How to Manage Outlook Rules to actually work??

Question

How to Manage Outlook Rules to actually work??

Robert Mallett 0

Hi,For years, I have had frustration beyond frustration with Outlook Rules not working. Here is a good example:

I receive spam emails from the SumUp Team. These are not genuine and the senders email address often changes so blocking the sender achieves nothing.

So I set up a rule in Outlook that says move any messages arriving with the word SumUp in the subject or body. It is the only rule.
User's image

I then receive 2 emails with SumUp in the Subject and body (test not images) but they remain in the Inbox. I run the rule manually for unread messages and it moves nothing.
This is not the 1st time Outlook rules just DO NOT WORK.
So I am asking why? It's a simple rule, designed to get rid of reoccurring unwanted emails but fails in that typical Microsoft way.
Regards

Robert Mallett 0 Reputation points

2026-09-03T06:54:44.0566667+00:00

We're sorry. We were unable to provide an AI-generated response to your question. Please wait for a community response.

AI - useless as usual.

5 answers

Your answer

Robert Mallett 0 Reputation points

2026-09-03T06:54:44.0566667+00:00

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AI - useless as usual.

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Answer 5

Lucus-V 12,360 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Robert Mallett,

The screenshot confirms the rule is configured correctly. Since manually running the rule also fails, the issue is unlikely to be rule order or rule conflicts.

To determine whether the problem is with the message content or the rules engine, could you:

Open one of the affected emails and check whether "SumUp" appears in the actual subject line.
Create a temporary rule that matches only the subject containing "SumUp".
Test the same rule in Outlook on the web (if the account is Outlook.com or Microsoft 365).
Share the account type (Outlook.com, Microsoft 365 Exchange, IMAP, or POP).

If a manually executed subject-only rule still finds no matches, the next suspect would be rule corruption or an Outlook profile issue rather than the rule condition itself.

Robert Mallett 0 Reputation points

2026-09-04T08:50:02.7033333+00:00

Thanks for the reply. No, SumUp does not appear in the Subject. This is the trick of the spammers - do not send from the same sender and do not include the same subject words. Th e subject is
Action required: confirm Payment Mode to receive your payout
But this wording changes. Next time it may say Action needed and so on...
However the word SumUp is included in the body which is why I selected the option of subject or body.
This does not work. SumUp is included in the body

It is not an image. Run the rule and nothing happens. Make a new profile, add the account in as new, add in the rule and it does not work. Outlook is the problem.
Robert Mallett 0 Reputation points

2026-09-04T08:50:40.83+00:00

Thanks for the reply. No, SumUp does not appear in the Subject. This is the trick of the spammers - do not send from the same sender and do not include the same subject words. Th e subject is Action required: confirm Payment Mode to receive your payout But this wording changes. Next time it may say Action needed and so on... However the word SumUp is included in the body which is why I selected the option of subject or body. This does not work. SumUp is included in the body

It is not an image. Run the rule and nothing happens. Make a new profile, add the account in as new, add in the rule and it does not work. Outlook is the problem.
Lucus-V 12,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-05T15:57:33.63+00:00

Hi Robert Mallett,

Thank you for providing the additional screenshot.

Based on the testing performed so far, this no longer appears to be a rule configuration issue. The keyword is visibly present in the message content, yet the rule does not identify the message even when executed manually and after recreating the Outlook profile.

One possibility is that the message is constructed in a way that causes a difference between what Outlook displays in the reading pane and what the Rules engine evaluates internally. However, if the text shown in the message body cannot be matched by a rule configured to search the body, that behavior would not align with normal user expectations.

Could you let us know what type of account is configured in Outlook (Microsoft 365 Exchange, Outlook.com, IMAP, or POP)? If the account supports Outlook on the web, it would also be useful to know whether a similar rule behaves the same way there.

That information will help determine whether the behavior originates from the Outlook client itself or from the mailbox rules processing service.
Robert Mallett 0 Reputation points

2026-09-07T11:56:16.1033333+00:00

It does not appear to be a rule configuration issue. No it does not. It appears to be a broken Outlook issue. I have had problems with rules simply not working for many years and this one is definitive. It simply does not work. There is clearly the text SumUp in the email body and yet Outlook refuses to see that for whatever reason.
Really the Rules section should stress that rules do not always work and Microsoft should admit their software is questionable sometimes.
The account is an Outlook account. I have tried it on the web and it's the same.
Lucus-V 12,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-07T16:37:36.1933333+00:00

Hi Robert Mallett,

I understand your frustration. Based on the testing you've described, you've already gone beyond the common troubleshooting steps by recreating the profile and verifying the same behavior in Outlook on the web.

As community members, we're limited to providing guidance and troubleshooting suggestions based on documented behavior and experience. We don't have visibility into the underlying mailbox rule processing service or the ability to investigate potential product issues.

Since you've reproduced the behavior across different Outlook clients and believe the rule should match the visible content, I would encourage you to submit feedback directly to the Outlook product team using Help > Feedback in Outlook or through Send feedback to Microsoft with the Feedback Hub app. Providing the screenshots and the testing you've already performed will help the team evaluate whether this is an expected limitation or a product defect.

If you would like the issue to be investigated further, you may also consider contacting Microsoft Support. Support engineers have access to diagnostic tools and logs that are not available through the community and may be able to determine how the message content is being evaluated by the rules engine.

While the community can offer troubleshooting assistance, we don't have a way to escalate or verify potential bugs in Outlook's rule processing ourselves.