Last Updated: February 17, 2026
ISSUE
After making changes to classic Outlook rules, the next time you open the Rules and Alerts dialog you get the error below:
“There was an error reading the rules from the server. The format of the server rules was not recognized.”
Below are a set of steps that we can reproduce the issue. This might not be the only root cause scenario, but you can check if this sequence of steps may have contributed to you seeing the issue.
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On the Outlook ribbon, select Move > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts.
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Select New Rule, then select Move messages from someone to a folder.
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Select conditions, configure People or public group and Specified folder, then select Next.
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Select actions, configure Display a Desktop Alert. This operation will make the rule a higher version.
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On the Finish rule setup dialog, uncheck Turn on this rule, then select Finish.
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On the Outlook ribbon, select Move > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts.
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Select the rule created above, select Copy, then enable the copied rule.
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Select OK to exit the Rules & Alerts dialog.
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On the Outlook ribbon, select Move > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts.
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Open the original rule and remove the Display a Desktop Alert action, then save it.
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Select OK to exit the Rules & Alerts dialog.
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On the Outlook ribbon, select Move > Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts. The error should reproduce.
STATUS: INVESTIGATING
The Outlook Team is investigating this issue. We will update this topic when we know more information.
WORKAROUND
The only workaround for this issue is to delete all the rules and start over and re-add your rules. There are two ways to remove the rules:
Workaround #1
Use the Outlook web app to delete all the rules. For more information, please go to Manage email messages by using rules in Outlook.
Workaround #2
Use an Outlook command line switch to delete the rules.
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Close classic Outlook.
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Right-click the Windows Start button and select Run.
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Type or paste the command Outlook.exe /cleanrules and then select OK.
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See Also
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in classic Outlook for Windows
