Inbox rule not working

Question

Hi All,

One of my users configured the below Inbox rule in Outlook and reported that it is not working. I informed the user that this behavior is by design. Please correct me if i am wrong.

Name        : Rule1
Description : If the message:
                the message was sent to 'DistributionList1'
              Take the following actions:
                forward the message to 'SharedMailbox1' and 'SharedMailbox2'
                and move the message to folder 'Projects'
                and stop processing more rules on this message

Inbox rules run after the message is delivered to the mailbox and work only at the individual mailbox level. Distribution list (DL) expansion happens during transport, before the message is delivered to the mailbox and before any inbox rule is evaluated.

Because of this, the “To” condition does not match. When an email is sent to a DL, the final recipient sees their own address in the To field, not the DL address. Therefore, an Outlook inbox rule based on “sent to DistributionList1” will not trigger. This is expected behavior

Answer 1

Hi @Glenn Maxwell

Thank you for posting question to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Can you please verify the rule is created on Classic Outlook or New Outlook?

Based on my testing, the rule still runs normally. Can you confirm if your user has the rule look like this?

On my Classic Outlook, the DL name is still the same, it doesn't show the recipient's address, so the condition is met. The email will result in moving and forwarding to the shared mailbox.

However, in the shared mailbox, the From field will be the account with the rule, not the DL

Please check with your user if their Outlook shows the recipient's address or the DL address.

I look forward for your reply.

---

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.

Answer 2

i guess user setup the rule from OWA and user uses outlook for MAC.

Answer 3

Your understanding is correct. Inbox rules in Outlook operate at the individual mailbox level and are evaluated after the message has been delivered to the mailbox. When an email is sent to a distribution list (DL), the expansion of the DL occurs during transport, meaning that the recipient sees their own email address in the To field rather than the DL address. Therefore, an inbox rule that is based on the condition of being sent to a specific distribution list will not trigger because the condition does not match the actual recipient address. This behavior is by design.

---

References:

• Diagnose Outlook Inbox rules that aren't working