Rules in Entourage 04

S

speakingdigital

I have a client who is using Entourage 2004 and has his mail (and the
app) stored on an Xserve RAID (for redundancy purposes.) He gets a
lot of e-mail (right now there is roughly 18,000 in his inbox) and
wants everything to be redirected via rules. The problem I'm running
into is that Entourage will not automatically apply any rules to the
incoming messages automatically. If I choose the message and "Apply
All Rules..." nothing happens. If I choose a message and choose the
single rule to apply, the message will be moved.

Any thoughts?

I noticed that the Microsoft auto update does not work either. I had
to download the latest update and install by hand. I'm assuming this
is because of the remote location of Entourage. Please correct me if
I am wrong.

Thanks much,
Steve
 
D

Diane Ross

I have a client who is using Entourage 2004 and has his mail (and the
app) stored on an Xserve RAID (for redundancy purposes.) He gets a
lot of e-mail (right now there is roughly 18,000 in his inbox) and
wants everything to be redirected via rules. The problem I'm running
into is that Entourage will not automatically apply any rules to the
incoming messages automatically. If I choose the message and "Apply
All Rules..." nothing happens. If I choose a message and choose the
single rule to apply, the message will be moved.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

You might want to consider just aliasing the Microsoft User Data folder
instead of the application.

If the single rule worked then there is a rule ABOVE that is acting on the
message that is moving the mail resulting in the intended rule not working.

There are 3 different kind of rules in Entourage:

Mailing List Manager (MLM)
Junk Mail Filter
Rules (custom rules you create)

They run in this order. The custom rules also run in the order they are
listed. (top runs first)

Use the MLM for all of his lists. Use rules for the remainder. Try to use
categories instead of individual addresses when possible. When an address is
added assign a category then it will automatically be acted on by the rule.

1) POP Rules act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in the Inbox (On My
Computer), NOT when it arrives in any other folder. Once it's moved to
another folder it won't be seen by rules.

2) IMAP Rules are meant to act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in
the IMAP INBOX, not when moved to another IMAP folder.

3) Exchange Rules act on a message ONLY when it first arrives in the
Exchange Inbox.

See "Using Rules with Entourage" for help and examples:

I noticed that the Microsoft auto update does not work either. I had
to download the latest update and install by hand. I'm assuming this
is because of the remote location of Entourage. Please correct me if
I am wrong.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good guess.
--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>
 
M

Mickey Stevens

Sometimes that can happen if a Mailing list Manager entry or another rule is
acting on the message first, and the option to not apply further rules is
checked. Go through both (under the Tools menu) and see if there are any
entries you don't want.

If you continue to have problems, see this page for more information:
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/rules.html>
 
S

speakingdigital

Diane and Mickey,

I've followed all "protocol" for setting up rules in Entourage but
with no luck. After I posed my question, I went and aliased just the
database, but still no luck. The odd thing is, no rules act on the
messages as they come in. I've got SpamSieve running on this
installation (and have used it before with no problems what-so-ever)
and even it isn't running correctly. The only way the rules are
enacted is if I select one message at a time and apply the specific
rule that should run on it. Not exactly efficient if you ask me.
Entourage is as up to date as possible. I'm not really sure what to
do with this one. I have recreated all of the rules a couple of times
thinking maybe I set them up wrong with no change in effect.

Thanks much,
Steve
 
D

Diane Ross

Does it work with just one rule? What I'm trying to verify is that rules can
work with your current setup.

If one rule will work, then enable each rule one at a time to find the
problem rule.

On occasion the rule file can become corrupt. If you have access to backup
files, you can try an older rule file to test.

There are 4 files inside the Entourage 2004 Main Identity:

Database
Mailing Lists
Rules
Signatures

Simply exchange the Rules file with an older one for testing.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
From: speakingdigital <[email protected]>
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage
Date: 14 Mar 2007 17:58:47 -0700
Subject: Re: Rules in Entourage 04

Diane and Mickey,

I've followed all "protocol" for setting up rules in Entourage but
with no luck. After I posed my question, I went and aliased just the
database, but still no luck. The odd thing is, no rules act on the
messages as they come in. I've got SpamSieve running on this
installation (and have used it before with no problems what-so-ever)
and even it isn't running correctly. The only way the rules are
enacted is if I select one message at a time and apply the specific
rule that should run on it. Not exactly efficient if you ask me.
Entourage is as up to date as possible. I'm not really sure what to
do with this one. I have recreated all of the rules a couple of times
thinking maybe I set them up wrong with no change in effect.

