I'm running into the rules size limit for Outlook 2003, so I want to merge/delete my rules. I want to be able to see them all as opposed to editing them one at a time. The export format for Outlook rules is some binary "*.rwz" file.
Is there a way to export Outlook rules into a text or excel file?
The library https://github.com/hughbe/OutlookRulesReader contains a specification and reference implementation library (in Swift) for reading and writing Outlook Rules files in RWZ format.
A full description of the RWZ format can be found here.
Free https://rwzreader.codeplex.com/ - Organize rules by highlighting one or more rules and dragging to reorder, or use Up/Down buttons - Sort rules by highlighting two or more rules and clicking the sort button - Save the organized RWZ file as a different file or save the rules directly to Outlook
I modified some code I found and have this macro to list out all Rules in tab-delimited format suitable for a spreadsheet. Not elegant, perhaps, but it seems to work. I also have another borrowed macro for finding out which rules apply to a given selected folder.
Sub ListRules() ' Created: 20200726
'https://superuser.com/a/1571875/1007423
'Modified by www.jfkelley.com
'I impose no copyright conditions on the parts of this macro that I wrote. Enjoy.
'Based on: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/rules/create-list-rules/
'This will cull out all the Outlook Rules you have and print them out to a TXT file in your Temp directory.
'It will also OPEN that TXT file using default editor (e.g., Notepad/Notepad++)
'The data is tab-delimited so you can copy/paste it right into Excel.
'It currently only features the 5 conditions of most interest to me,
'but it should also enumerate any other conditions that are used in case you want to add those columns explicitly.
Dim colStores As Outlook.Stores
Dim oFileSys As Object
Dim oStore As Outlook.Store
Dim oRoot As Outlook.Folder
Dim oCondition As Outlook.RuleCondition
Dim oCondfrom As Outlook.RuleCondition
Dim oAction As Outlook.RuleAction
Dim colRules As Object
Dim oRule As Outlook.Rule
Dim oInbox As Outlook.Folder
Dim oMoveTarget As Outlook.Folder
Dim sOutput As String
Dim myVar As Variant
Dim dR As Object
Set dR = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
dR.Add olConditionAccount, "olConditionAccount"
dR.Add olConditionAnyCategory, "olConditionAnyCategory"
dR.Add olConditionBody, "olConditionBody"
dR.Add olConditionBodyOrSubject, "olConditionBodyOrSubject"
dR.Add olConditionCategory, "olConditionCategory"
dR.Add olConditionCc, "olConditionCc"
dR.Add olConditionDateRange, "olConditionDateRange"
dR.Add olConditionFlaggedForAction, "olConditionFlaggedForAction"
dR.Add olConditionFormName, "olConditionFormName"
dR.Add olConditionFrom, "olConditionFrom"
dR.Add olConditionFromAnyRssFeed, "olConditionFromAnyRssFeed"
dR.Add olConditionFromRssFeed, "olConditionFromRssFeed"
dR.Add olConditionHasAttachment, "olConditionHasAttachment"
dR.Add olConditionImportance, "olConditionImportance"
dR.Add olConditionLocalMachineOnly, "olConditionLocalMachineOnly"
dR.Add olConditionMeetingInviteOrUpdate, "olConditionMeetingInviteOrUpdate"
dR.Add olConditionMessageHeader, "olConditionMessageHeader"
dR.Add olConditionNotTo, "olConditionNotTo"
dR.Add olConditionOnlyToMe, "olConditionOnlyToMe"
dR.Add olConditionOOF, "olConditionOOF"
dR.Add olConditionOtherMachine, "olConditionOtherMachine"
dR.Add olConditionProperty, "olConditionProperty"
dR.Add olConditionRecipientAddress, "olConditionRecipientAddress"
dR.Add olConditionSenderAddress, "olConditionSenderAddress"
dR.Add olConditionSenderInAddressBook, "olConditionSenderInAddressBook"
dR.Add olConditionSensitivity, "olConditionSensitivity"
dR.Add olConditionSentTo, "olConditionSentTo"
dR.Add olConditionSizeRange, "olConditionSizeRange"
dR.Add olConditionSubject, "olConditionSubject"
dR.Add olConditionTo, "olConditionTo"
dR.Add olConditionToOrCc, "olConditionToOrCc"
dR.Add olConditionUnknown, "olConditionUnknown"
'On Error Resume Next
Set oFileSys = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'Create a folder named Rules on your C drive or change the path to use an existing folder
Dim fnp As String
fnp = Environ("temp") & "\OLFilterList.txt"
If oFileSys.FileExists(fnp) Then
oFileSys.DeleteFile (fnp)
End If
Open fnp For Output As #1
Set colStores = Application.Session.Stores
Set oStore = colStores(1)
Set oRoot = oStore.GetRootFolder
Set colRules = oStore.GetRules
Dim stHdr As String, stName As String, stToFolder As String, stFrom As String, stSenderAddress As String, stSentTo As String, stRecipientAddress As String, stOthers As String
stHdr = "Order" & Chr(9) & "Name" & Chr(9) & "ToFolder" & Chr(9) & "From" & Chr(9) & "SenderAddress" & Chr(9) & "SentTo" & Chr(9) & "RecipientAddress" & Chr(9) & "OtherConditions"
Print #1, stHdr
For Each oRule In colRules
stName = oRule.Name
stToFolder = "??"
