How can I add many multiple exceptions to a mail rule?

Question

Hi,

I've set up some mail rules in order to forward specific emails that meet certain criteria. These emails are coming from one of our IT systems and are a notification that some work is waiting for us in the application.

We have set up several rules to forward this to some of our workflow tools but we now run into an issue. The subject lines of these emails all have the same format and a part of this format is, that a country name is mentioned. It's pretty easy to identify these emails, so the rule in itself is pretty easy. However, we need to exclude certain countries outside of EMEA as these do not fall into our responsibility. This could be done by adding an exception to the rule (e.g. "except if the subject contains": and then fill out all countries that need to be excluded).

However, I'm looking for an easy way to add, let's say, 100 countries (and not do it manually). Is there some way I can import a list, or create 1 exception that covers all countries by using a delimiter or so?

Answer 1

Hello Alexander van der Hulst,

Good day.

Thank for posting in the community.

We've received your query and you can expect to receive response from one of our community moderator accordingly.

At this point, we appreciate your patience and cooperation. Thank you.

Answer 2

HI Alexander van der Hulst,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist

You can try using "Except if sent to People or public group" exception condition. You can refer to the screenshot below.

You need to use Exceptions - i would also use Stop processing - in your rule. Then make a second rule for messages containing "Initial/Final"

OR

Are you using Outlook software installed on your desktop or opening Outlook on the web in a browser?

In order to use a rule like this, you would need to use a "run a script" rule and look for the word before the first From: field. These only work in Outlook desktop software

We are looking forward to your response! Thanks for your precious time. Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Answer 3

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I'm working on an Outlook client, installed on my laptop.

Not sure about the solution you mention, this does not cover what I'm looking for. This option only excludes certain mail adresses or groups, but I need to do an exception based on certain words in the subject line. All notification mails we receive are sent to the same group of people, so there is no possibility to make an exception rule out of that.

Answer 4

HI Alexander van der Hulst,

Good day! Thank you for Replying to the Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist

Based on your description in reply you "need to make an exception based on certain words in the subject line".

-Select with a specific words in the subject--> then down edit the rule description (click an underlined value) enter "word you need "-->Add-->Ok

-Select with specific words in the subject or body--> then down edit the rule description (click an underlined value) enter problem-->Add-->Ok

-click Next

-Select move it to the specified folder-->then down edit the rule description (click an underlined value) choose your folder-->Ok

-Next

-Enter the name of your rules--> Finish

After thorough research and test I have concluded that it is currently not possible for us to match your requirements. Basically, we use OR to set one condition with multiple
values and set multiple exceptions. If we need multiple conditions in a rule, by design, we use "AND". If we need to match one condition or another, we must use separate rules
for each condition to avoid rule conflicts. We apologize if we are not able to meet your requirements; however, thank you for bringing this to our attention, we will hopefully this
can be included in the future updates.

In the meantime, please provide feedback on this feature request by creating a new post in the Feedback Portal in Microsoft is committed to enhancing the customer experience by continually examining suggestions to include in the design and development of future product upgrades based on your suggestions.

Customers’ feedbacks are always valuable for us. Your time and understanding will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your precious time. Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Answer 5

Hi,

Thanks again for checking my question. Unfortunately, I will have to put in each exception seperately, manually.

Really hope that in the future there will be an upgrade that makes it possible to add multiple exclusions easily.

kind regards,

Alexander van der Hulst