Thanks much,
Steve
Click to expand...
 
B

Barry Wainwright

Sorry if this sounds a little basic, but have you made sure that the rules
are in the right 'section' - there are different 'pages' in the rules dialog
for POP, IMAP, Exchange & News messages. Make sure your rule is set to run
on the right type of message.

--
Barry Wainwright
Microsoft MVP (see http://mvp.support.microsoft.com for details)
The Entourage User's WebLog has moved!
For hints, tips and troubleshooting go to <http://www.barryw.net/weblog/>




From: speakingdigital <[email protected]>
Organization: http://groups.google.com
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage
Date: 14 Mar 2007 17:58:47 -0700
Subject: Re: Rules in Entourage 04

Diane and Mickey,

I've followed all "protocol" for setting up rules in Entourage but
with no luck. After I posed my question, I went and aliased just the
database, but still no luck. The odd thing is, no rules act on the
messages as they come in. I've got SpamSieve running on this
installation (and have used it before with no problems what-so-ever)
and even it isn't running correctly. The only way the rules are
enacted is if I select one message at a time and apply the specific
rule that should run on it. Not exactly efficient if you ask me.
Entourage is as up to date as possible. I'm not really sure what to
do with this one. I have recreated all of the rules a couple of times
thinking maybe I set them up wrong with no change in effect.

Thanks much,
Steve
Click to expand...
 
S

speakingdigital

Diane,

The only time any rule will work is after I manually select the
message, and choose 'Apply Rules...' and choose the individual rule
that should be governing that message. If I choose All Rules from the
Apply Rules menu, I get nothing.

This is the first time we are attempting rules, so, unfortunately,
there is nothing to fall back on.

Thanks,
Steve
 
S

speakingdigital

Barry,

I've double checked this. The server the messages are coming in on is
a POP connection. Here's one thing I just thought of though - mail
from a .Mac account (not checked by Entourage) is being forwarded to
this POP account (which is checked by Entourage.) Could this have any
effect on the rules?

-Steve
 
D

Diane Ross

The only time any rule will work is after I manually select the
message, and choose 'Apply Rules...' and choose the individual rule
that should be governing that message. If I choose All Rules from the
Apply Rules menu, I get nothing.

This is the first time we are attempting rules, so, unfortunately,
there is nothing to fall back on.
Click to expand...

In the Rules window, Uncheck all rules except the one you are having a
problem with. Move this rule to the top of the list. Now when you run all
rules, it should work as it's the only rule that is selected. If that fails,
then it's a MLM or JMF rule that is affecting the rule.

Now that you've eliminated MLM and JMF rules enable one rule at a time and
see if any other rules are broken. Since it's at the top, none of the rules
below will act on the rule, but this rule could break other rules you have.

If you are still having problems with rules you'll need to give examples of
your rules so we can see what is broken. If you tell us the names of your
folders we can help with rules as each folder should only need one rule per
folder. The fewer rules you have the less likely there will be problems.

Food for thought on creating rules....Use the Mailing List Manager (MLM) to
manage Lists. Set the Junk Mail Filter to High, set custom rules.

Let's say you have no custom rules created. You have a ton of mail in your
Inbox and Junk folder . If it's in your Junk folder then and it's good mail,
select "This is not junk" and add the entry to your Address Book.
[IMPORTANT] Having an up to date Address Book is key to managing your mail
and using rules. Assign a category to every entry in your Address Book. You
can select using command-select to quickly add a lot of entries to one
category.

Select the first message in your Address Book. Can this message be sorted by
a category like Work, Buddy, Family, Announcements, Newsletters? If yes,
then assign a category to the email and set a rule.

My Buddy Rule:

From is in category Buddy
Is not in a mailing list

Move to folder Buddy
Run AppleScript Play sound (I like to use this action so I can hear when I
get mail from my buddies)

Look through other email in the Inbox and see if there are other emails
there from Buddies. Assign categories to these if you haven't assigned in
your Address Book and run "All Rules". This will move all buddy mail from
your Inbox.

Take the next message, create a rule. Run all rules and see if it works, If
not then adjust the rule so it does work. By doing this you will find the
broken rule as you go.

Hope this helps.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>
 
Top