Microsoft Outlook Help

Rules are Disabled After Upgrading to Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007

Some rules set in an earlier version of Microsoft Office Outlook may be disabled and others may not work properly, after you upgrade to Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. Moreover, when you try to enable the disabled rules, the following error message may be displayed on the screen:

One or more rules could not be uploaded to Exchange server and have been deactivated. This could be because some of the parameters are not supported or there is insufficient space to store all your rules.

Cause of the Problem

This problem usually occurs when the size of the rules set in your mailbox exceeds 32 kilobytes (KB) because the size limit of rules on Microsoft Exchange server is 32 KB. The problem occurs because in Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 the size for rules has been increased to enable support Unicode format.

Additional Information: On Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 the default size allocated to rules has been increased to 64 KB per mailbox. This rule limit can be customized to 256 KB per mailbox.

Resolution Methods

To work around this behavior so that your rules are restored, use one or more of the following methods to decrease the size of your existing rules.

Method 1: Rename Rules with Long Names to Shorter Names

1. In the Microsoft Outlook window, display the Tools menu, select the Rules and Alerts command.
2. On the E-mail Rules tab, select a rule with a long name to rename.
3. On the Change Rule list, select the Rename Rule option.
4. Type in a new name of shorter length, and then select the OK button.
5. Finally, select OK to save your changes and exit the Rules and Alerts dialog box.

Method 2: Remove the Old Rules from Outlook.

1. In the Microsoft Outlook window, display the Tools menu, and then select the Rules and Alerts command.
2. On the E-mail Rules tab, select the rule you want to remove.
3. Click on the Delete button, and then select Yes to confirm your decision.
4. Finally, select OK to save your changes and exit the Rules and Alerts dialog box.

Method 3: Club two or more similar and related to rules together and delete the rules no longer required—after clubbing—to bring down the overall size of rules.

1. In the Microsoft Outlook window, display the Tools menu, and then select the Rules and Alerts command.
2. On the E-mail Rules tab, and select a rule to edit.
3. Display the Change Rules list, and then select the Edit Rule Settings options.
   
   This will display the Rules Wizard. Make the appropriate changes to the rule that enables you to combine other rules within the selected rule.
   
4. Select the Finish button after you are done, and then select the OK button to exit the Rules and Alerts dialog box.

Method 4: Shorten the Personal Folder path name.

Relocate your personal folder (.pst) to a location, say C:\YourName.pst that enables you to have the shortest path name. In order to relocate your .pst file, perform the following steps:

Note: The steps discussed below consider that name of your .pst file is Personal Folders.

1. In the Navigation pane, located on the left side of the Microsoft Outlook window, right-click on Personal Folders and then select the Properties command.
2. On the General tab of the properties dialog box that is displayed, click on the Advanced button.
3. Here, note down the complete path and file name of the .pst file.
4. Now, click the OK button twice to close down the properties dialog box.
5. Close the Microsoft Outlook program.
6. Open the Windows Explorer window, display the Tools menu, and then select the Folder Options command.
7. Open the View tab, do the following tasks to display hidden files and folders in Window Explorer, and select the OK button:
   
   1. Select the Show hidden files and folders check box.
   2. Clear the Hide extensions for known file types check box.
8. Now, navigate to the .pst file location you noted down earlier and copy it to another location that has a shorter path, say C:\YourName.pst or D:\YourName.pst.
9. On a Windows XP or Windows 2003 computer, open Control Panel, select the User Accounts link, and then double-click on the Mail icon.
   
   Note: On Windows 2000 or in the Control Panel classic view, open Control Panel and double-click Mail.
   
10. In the Mail Setup dialog box, click on the Show Profiles button, select the profile that comprises your .pst file and then click on the Properties button.
11. Click on the Data Files button, select the .pst file you moved earlier, and then click on the Settings button.
12. When prompted that the selected data file is not there in the default location select OK.
13. Navigate to your .pst file in its new location, and then select Open.
14. Next, select the OK button, select Close twice, and then select OK again.
15. Close Control Panel, and then restart Microsoft Outlook.