"Run Rule Now..." missing in New Outlook

Question

"Run Rule Now..." missing in New Outlook

Jeff Rohlman 55

I have switched over to the New Outlook (Microsoft Outlook Version 1.2024.417.100 (Production)). I've noticed the "Run Rules Now..." feature is no longer available. In the older version, I would review my emails in my inbox first. Then each week I would go to the Run Rules Now... to clean up my inbox and move the emails to the appropriate folder. The feature would allow me to process all my rules without individually running each rule. I have over 60+ rules so running one at time isn't ideal at all. My hope is other users are disappointed this feature is no longer available and it will be added in a newer version. It was a great feature! In the meantime, I will be resorting back to the old Outlook.

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Thanks,

JR

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ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-05-03T06:44:25.8733333+00:00

Hi @Jeff Rohlman ,

Just checking in to see if above information was helpful. If it is useful, would you mind marking the helpful post as an answer? Which would benefit others who also has similar issues in forum.
Jeff Rohlman 55 Reputation points

2024-07-02T12:15:12.7433333+00:00

Thanks for the link and I have voted. Hopefully, this will be added in the near future.
Archer 10 Reputation points

2024-08-23T17:58:09.67+00:00

That "play" button isn't even there. How can I create a rule, based on a mounting need, and then tell it to run against my Inbox/Sent/Deleted folders to do an original cleanup? Everyone is asking for a "Run All Rules" button. Heck, I just need a "Run Now" button!
Gregory Booth 5 Reputation points

2025-01-06T16:50:44.7933333+00:00
Not sure if you are still looking (I know it's been a number of months), but I was just looking for this myself and finally found it on my own.

If you go to Rules and then "Manage Rules", each rule listed has an entry in the list that you can reorder, etc. Each rule has a "..." button towards the right hand side. This button provides 3 options for me:

Run Rule Now

Edit Rule

Delete Rule
Óskar Fjeld 5 Reputation points

2025-09-24T09:20:32.3666667+00:00

For some reason my "Run rule now" is disabled. Going back to "old" Outlook
Dan AI4GK 0 Reputation points

2025-09-29T17:24:27.7833333+00:00

Nearly a year and a half after this was posted, and still no way to manually run all rules. Running one at a time is completely unacceptable!
Shubham Sharma 0 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-09-30T23:53:30.02+00:00

Just had the same issue. First the run rule now button was disabled. To get around that I just re-started outlook since I had just created the rules. Also noticed that you cannot run rules in parallel. So if you run one, you'll see the button is disabled for other rules until the previous one had finished.

4 answers

ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-05-03T06:44:25.8733333+00:00

Hi @Jeff Rohlman ,

Just checking in to see if above information was helpful. If it is useful, would you mind marking the helpful post as an answer? Which would benefit others who also has similar issues in forum.
Jeff Rohlman 55 Reputation points

2024-07-02T12:15:12.7433333+00:00

Thanks for the link and I have voted. Hopefully, this will be added in the near future.
Archer 10 Reputation points

2024-08-23T17:58:09.67+00:00

That "play" button isn't even there. How can I create a rule, based on a mounting need, and then tell it to run against my Inbox/Sent/Deleted folders to do an original cleanup? Everyone is asking for a "Run All Rules" button. Heck, I just need a "Run Now" button!
Gregory Booth 5 Reputation points

2025-01-06T16:50:44.7933333+00:00

Not sure if you are still looking (I know it's been a number of months), but I was just looking for this myself and finally found it on my own.

If you go to Rules and then "Manage Rules", each rule listed has an entry in the list that you can reorder, etc. Each rule has a "..." button towards the right hand side. This button provides 3 options for me:

Run Rule Now

Edit Rule

Delete Rule
Óskar Fjeld 5 Reputation points

2025-09-24T09:20:32.3666667+00:00

For some reason my "Run rule now" is disabled. Going back to "old" Outlook
Dan AI4GK 0 Reputation points

2025-09-29T17:24:27.7833333+00:00

Nearly a year and a half after this was posted, and still no way to manually run all rules. Running one at a time is completely unacceptable!
Shubham Sharma 0 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-09-30T23:53:30.02+00:00

Just had the same issue. First the run rule now button was disabled. To get around that I just re-started outlook since I had just created the rules. Also noticed that you cannot run rules in parallel. So if you run one, you'll see the button is disabled for other rules until the previous one had finished.

