New Outlook for Mac rules not processing

Yoshi Ouchi 1

I have recently moved from the old Outlook for Mac to the new version. In the old version, I had set up all the rules under Client Rules (in Exchange).

When I moved to the new Outlook, I first noticed that the rules to move to a different folder do not work at all. When you click on "Run rule now", it spins forever and never completes.

I reverted to the old Outlook and deleted all the rules set up under Client Rules and came back to the new version. I created a new rule but the situation does not change (it goes into a spinning state and never completes the rule).

Can someone tell me what is going on here?

Dillon Silzer 57,556 Reputation points

2022-09-06T04:20:22.097+00:00

Have you tried deleting your profile completely, uninstalling the old version then installing the new version? Then after try adding your profile. My thoughts are that there is something wrong with your legacy profile that is causing it to spin.
Yoshi Ouchi 1 Reputation point

2022-09-06T10:33:10.023+00:00

I have deleted my profile (as in removed my account by signing out of my Outlook), uninstalled the new version, reinstalled the new version and added my profile again as you instructed. However, the issue is still there. I added a rule to test and when I run rule, it goes into a spinning state and never completes it..
Dillon Silzer 57,556 Reputation points

2022-09-06T16:07:35.97+00:00

Did you try actually removing your profile through Internet Accounts?

https://help.lsit.ucsb.edu/hc/en-us/articles/115002075947-Remove-an-email-account-from-Apple-Mail
Yoshi Ouchi 1 Reputation point

2022-09-06T21:17:10.93+00:00

@Dillon Silzer
I don't see Outlook in the list.

I should have perhaps clarified this in the beginning but this Mac was supplied by my employer and the email account is for work.

1 answer

ChristyZhang-MSFT 24,646 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-06T08:07:19.89+00:00

Hi @Yoshi Ouchi ,

Welcome to our forum!

What's the version of your Outlook for Mac(Outlook>About Outlook)? Please make sure you have updated your Outlook client to the latest version.
And what are the rules you set specifically?

Based on my test on New Outlook for Mac(version 16.64 (22081401)) with the rule as shown in the below figure, the rule created in New Outlook run normally and when i click "Run rule now", it will quickly end in circles, and the messages that meet the conditions in the Inbox are correctly moved to the corresponding folder, which didn't reproduce your issue.

In order to confirm if the issue is related to other rules, please edit your rule and select "Stop processing more rules" to check if the issue still exists.

If the issue still exists, considering the profile is damaged, please create a new profile to check if there're any differences.

In addition, i notice that you have problem with uninstalling Outlook, it's suggested that you could refer to this article to uninstall Office for Mac: Uninstall Office for Mac.

Hope to help you!

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Yoshi Ouchi 1 Reputation point

2022-09-06T10:46:58.003+00:00

@ChristyZhang-MSFT

What's the version of your Outlook for Mac(Outlook>About Outlook)?

My version is 16.64 (22082100).

In order to confirm if the issue is related to other rules, please edit your rule and select "Stop processing more rules" to check if the issue still exists.

I've removed all the existing rules and created one simple rule:

When I run the rule, this (where the arrow is pointing) keeps spinning and never ends the process:

In addition, i notice that you have problem with uninstalling Outlook

I've managed to uninstall and reinstall it in the end but the problem still exists.

ChristyZhang-MSFT 24,646 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-07T07:36:14.147+00:00

Hi @Yoshi Ouchi ,

Thanks for your reply!

Have you tried to create a new profile as i mentioned in the last reply?

ChristyZhang-MSFT 24,646 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-09-16T07:00:34.453+00:00

Hi @Yoshi Ouchi ,

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going on with this issue. Have you had a chance to check the replies provided? Any update would be appreciated.

Alvin Ong 0 Reputation points

2023-09-25T07:56:58.0666667+00:00

I am currently running Microsoft Outlook for Mac (ver. 16.77.1). I noticed that the RULES using the new Outlook interface does NOT work. I have several email accounts (including Yahoo and Gmail), all configured as IMAP accounts. I note that the RULES only work for email accounts that is running on the Microsoft Exchange server, or the outlook.com service. Apart from these, the RULES setup for all other account types does NOT work.

This is most frustrating that the older Outlook interface runs better than the new interface. At this rate I may have not choice but to revert back to the old Outlook interface again, or to to revert back to the Apple Mail client.

Does anyone found a solution to this problem, or perhaps point me to a page where I can find the solution. Thanks.

Eric West 0 Reputation points

2024-12-24T14:10:42.9533333+00:00

The Mac version of Outlook seems to be missing features. The RULES setting seems to be one of them. I can confirm Alvin Ong's observations. I cannot set rules on gmail, protonmail or on my own email account for my DNS address.

Current Mac Outlook version: 16.92

I will assume this is a (mis)feature of the Mac version.

--Eric
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