I’ve heard a lot of situations from users that they got successful in migrating PST data from one system to another using Outlook’s Import/Export feature, but still, Outlook rules are needed to set up again. And the quick question was, ‘Is there any manual way to move Outlook rules from one system to another?’. So, to answer this query, I have written a blog explaining the manual method to export the Outlook Rules.
Outlook Rules
Outlook rules allow users to automate actions such as moving messages to a specific folder, flagging emails, responding to emails, displaying item alerts, playing sounds, etc.
Suppose, you have set a number of Outlook rules for your incoming/outgoing emails and has been using it for a long time successfully. Now, you have a new system or have to move to a different system. In such a situation, you could get the Outlook data to the new system by moving the PST. But still, many users have to create Outlook rules again in the new system, due to the wrong migration of rules, especially in new versions of Outlook. Because of this, I will be going to discuss a technique to export the Outlook Rules to the new system.
MANUALLY EXPORTING/IMPORTING MICROSOFT OUTLOOK RULES
If the you want to move only Outlook rules to another system, then I have come up with a working solution for you. You just need to export the rules as .rwz files and then move it to another system via external devices. And finally, import this saved file to the Microsoft Outlook application installed on that system.
Perform these steps to export Rules from your Microsoft Outlook.
- Run the Microsoft Outlook application. For recent Outlook versions 2016 and 2019, navigate to File > Manage Rules & Alerts.
- Outlook versions 2013 and 2010 – File>Info>Manage Rules and Alerts
- Outlook version 2007 – Tools>Rules and Alerts
- The Rules and Alerts window will get open. Here, click Options.
- Click Export Rules.
- Provide a name and saving location on your system to export the rules file. Click Save.
- The file with the .rwz extension will get saved on the specified location. Now connect an external device and move this file to the system on which you want to import these Outlook rules.
Note: For older versions, follow these paths:
Now, that you have exported rules and migrated that file to another system with the Outlook application, you would require the following steps to import rules to the new Outlook application.
- Open the Microsoft application on the new system and click File>Manage Rules & Alerts. Then click Options and click Import rules.
- Browse to the location of exported rules file (with .rwz extension) and click Open.
- Now, click OK and check for the imported rule under the Email Rules tab in the Rules and Alerts window.
Note: To run the imported rules in Outlook, you need to click Run Rules Now option in the Rules and Alerts window and follow the further instructions carefully.
Thus, the imported rules are now active in the Outlook application on the new system. You can set more rules as per your requirement or edit the present one through Manage Rules & Alerts option in Outlook. Also, you can use PST Recovery tool to export Outlook rules from healthy PST files.
Summing Up
Outlook Rules are used to automate many actions, like moving items to a particular folder, generating alerts, etc. One can even export these Outlook rules on another system’s Outlook utilizing the Export rules feature described in this blog.