Answer 1

Robert 45

The only answer I can offer at the moment is to return to the "old" Outlook until the "New" Outlook is up to speed.

I'm disappointed that the "Run all Rules" option is not available. I have over 100 rules that I use to organize my inbox and subfolders. To have to select each rule to run that rule now is a task I will leave to someone who has the time. I'm still looking for a way to run the rules automatically when Outlook first opens up. I can appreciate improvements and a polished product. This is not a finished product.

Reinhard Wilgen-Hoff 5 Reputation points

2025-05-20T06:47:22.99+00:00

Like always 2 steps forward on the old version and then 2 steps back on the next version ... Typical...

Answer 2

Steven Young 35

Once again, Microsoft takes something that works, and breaks it for a new "flashy" appearance.

What happens when emails are received when you don't have Outlook open? Nothing. No rules get processed. Half of the rules can't be triggered to run manually.

I now have 300 emails all unsorted that I manually have to sort into folders.

Good job, Microsoft.

Dan AI4GK 0 Reputation points

2025-09-30T01:27:03.98+00:00

Steven, you need to remember that this is an "upgrade." 😠
Andre Veenhuijsen 5 Reputation points

2025-10-06T10:33:04.57+00:00

Where is the upgrade it is just a Teletubby version. You start the new Outlook rules are gone or mostly missing. Run all rules option is gone the overall aspect is just not professional and if you have shared mailboxes you need to add the manually or even that gives an error. You need to wait overnight and then it might work next day. Users are just not happy with this new version........................

Answer 3

Savas, Turgan 5

I honestly don't understand how this issue is not fixed in 2 years. Here it is, my RULES, which I CANNOT RUN because they are disabled...

User's image

but the new Outlook looks nice and clean...

Stefan Blom 338.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-01-23T11:37:21.6933333+00:00

The new Outlook is still very much a work in progress.

The good news is that you will be able to use the classic Outlook at least until 2029.

Note that Q&A contributors are your fellow users. To post feedback where Microsoft decision makers and developers see it, go to the portal at https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/14c10fe9-fe8b-ef11-ac20-7c1e520b2631 .

Answer 4

ChristyZhang-MSFT 26,221 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @Jeff Rohlman ,

Welcome to our forum!

As i know, only the below option beside the rule is available to run a rule manually in New Outlook for Windows.

User's image

Please kindly understand that many functions are not designed at present. To get this feature more quickly, I have found a post in feedback collection website and you could vote for it. Many features of our current products are designed and upgraded based on customers’ feedback. You can also make suggestions on that website and hope Microsoft will notice this in the future.

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Thanks for your understanding and support!

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

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

TerryL 5 Reputation points

2024-09-19T17:27:36.4033333+00:00

Being able to run all rules at once is a basic and common sense addition for anyone who uses an email client both in a business environment and on a personal (home) PC. With the amount of different types of email most people/business' receive spam and phishing emails included, it would be ludicrous to expect someone to to have to run a different rule for every instance to clean up their inbox and stop inappropriate emails from infiltrating other inbox sub-folders. Imagine encouraging the general public to use an email client that, when commanded to retrieve email from the server, only delivered a single email for each request - that, in essence is what Microsoft is essentially doing with the current "rules" issue in "New Outlook". In my opinion, the "New Outlook" should not have even been permitted to be released to consumers without this basic feature.
April Dawn Kester 0 Reputation points

2025-05-01T14:37:57.4+00:00

Thank you, this was the only forum with a potential solution. As more and more large business users are migrating to the new Outlook, there are going to be a lot more people complaining about this.
Cole Tamminen 0 Reputation points

2026-01-14T20:48:45.47+00:00

why would users need to log in to all these arcane back-stage places in order to up-vote a feature that you arbitrarily removed? How about you just stop designing stuff that circles us back to 1995?

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"Run Rule Now..." missing in New Outlook

4 answers