How to Fix Outlook rules not working on Windows 10/11

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

When rules are not working on Windows, you may try to delete them or reset the SRS File. In this guide, you'll learn how to fix Outlook rules not working on Windows 10/11.

2. How to Fix

1. Delete the rules

1. Click the File tab in Outlook.
   
   
2. Click Info > Manage Rules and Alerts to open the Rules and Alerts window.
   
   
3. Then select a rule to delete.
   
   
4. Press the Delete button, and select the Yes option to confirm.
   
   
5. Then click Apply the button.
   
   
6. To set up new rules to replace the deleted ones, press the New Rule button. Then you can go through the rule setup wizard.

One of the best ways to fix rules is to delete them. Then you can set up the same rules again to get them working. You can delete Outlook rules as described above.

2. Merge similar rules together

1. Click Info on Outlook’s File tab.
   
   
2. Click Manage Rules and Alert to open the rules window, and then select a rule to edit on the E-mail Rules tab.
   
   
3. Press the Change Rule button.
   
   
4. Select the Edit Rule Settings option to adjust the rule as required.
   
   
5. After merging similar rules together, you can delete some rules that you don’t need.
   
   
6. Select the Apply option to apply changes.

One or more rules could not be uploaded to the Exchange server error message can be due to limited rule quota storage.

Exchange Server 2007 and 2003 mailboxes have 64 KB and 32 KB storage quotas for Outlook rules.

Thus, you might need to free up some rule space, which you can do by merging similar rules together as presented above.

3. Reset the SRS File

1. Open the File Explorer window.
   
   

1. Then enterC:\users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\in File Explorer’s folder path bar, and press the Return key.
   
   
2. Right-click the Outlook.srs file and select Rename.
   
   
3. Change the Outlook.srs file title to Outlook.srs.old. Then the Outlook.srs file gets recreated automatically when you open the email software.

Outlook rule errors can be due to a corrupted send/receive setting (SRS) File. So resetting the SRS file can fix rules that don’t work automatically. This is how you can reset the SRS file.

4. Repair your Outlook data file

1. Open the Cortana search box by pressing the Type here to search button.
   
   
2. Input SCANPST.EXE in the search box, and select to open that.
   
   
3. Alternatively, you can usually open the Inbox Repair Tool (SCANPST.EXE) in the snapshot directly below from this folder in File Explorer:C:/Program20Files20(x86)/Microsoft20Office/



1. Then click the Browse button to select the Outlook.pst file.
   
   
2. Press the Start button to initiate a scan.
   
   
3. Select the Make a backup of scanned file before repairing option.
   
   
4. Then click the Repair button to fix the PST file.

Rule errors often occur when Outlook’s PST data storage is corrupted. You can fix data files with the Inbox Repair Tool. This is how users can fix Outlook’s PST data storage with that utility.