Rules

P

Pete Crosta

I have tried troubleshooting (turning off one at a time, replacing order,
etc.) and my Rules are totally screwed up. Some work, some don't and we are
not talking complex either.

I noticed that when I open a rule the box that contains the test material is
not showing up fully. For example, I created a rule that says if the subject
starts with "Your daily horoscope for" then I assume I should see in that
rule box "Your daily horo....." except I see, "cope for" and then I have to
click in the box and scroll to the beginning of the line. It just looks
corrupt to me. The problem is when I delete the rule and recreate it from
scratch, the same darn thing happens!!! And there are others like it that
work and some that don't work. CRAZY!

Is there a preference file that could be corrupt? I'd love to just dump the
rules, dump the preferences file and start again. Is there a clean-up
procedure I can follow? I have Entourage 2004 11.3.3 on a G3.

Pete
 
M

Michel Bintener

I've never come across anything like this, so I can't tell you exactly what
the cause is. It *could* be a mild case of database corruption, so I would
suggest rebuilding the database. Quit Entourage, hold down the Option key
and launch it again. The Database Utility should now open, and you will be
given the option to rebuild your database.


I have tried troubleshooting (turning off one at a time, replacing order,
etc.) and my Rules are totally screwed up. Some work, some don't and we are
not talking complex either.

I noticed that when I open a rule the box that contains the test material is
not showing up fully. For example, I created a rule that says if the subject
starts with "Your daily horoscope for" then I assume I should see in that
rule box "Your daily horo....." except I see, "cope for" and then I have to
click in the box and scroll to the beginning of the line. It just looks
corrupt to me. The problem is when I delete the rule and recreate it from
scratch, the same darn thing happens!!! And there are others like it that
work and some that don't work. CRAZY!

Is there a preference file that could be corrupt? I'd love to just dump the
rules, dump the preferences file and start again. Is there a clean-up
procedure I can follow? I have Entourage 2004 11.3.3 on a G3.

Pete
Click to expand...

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***
 
M

Michel Bintener

Hi Pete,

I don't see anything wrong with the screenshot; do you? If yes, what exactly
is it?


Michael, I've tried that, too, I'm sorry to report. Do you see anything
wrong with the screenshot I took of this one rule?
Click to expand...

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***
 
P

Pete C

No, Michael, I saw nothing wrong, but yet it doesn't work ... It and about
10 other ones of similar complexity. So there's no preferences file that I
can toss and regenerate like in good ol' OS9 and earlier?
 
D

Diane Ross

Michael, I've tried that, too, I'm sorry to report. Do you see anything
wrong with the screenshot I took of this one rule?
Click to expand...

It could be a rule above this rule that is the problem. See "Why Rules Don't
Work"

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/rules.html>

Did you have a message open when you selected the criteria? Did the rule
ever work?

I like to use Categories to simply rules whenever possible.

Use categories instead of entering individual addresses; you then have less
criteria, making the rule run faster, as well as easing the ability to add
new addresses just assign contacts to the category.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/example/rule002.html>

--
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/>
 
P

Pete C

Diane, I have read the troubleshooting page upside down and backwards and it
just doesn't help. What I find odd is that I can highlight a block of
incoming messages and then go up to MESSAGE>APPLY RULE> and select the
appropriate rule and BAM all the messages for that particular rule go into
their appointed spot. They just don't go their on their own!! I'll have to
try doing the rules by category when I get time. I just don't comprehend why
these simple rules are not working! That is why I'm praying for a
preferences replacement somewhere along the way!! :)
 
D

Diane Ross

Diane, I have read the troubleshooting page upside down and backwards and it
just doesn't help. What I find odd is that I can highlight a block of
incoming messages and then go up to MESSAGE>APPLY RULE> and select the
appropriate rule and BAM all the messages for that particular rule go into
their appointed spot. They just don't go their on their own!! I'll have to
try doing the rules by category when I get time. I just don't comprehend why
these simple rules are not working! That is why I'm praying for a
preferences replacement somewhere along the way!! :)
Click to expand...

