Unable to Define New Inbox Assistant Rules with Outlook for Macintosh

When you attempt to manage rules by using the Inbox Assistant with Outlook for Macintosh, you may no longer be able to create, edit, or delete rules.

This issue can occur if an installation of Outlook 2000 that has been updated with Microsoft Office 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP 2) has gained access to the mailbox that you use on the Microsoft Exchange Server computer.

IMPORTANT: If you need to use Outlook for Macintosh and Outlook 2000 SP 2 on the same mailbox, Microsoft recommends that you use Microsoft Outlook 2000 Service Release 1a (SR 1a) instead of Outlook 2000 SP 2.

After you run Outlook 2000 SP 2 on an Exchange Server mailbox, the Inbox Assistant rules cannot be retrieved. To work around this issue, you must delete the upgraded rules from the Outlook 2000 SP 2 Rules Wizard, and then recreate your Inbox Assistant rules in Outlook for Macintosh. If you subsequently use Outlook 2000 SP 2 again to gain access to this Exchange Server mailbox, the rules are deleted and you need to perform the workaround steps again.

NOTE: Before you delete your rules, you may want to write them down so that you can recreate them later.

Deleting Rules from Outlook 2000 SP 2

To delete rules from the Outlook 2000 SP 2 Rules Wizard:

1. On the Tools menu, click Rules Wizard.
2. Select the rules that you want to delete, and then click Delete.
3. Click OK to close the Rules Wizard.

Recreating Rules with Outlook for Macintosh

To recreate your rules with the Outlook for Macintosh Inbox Assistant:

1. On the Tools menu, click Inbox Assistant.
2. Click Add Rule to create your rules.
3. Click OK to close the Inbox Assistant.

Every time that a user uses Outlook 2000 SP 2 to gain access to an Exchange Server mailbox, Outlook silently upgrades the rules from the Inbox Assistant format that Outlook for Macintosh uses to the Rules Wizard format that Outlook 2000 uses. As a part of this upgrade process, the Inbox Assistant rules are deleted from the server. Although the rules continue to function as Rules Wizard rules, you can no longer add, remove, or change rules in Outlook for Macintosh after you use Microsoft Outlook 2000 SP 2.