Rule to assign Category causes email appear "read"

[Z]

I have rules to assign categories based on keywords and sender domain
min Outlook 2003. New mail gets "lost" however, as processing these
rules causes the email to have the "read" flag, so I don't see the new
email counter in the relevant folders. Other rules (move, forward) do
not have this side-effect, only assigning a category.
Is there a way to prevent this or have a rule to turn the email
"unread" again?

Thanks,
Z.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

adding a category should not mark it read if you are doing it with rules
wizard. how does your rule read?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



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[Z]

I know it shouldn't that's exactly my problem, I will not notice new
email this way. I have 2 separate rules set in the wizards:

1: Apply this rule after the message arrives with 'abc' in the subject
or body
assign it to the 'abc' category.

2: Apply this rule after the message arrives
through the 'abc' account
and on this machine only
assign it to the 'abc' category.

Other rules that move email to folders, or forward them don't cause a
problem. Thanks for any tips.

Zoli

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

What version of Outlook and do you have any add-ins installed? I'm thinking
an addin is causing the message to be marked as read when the category is
added, not unlike a problem some people experience when viewing messages in
the Outbox (http://www.slipstick.com/problems/outbox.htm). There is a list
of programs there that is known to mark messages read - while it's not
complete, it will give you an idea of what types of addins could be behind
your problem and where to look to see if you have any addins installed.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/

 

[Z]

Hi,

I'm using Outlook 2003 SP1, with these add-ons:
Plaxo
Spoke
hiddenBCC

The addons were all in place for a while and I had no problems until
today.
I basically reorganized filtering:

previous rules :
- inboound: watch for keyword and specific account > move to specific
folder
- sent: keyword and account: move copy to specific folder ( I hate
that it's not really a move but copy..)

today I changed it to have 2 rules in sequence assigning a category
based on keyword or account, inbound and outbound, then
- use a search folder for that category.

One more thing: I have another rule at the bottom,
inbound. messages of the category assigned in the above filter get
forwarded to an email address.

Could the forwarding action set it to "read"? I did have forwarding
before, except it was not watching for a category but the keyword or
specific account.....

thanks,
Zoli

 

[Z]

Update: I took out the forwarding rule, and now my new messages show
properly as unread.
I still don't get it; used to do forwardin before, just not in a
separate rule, but together with one that moved the incoming mail.
Could it have to do with the length of time if takes to process all
these rules? Is there a default no. of seconds after which email
becomes "read", whether really read or processed by rules?

Thanks,
Zoli

 

[Z]

Update #2, this seems to make no sense to me, but I deleted the
separate rule that checks incoming mail for category "a" (just assigned
in a previous rule) than forwards it to an email address, since this
one appeared to be the culprit.
Then I combined forwarding into the rule that assigns category based on
account "a" and now everything works fine...
Mysterious ... but at least it works now.

Thanks,
Zoli

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

No, there isn't a timing issue like that, but something with moving the
message as it's being forwarded and it got moved before it was marked as
read.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)



Join OneNote Tips mailing list: http://www.onenote-tips.net/