How to edit rwz file

Question

How to edit rwz file

John Roldan 31

How can I edit a rwz file? The Rules window is a terrible method to work through rules when someone is very organized with multiple folders.

Steve Gallo 31 Reputation points

2023-07-26T16:47:54.0033333+00:00

One of the reasons I use Outlook 365 is because the Rules are so flexible. The biggest annoyance is the fact that there is no real editor. It would be great to have an editor that allows for Edit, Search, Filter, and Sort. I find it hard to believe that it would be so difficult to do this. A truly radical feature would provide the capability to Export and Import rules as .csv files. Then Excel could be used to edit the rules. Apparently this would be outside the box thinking for Microsoft Devs. I wonder if Edge AI could provide the code to do this?
HelioPauloNatesMoreira-9189 15 Reputation points

2023-09-07T15:15:04.1733333+00:00

Hello John, i share your same difficult. No point in exporting rules if our can't edit
Sheats, Jason 000 10 Reputation points

2023-11-28T19:17:06.4466667+00:00

Absolutely agree!
J-G 171 Reputation points

2024-01-15T23:02:52.2266667+00:00

(mis-post- sorry)
Joe Z 10 Reputation points

2024-04-01T20:38:31.4133333+00:00

Hey great idea. It really is a pain in the neck scrolling through domains when you're setting up a rule to move e-mail from specific domains to another folder. Very difficult to determine if what you're entering already exists in the list. I use this to offload request for contributions from political campaigns to a separate folder. Thus far this election season I've already received over 4K e-mail requests looking for funds. This really helps clean up the inbox. I forwarded a copy of the rules to the email address indicated.
Don Herd 5 Reputation points

2024-08-07T15:26:49.4433333+00:00

I think it's CRAZY that MS hasn't provided a way to deal with this!!!
Joe Zlata 0 Reputation points

2024-09-03T17:28:19.1866667+00:00

Guess we won't see anything for this election season. Would have been really helpful. I'm now over 17K e-mails that are political in nature, either asking for money (most) or begging for my vote. I'm sure I've entered the same domain multiple times in my rule for offloading these to a different folder.
D N 0 Reputation points

2024-09-17T00:55:42.53+00:00

Don, i'm with you. I left thunderbird and spark a few years ago to force myself to get used to outlook thinking it must be ok but this email management sucks. i'm so sick of rerunning rules that don't work most of the time. Its pretty simple stuff i want to do but there is no way to do it. and it doesn't work most of the time. i can't believe i can't upload a simple list of statements/rules with wildcards etc to apply after [whenever]. Existing UI sucks and my filtering sucks as a result. i might have to go back to something else. thunderbird had a pretty good learning algorithm that made life pretty easy. i don't remember spark as much but remember liking it more maybe bc thunderbird had no phone app? will see. anywayt LETS GO MS. FIX THIS!!
Ken D 0 Reputation points

2024-12-06T15:16:42.5166667+00:00

Same here. It's unbelievable that M$ doesn't provide this basic functionality.

3 answers

Your answer

Steve Gallo 31 Reputation points

2023-07-26T16:47:54.0033333+00:00

One of the reasons I use Outlook 365 is because the Rules are so flexible. The biggest annoyance is the fact that there is no real editor. It would be great to have an editor that allows for Edit, Search, Filter, and Sort. I find it hard to believe that it would be so difficult to do this. A truly radical feature would provide the capability to Export and Import rules as .csv files. Then Excel could be used to edit the rules. Apparently this would be outside the box thinking for Microsoft Devs. I wonder if Edge AI could provide the code to do this?
HelioPauloNatesMoreira-9189 15 Reputation points

2023-09-07T15:15:04.1733333+00:00

Hello John, i share your same difficult. No point in exporting rules if our can't edit
Sheats, Jason 000 10 Reputation points

2023-11-28T19:17:06.4466667+00:00

Absolutely agree!
J-G 171 Reputation points

2024-01-15T23:02:52.2266667+00:00

(mis-post- sorry)
Joe Z 10 Reputation points

2024-04-01T20:38:31.4133333+00:00

Hey great idea. It really is a pain in the neck scrolling through domains when you're setting up a rule to move e-mail from specific domains to another folder. Very difficult to determine if what you're entering already exists in the list. I use this to offload request for contributions from political campaigns to a separate folder. Thus far this election season I've already received over 4K e-mail requests looking for funds. This really helps clean up the inbox. I forwarded a copy of the rules to the email address indicated.
Don Herd 5 Reputation points

2024-08-07T15:26:49.4433333+00:00

I think it's CRAZY that MS hasn't provided a way to deal with this!!!
Joe Zlata 0 Reputation points

2024-09-03T17:28:19.1866667+00:00

Guess we won't see anything for this election season. Would have been really helpful. I'm now over 17K e-mails that are political in nature, either asking for money (most) or begging for my vote. I'm sure I've entered the same domain multiple times in my rule for offloading these to a different folder.
D N 0 Reputation points

2024-09-17T00:55:42.53+00:00

Don, i'm with you. I left thunderbird and spark a few years ago to force myself to get used to outlook thinking it must be ok but this email management sucks. i'm so sick of rerunning rules that don't work most of the time. Its pretty simple stuff i want to do but there is no way to do it. and it doesn't work most of the time. i can't believe i can't upload a simple list of statements/rules with wildcards etc to apply after [whenever]. Existing UI sucks and my filtering sucks as a result. i might have to go back to something else. thunderbird had a pretty good learning algorithm that made life pretty easy. i don't remember spark as much but remember liking it more maybe bc thunderbird had no phone app? will see. anywayt LETS GO MS. FIX THIS!!
Ken D 0 Reputation points

2024-12-06T15:16:42.5166667+00:00

Same here. It's unbelievable that M$ doesn't provide this basic functionality.

