Can't add new rules, can't access page to manage rules

Anonymous

I started adding a lot of rules to my account on Outlook.com. The rules I have set up are working fine. But now when trying to add any new rules it's failing and when I go to Settings>Manage Rules I go to a blank page with an error message.

Details:

Adding new rule. Right-click on a message>Create Rule. Dialog comes up, I'm able to fill in all fields and click Apply/Okay:

- I get a message at the top of the screen stating "Sorry, Outlook.com wasn’t able to complete this request." at some point while filling in the fields.

- When clicking on Apply/Okay I then get red text at the bottom of the dialog stating "Unable to cast object of type ‘Microsoft.Msn.Hotmail.FDCommon.Data.Xfs.XfsException’ to type ‘Microsoft.Msn.Hotmail.InboundMail.MailRules’."

Going to Settings>Manage Rules:

- I get to the settings page, but none of my rules (The ones that still function normally when receiving mails) are present and there's a message at the top of the screen stating "Something happened at our end. Please refresh your browser or close it and sign in again."

- When trying to create a new rule within this page, I get the same error as when on the main page stating "Unable to cast object of type ‘Microsoft.Msn.Hotmail.FDCommon.Data.Xfs.XfsException’ to type ‘Microsoft.Msn.Hotmail.InboundMail.MailRules’."

Have I hit some limit on the amount of rules Outlook is able to process? I have created a lot of them, over a page of rules, all of them just moving stuff into folders based on sender name.

Is there a way to clear my rules so I can start again?

Have tried this on the following operating systems and browsers: Windows 7 Professional, OSX 10.11.2, Safari 9.0.2, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 43.0.1 (and at least one earlier version), adblockers and virus/malware checkers all disabled at some point in case that was an issue.

Also, tried the above steps on my girlfriend's account (which has no rules set up yet) and it works fine. Can create new rules, and access the manage rules page fine.

What can I do?

If I can't access the Mange Rules page to delete some rules that might be causing this, then I need someone from Outlook.com support to do something right?

Cheers.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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109 answers

Anonymous

2016-02-04T21:06:37+00:00

Hi everyone!

My account is fixed too! I had a couple of rules but was left with only two remaining and my duplicate folders were deleted. Also, I did receive that private message in my other thread. Only 10 days have elapsed since I encountered the issue.

Thanks again Microsoft! and hoping to see "Outlook.com" updated to avoid such problems.
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Anonymous

2016-02-03T11:53:08+00:00

Hi Robin,

Thank you for updating the status about the issue.

If you need any further assistance let us know and we would be glad to assist you.
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Anonymous

2016-02-03T11:13:01+00:00

So for me, the issue is solved. Thanks Microsoft and others for urging them.

As for IMAP in Gmail I didn't use it this way so I'm not able to give you correct answer.
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Anonymous

2016-02-02T19:40:02+00:00

While my account is now fixed an I am able to use my Rules interface, the process of fixing accounts individually is not really a good option.

I really think that Microsoft guys should consider such issues seriously. You should escalate this issue to the concerned development team and they should fix it in the code rather than picking accounts and fix them.

It's fairly obvious this fix was due to programming and not targeting individual accounts. There is now duplicate trapping when you already have a category assignment rule for a specific address and you are not prompted to create it again. The fact that my rule count dropped from 250 to 145 shows that instead of generating fatal errors, rules that no longer have valid references are simply deleted.

Peter and I never got the private message.
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