It sounds like a prior rule is running and moving the messages. When you go
up to MESSAGE>APPLY RULE> it's just the one rule that is running. Try moving
it to the top of the rule list.

IF that doesn't work, then it's a Mailing List Manager (MLM) rule that is
moving the messages.

Rules run in this order:

Mailing List Manager
Junk Mail Filter
Rules

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.

--
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/>
 
P

Pete C

Diane, thank you for your guidance. I have tried to turn these rules on and
off one at a time as Troubleshooting suggests, and that does no good. Some
work, some don't. All messages come into my Inbox (On My Computer) folder.
Now I'll check into this MLM. How do I do that? Is there any document that
explains how to look into MLM and JMF?

Pete
 
D

Diane Ross

I just created a new rule and low and behold, when I went back into the rule
minutes later to add another address I saw what I was describing ... The
truncated address issue! Please examine truncated.jpg and the only way for
me to see the entire address is to click into the addressbox, slide all the
way to the left (to the start of the address) and then do the same in each
address. Then it looks normal (nontruncated.jpg). When I close Rules and
open it again, it looks each time like the truncated.jpg screenshot. Yikes!
Click to expand...

Just because you view it as truncated doesn't mean the actual address is
truncated.

The screenshot shows a perfect example to use categories.

Create a category "Bills & Banking" or "Financial"
Assign this category to those addresses in your ADDRESS BOOK
Create a rule

From is in category "Bills & Banking"

Move Message to Bills & Banking

If you have any additional addresses it's easy to just assign the category
to their address in the Address Book. The rule never has to be changed. If
they change their address or send with multiple addresses, the mail will be
sorted correctly as long as you add additional addresses when they come in.

--
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/>
 
D

Diane Ross

Diane, thank you for your guidance. I have tried to turn these rules on and
off one at a time as Troubleshooting suggests, and that does no good. Some
work, some don't. All messages come into my Inbox (On My Computer) folder.
Now I'll check into this MLM. How do I do that? Is there any document that
explains how to look into MLM and JMF?
Click to expand...

The rules act as they are downloaded. Are you running them manually AFTER
they arrive in your Inbox? I'm prodding here to make sure we are both
understanding the problem.

Let's go back over some basics:

Rules run in this order:

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

The custom rules also run in the order they are listed.

The Mailing List Manager (MLM) is a user friendly approach to Rules which
allows you to set specialized actions for incoming list messages (like the
Entourage Talk list).

Custom Rules manage the remainder of your personal mail.

Having the Mailing List Manager (MLM) manage your lists gets a majority of
messages sorted. The Junk Mail Filter then gets 99% of your junk sent to the
Junk folder. Now you have a manageable amount of mail to deal with. This is
where you custom rules come in to play. If either a MLM or Junk rules acts
on your messages , your remaining mail will not get sorted by the custom
rule.

Once you get the order of rules, then to troubleshoot you need to start at
the top looking for the problem. Once you understand how and why rules work
then you can get them working.

Let's get back to your rules now. Try to simplify your rules. I suggested
categories because it's less likely to mess up than entering subjects and
from as criteria.

Look at the order of your rules. Is a prior rule acting on your messages so
that the rule you think is acting on those messages never run?

If you continue to have problems, let's look at the logic of your rules and
how you have them set up to see if we can come up with a rule that works.

Again, try to simplify your rules.

FWIW, I have 13 MLM rules, my Junk Mail Filter is set to Exclusive and I
have only 12 rules to manage my mail. I get more than 500 emails a day and
at the most get 1-3 junk mail messages that don't get caught and all of my
mail is sorted. When I get messages from my friends, that mail is announced
with a friendly computer voice saying "friends" so I know to check my mail.
It's it's a support question from the web site, I get another sound alerting
me that a mail needs my attention.

Rules are essential to good mail management, but they can be confusing and
frustrating.

Hope this has helped you understand more so you can solve your problem.
--
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/>
 
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