Answer 1

Jason G 55

I'm working on a Windows application to do the following with .rwz files:

Display ruleset
Re-order rules
Delete rules
Refresh rules (remove unused conditions / exceptions)
Edit rule conditions / exceptions
Check rule validity (what if...)
Sanitise rules (remove personal info)
Edit rule actions (non-folder related)
Edit rule actions (folder related)
Support for older versions of .rwz (working on 2019 / 365 and later)

Functionality listed from first minimum viable product to most features (later) - any interest in this (and a copy of the initial application (to display rules) - reply to this message :)
Any .rwz files you can share, please do :) The more data I can test with, the better it will be.

Albion Dani 0 Reputation points

2024-01-05T18:31:02.82+00:00

Hey this is something we are looking at, any chance we can get access to this application?
Chris Record 0 Reputation points

2024-01-06T22:42:35.4333333+00:00

I've been looking everywhere for something like this. Please add me to your list. I want to add one more "mark as read" command in the rules. I have Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2021 and use freestanding outlook on a windows desktop. Let me know how to send you the rwz files you want.
Chris Record 0 Reputation points

2024-01-06T22:43:51.59+00:00

Let me know how to send you the rwz files you want to look at.
Jason G 55 Reputation points

2024-01-07T13:41:34.4433333+00:00

If you can share a onedrive or similar link to a password protected zip of an RWZ send links to, or such files to: datafiles [at] madeupdomain [dot] com (yes that is the right domain)
queries to dev [at] madeupdomain [dot] com and passwords to secrets [at] madeupdomain [dot] com or use Telegram [at] Madeupdomain
The mail servers for datafiles are different to the others so any data shared on other email addresses will be stored separately. Please don't over share ;)
Michael St Denis 0 Reputation points

2024-04-02T23:48:47.54+00:00

I have a file for you and I would love to test this. Note I changed the extension to .txt because it would not let me upload a .rwz file. I put in a lot of rules to get rid of annoying spam, and some to route things in my office. It is SUCH a pain to try to edit these. Thank you so very much in advance. Michael. ******@hotmail.com
James Gaver 0 Reputation points

2024-04-03T13:25:06.1066667+00:00

I would really like a copy! I'm trying to deal with migration back and forth between the new Outlook and old. 　<Mod remove PII>
Jason Grant 0 Reputation points

2024-07-16T17:09:27.8066667+00:00

I would love to give this app a try as well! Please let me know how I could get my hands on it.
oee 0 Reputation points

2024-09-03T14:39:52.7766667+00:00

Hello Jason
thank you for your time
Any chance to put on github or something ? (with releases)
I would also like to have the thing
Randall Sargent 0 Reputation points

2024-10-12T20:22:09.88+00:00

Any progress on this? Definitely interested in supporting.
Thomas Deierling 0 Reputation points

2025-03-24T10:15:06.9+00:00

this is what i need - how can i get a copy?

Answer 2

Adding again - hope to get some files to test with :)

I'm working on a Windows application to do the following with .rwz files:

Display ruleset (Done)
Validate existing rules (Done)
Check folder exists in M365 (office / live / Hotmail) mailboxes (in progress)
Re-order rules
Delete rules
Bulk change rules (e.g. add / remove Mark as Read)
Refresh rules (remove unused conditions / exceptions)
Edit rule conditions / exceptions
Check rule validity (what if...)
Sanitise rules (remove personal info)
Edit rule actions (non-folder related)
Edit rule actions (folder related)
Interact with M365 mailboxes directly
Support for older versions of .rwz (working on 2019 / 365 and later)

Functionality listed from first minimum viable product to most features (later) - any interest in this (and a copy of the initial application (to display rules) - reply to this message :)
Any .rwz files you can share, please do :) The more data I can test with, the better it will be. Please also specify any particular functionality you would like to see / problems you are facing. If you can share any (pref p/w protected) zips or onedrive (or similar) links of RWZ files to:

datafiles [at] madeupdomain [dot] com (yes that is the right domain) queries to : dev [at] madeupdomain [dot] com
and passwords to : secrets [at] madeupdomain [dot] com or use Telegram [at] Madeupdomain The mail servers for datafiles are different to the others so any data shared on other email addresses will be stored separately. Please don't over share ;) <Mod remove PII>

Jesse Maddox 5 Reputation points

2024-03-29T22:17:41.55+00:00

This is a great idea! I hope development is going well.
oee 0 Reputation points

2024-09-03T14:41:26.19+00:00

Hello Jason

thank you for your time

Any chance to put on github or something ? (with releases)

I would also like to have the thing
ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΟΣ ΚΕΣΚΙΝΟΓΛΟΥ 0 Reputation points

2025-03-02T11:02:01.11+00:00

Hello, it seems interesting.

Can I test it?

Answer 3

Hi @John Roldan ,

Based on this article: Import or export a set of rules, the .rwz file type can only be opened and used within Outlook. And the .rwz file is not editable.

As for the rules, they run in the order listed, which may not be alphabetical order. If you want to change the order of rules, you can click the rule and then click on the ▲ button to move up the rule or the ▼ button to move down the rule.

Besides, many features of our current products are designed and upgraded based on customers’ feedback. With requirements like this increase, the problem may well be released in the future, you can make a suggestion via this link.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Faery Fu-MSFT 19,751 Reputation points Moderator

2023-03-21T07:04:56.9366667+00:00

Hi @John Roldan ,

Just checking in to see if above information was helpful. If you have any further updates on this issue, please feel free to post back. If you think my reply is helpful to you, please remember to mark it as an answer. Warm thanks.

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How to edit rwz file

3 answers

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