm
working in the dark.

Is there any way I can see the current size of the Oulook rules? I
would like to find out, for every little change I make to a rule,
how
many bytes I save.

Versions: Exchange 2003, Outlook 2003.

35KB for rule storage. That's all you get. That is the storage space
up in the Exchange account for server-side rules. Many times the
limit is exceeded by the number of strings included in a clause rather
than the number of rules. Rather than, for example, trying to
whitelist a bunch of senders, use a rule that looks for the sender to
be in an address book. If she doesn't want all known good senders to
be in her Contacts folder then create another contact-type folder and
use that one in a whitelist rule. An address book can have LOTS of
e-mail addresses of which none of them need to be listed in the
whitelist rule.

If your user has so many rules, might not some of them be changed to
become client-side rules? By adding "mark as read", for example, the
rule becomes a client-side rule exercised by Outlook since a message
can only be marked as read when the user has actually downloaded and
viewed the message in whatever local e-mail client they use.

 

[Andy David {MVP}]

in message



35KB for rule storage. That's all you get.

Actually its 32KB

That is the storage space
up in the Exchange account for server-side rules. Many times the
limit is exceeded by the number of strings included in a clause rather
than the number of rules. Rather than, for example, trying to
whitelist a bunch of senders, use a rule that looks for the sender to
be in an address book. If she doesn't want all known good senders to
be in her Contacts folder then create another contact-type folder and
use that one in a whitelist rule. An address book can have LOTS of
e-mail addresses of which none of them need to be listed in the
whitelist rule.

If your user has so many rules, might not some of them be changed to
become client-side rules? By adding "mark as read", for example, the
rule becomes a client-side rule exercised by Outlook since a message
can only be marked as read when the user has actually downloaded and
viewed the message in whatever local e-mail client they use.

That wont solve his problem. After Outlook 2000, all rules count
against that 32KB limit regardless if they are client side or server
side.
The only option is to cut down the complexity of those rules, remove
some or upgrade to Exchange 2007 will alllows 64KB by default and can
be configured to allow more.

 

[Amedee Van Gasse]

Actually its 32KB





That wont solve his problem. After Outlook 2000, all rules count
against that 32KB limit regardless if they are client side or server
side.
The only option is to cut down the complexity of those rules, remove
some or upgrade to Exchange 2007 will alllows 64KB by default and can
be configured to allow more.

Thank you all for the excellent answers.
@andy webb: it's nice to know there are tools available. I'll add a
bookmark to those sites for later reference.
@vanguardLH: I tried it with a distribution list, but that didn't
work. Will try with a separate address book (a sub-addressbook of
Contacts). I hadn't noticed that option yet because it is so much at
the bottom of the list. I will torture my victim^W^W^Wask my user to
test this.
@Andy David: that was my conclusion too. Upgrade to Ex2K7 probably
won't happen in my tenure at this customer.