Creating A Rule To Move Incoming Emails To Junk Folder

[hlewton]

I have created a rule to send certain emails containing certain words to the Junk folder. I am hoping it works. Is the rule I created specific to just the machine I created it on? Or, does this rule become part of the Outlook.pst file I update every week and copy to my other machines?

Thanks.

[StuartR]

My experience is that the rule moves with the post, but the accounts and folders get invalidated on the new computer

[hlewton]

My experience is that the rule moves with the post, but the accounts and folders get invalidated on the new computer

Thank you for your reply.

I am not sure exactly what you're saying about, "the rule moves with the post" I am thinking that the rule I created will block all future emails containing the word I am blocking in the rule I created. Is that not correct? Also when you say, "folders get invalidated on the new computer," from my experiences I'm not certain what this means either. Please see below.

Here is what I have done for a few years. On a certain day every week, I delete every email I no longer want. I delete the sent items I have no reason to keep. I empty the junk folder and then empty the deleted folder. I then go to the account settings and choose the data tab and compress the data file. My pst file for Outlook happens to be named outlook.pst. I then copy that newly compressed pst file to my other computers and everything including new folders, new emails, and new contacts are then exactly the same on all my computers. That is why I was wondering if the rule I created would be part of my pst file and be the same on my other computers. I guess I will have to check next week when I copy the pst file to the other machines once again.

[hlewton]

Well I guess I could have tried this earlier. I just copied my current pst file from the machine I created the rule on to another of my machines. Apparently, the rules I created are part of my Outlook.pst file because those same rules are now on that other computer. Glad it worked out that way.

[StuartR]

Sorry if I wasn't clear

The rules do get stored in the PST file and copied with it

If a rule has reference to an email account or a folder then these may become invalid. For example a rule like "Move messages that arrive through the stuart@gmail.com account to the Gmail folder" would no longer work until you had specified the correct account and folder on the new computer.

[hlewton]

Sorry if I wasn't clear

The rules do get stored in the PST file and copied with it

If a rule has reference to an email account or a folder then these may become invalid. For example a rule like "Move messages that arrive through the stuart@gmail.com account to the Gmail folder" would no longer work until you had specified the correct account and folder on the new computer.

StuartR I appreciate your replies. Thank you.

On my other computers, my Outlook account is setup exactly the same. As a matter of fact, all my computers use the exact same Outlook.pst file and all folders, emails, and saved emails in separate folders are all exactly the same on every one of my computers. Maybe that is why the rule I created was valid when I copied the Outlook.pst file to another computer to test it out. In any case, I think once I copy that Outlook.pst file to the remaining computers, they too will have that rule. At least I hope so.

[StuartR]

I am pretty sure that account names in rules are stored as some kind of internal pointer, not as a visible text string like stuart@gmail.com

This pointer won't be valid on a different computer

[hlewton]

I am pretty sure that account names in rules are stored as some kind of internal pointer, not as a visible text string like stuart@gmail.com

This pointer won't be valid on a different computer

I sure don't know enough about that but I do know that the rule is on the other computer and can be seen when I choose Move>Rules>Manage Rules and Alerts from Outlook's ribbon. Not sure if that means anything but they are there.

[hlewton]

I am pretty sure that account names in rules are stored as some kind of internal pointer, not as a visible text string like stuart@gmail.com

This pointer won't be valid on a different computer

Stuart, I believe what you say is correct. I have a strange situation here but I think Eileen's Lounge is used to me having strange things happen to me and my computers. So, as I mentioned before, I copied the Outlook.pst to one of my computers yesterday and the rule I created followed it to that machine and it is still there today. However, after reading your post I quoted here, I copied the Outlook.pst to the rest of my computers and the rule I created did not appear on them. The strange thing is that it followed to only one of my computers. Just thought I'd pass this along because it seems what you said has to be true. Why the rule followed to one computer, I guess, will remain a mystery.

[StuartR]

When I used to do this regularly, the rules could be seen on the target computer, but they were disabled and I had to edit them to fix foldernames and account names before they did anything.

[hlewton]

When I used to do this regularly, the rules could be seen on the target computer, but they were disabled and I had to edit them to fix foldernames and account names before they did anything.

Thanks for that information. I will keep an eye on how it works. I am going to have to download my email to that computer first in case I get an email I am trying to block. If I use the computer I set the rule up on it does not leave a copy on my ISP's server. I will check for the next few days and see.