outlook should clear the alert when a rule deletes an email

[Tommy Holden]

I have a rule set up to mark certain emails as read then delete them. The
alert "envelope" stays in the tray. This shouldn't be the case

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...522d37a46&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.general

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have a rule set up to mark certain emails as read then delete them.
The alert "envelope" stays in the tray. This shouldn't be the case

Depends on the version of Outlook you're using. in Outlook 2003 SP2, rules
run before the process that displays the new mail icon and so you shouldn't
see that alert if a rule deletes a message. For earlier versions of
Outlook, however, the process that displays the new mail icon runs prior to
the rules, so you'll see the icon even if a subsequent rule removes the
message.

 

[nw3182]

Hi Brian,

I have Outlook 2003 with SP2, and have tried making rules where a particular
message is marked as read and then permanently deleted, in order to avoid the
envelope icon appearing in the system tray - I still get the envelop icon
appearing
in the system tray. Is there a wayt to get rid of it (for particular rules)?

I have been using a trial version of a product called AutoRead [see:
http://www.techhit.com/autoread/]

This is an Outlook utillity that only does 1 thing for me - makes the
envelope icon disappear for particular rules (you can add this feature into
"perform custom action" once you have installed AutoRead). This works for me
(solves the envelop icon issue), but at $10 per licence, it seems expensive
for a small 51KB plugin that may need to be purchased for a few hundred users
(AutoRead only has a couple of features, of which 1 is actually useful to me).

Is there any way I could use my Outlook to fix the envelope icon problem,
without having to purchase any additional software?

Thanks Brian

 

[Brian Tillman]

Is there any way I could use my Outlook to fix the envelope icon
problem, without having to purchase any additional software?

As far as I know, Outlook 2003 SP2 should work as I describe. If it doesn't
then someone who knows Outlook better than I will have to help. Sorry.

 

[Kevin]

As far as I know, Outlook 2003 SP2 should work as I describe. If it doesn't
then someone who knows Outlook better than I will have to help. Sorry.

I (and my users) are using Outlook 2003 SP2, and have exactly this problem.
Granted it's more annoying for those of us in IT who get sent a LOT of
automated emails, many of which are auto-deleted, but it affects everyone
here.

I actually posted about this yesterday too, because I did a search on what I
thought were logical search terms and came up with nothing, but my post's
been eaten somewhere along the line I think.

Either way - mail with a rule that checks messages after they arrive,
deletes them and marks them read (which seems like an odd way round, to me,
although I have no control over it) quite merrily resolves my minor "lots of
unread items in my deleted items" niggle, but leaves me with the major "new
email notification pops up and envelope systray icon is displayed" irritation.

It's not that I mind the icon being there - it's that it completely defeats
the point of having it at all. I'm missing real email because 2000 emails a
day are triggering the notification and then going straight to my deleted
items folder. Having to open it and delete one of those mails from the
deleted items folder just to clear the notification icon is really quite
irritating...

Kev

 

[Brian Tillman]

It's not that I mind the icon being there - it's that it completely
defeats the point of having it at all. I'm missing real email because
2000 emails a day are triggering the notification and then going
straight to my deleted items folder. Having to open it and delete one
of those mails from the deleted items folder just to clear the
notification icon is really quite irritating...

The problem is that when Outlook moves a message, it has no idea whether or
not there are more unread messages in the Inbox. Would you rather have
Outlook turn off the icon and then have you miss the fact that there are
more unread messages remaining in the Inbox?

 

[Kevin]

The problem is that when Outlook moves a message, it has no idea whether or
not there are more unread messages in the Inbox. Would you rather have
Outlook turn off the icon and then have you miss the fact that there are
more unread messages remaining in the Inbox?

No.. I'd rather that the new mail icon did something along the lines of:

while (new_mail)
{
if ( rule_deletes_mail )
{
next;
}
else
{
showNewMailNotification();
}
}

That way, if my rule deletes the mail, the notification never gets shown. As
it stands, it appears it's doing something more along the lines of:

while (new_mail)
{
showNewMailNotification();
}

....which is quite different.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that no notification for mails NOT deleted
automatically is just as bad as notification for mails which ARE deleted, but
I don't think it's any worse; at the moment, I'm just ignoring the
notification because there's so many of them.

Kev

 

[Kevin]

The problem is that when Outlook moves a message, it has no idea whether or
not there are more unread messages in the Inbox. Would you rather have
Outlook turn off the icon and then have you miss the fact that there are
more unread messages remaining in the Inbox?

No.. I'd rather that the new mail icon did something along the lines of:

while (new_mail)
{
if ( rule_deletes_mail )
{
next;
}
else
{
showNewMailNotification();
}
}

That way, if my rule deletes the mail, the notification never gets shown. As
it stands, it appears it's doing something more along the lines of:

while (new_mail)
{
showNewMailNotification();
}

....which is quite different.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that no notification for mails NOT deleted
automatically is just as bad as notification for mails which ARE deleted, but
I don't think it's any worse; at the moment, I'm just ignoring the
notification because there's so many of them.

Kev

 

[Brian Tillman]

No.. I'd rather that the new mail icon did something along the lines
of:

Wouldn't we all.

 

[pcrowley203]

Is there any new information about this problem? I too am using Outlook 2003
SP2, and having this same problem.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Is there any new information about this problem? I too am using
Outlook 2003 SP2, and having this same problem.

There's nothing that has been or, I suspect, will be done about it. Better
to have false positives that false negatives, in my opinion.

 

[erica]

I'm using Outlook 2003. It doesn't work as you describe. It doesn't let you
pick the order in which it processes rules so it shows the icon, and then
moves the message & permanently deletes it, but the icon stays. The only way
I've found to get rid of it is to go into my deleted items folder and click
around all over until it finally goes away. It's really annoying.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I'm using Outlook 2003. It doesn't work as you describe. It doesn't
let you pick the order in which it processes rules so it shows the
icon, and then moves the message & permanently deletes it, but the
icon stays. The only way I've found to get rid of it is to go into
my deleted items folder and click around all over until it finally
goes away. It's really annoying.

You can make the icon go away by double-clicking ANY message to open it,
including one you're read before.