stFrom = ""
stSenderAddress = ""
stSentTo = ""
stRecipientAddress = ""
stOthers = ""
For Each oAction In oRule.Actions
If oAction.Enabled = True Then
If oAction.ActionType = olRuleActionMoveToFolder Then
stToFolder = oAction.Folder.FolderPath
End If
'add more actions here
End If
Next
For Each oCondition In oRule.Conditions
If oCondition.Enabled = True Then
If oCondition.ConditionType = olConditionFrom Then
stFrom = oRule.Conditions.From.Recipients(1)
ElseIf oCondition.ConditionType = olConditionSenderAddress Then
For Each myVar In oRule.Conditions.SenderAddress.Address
If stSenderAddress <> "" Then stSenderAddress = stSenderAddress & "; "
stSenderAddress = stSenderAddress & myVar
Next
ElseIf oCondition.ConditionType = olConditionSentTo Then
For Each myVar In oRule.Conditions.SentTo.Recipients
If stSentTo <> "" Then stSentTo = stSentTo & "; "
stSentTo = stSentTo & myVar
Next
ElseIf oCondition.ConditionType = olConditionRecipientAddress Then
For Each myVar In oRule.Conditions.RecipientAddress.Address
If stRecipientAddress <> "" Then stRecipientAddress = stRecipientAddress & "; "
stRecipientAddress = stRecipientAddress & myVar
Next
Else
If stOthers <> "" Then stOthers = stOthers & "; "
stOthers = stOthers & dR(oCondition.ConditionType)
End If
'add more ElseIf conditions above and follow the pattern for the header (above) and data (below).
End If
Next
stOutput = (oRule.ExecutionOrder) & Chr(9) & stName & Chr(9) & stToFolder & Chr(9) & stFrom & Chr(9) & stSenderAddress & Chr(9) & stSentTo & Chr(9) & stRecipientAddress & Chr(9) & stOthers
Print #1, stOutput
Next
Close #1
Dim fso As Object
Set fso = CreateObject("shell.application")
sfile = fnp
fso.Open (sfile)
End Sub
Sub EnumerateRelatedRules() ' Created 20200726
'Source: https://techniclee.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/finding-rules-related-to-a-folder-in-outlook/
'The author also had some code to make this a context-menu (right-click) item, but I couldn't make it work.
'So: Just select a folder (or email in a folder) and use Developer tab -> Macros to run it.
'Works nicely in conjunction with my other spreadsheet report on all the Outlook Rules.
' - Posted here: https://superuser.com/questions/92197/export-outlook-2003-rules-to-text/1571875#1571875
Dim olkRul As Outlook.Rule, olkAct As Outlook.RuleAction, strRules As String
For Each olkRul In Application.Session.DefaultStore.GetRules()
For Each olkAct In olkRul.Actions
If olkAct.ActionType = olRuleActionCopyToFolder Or olkAct.ActionType = olRuleActionMoveToFolder Then
If olkAct.Enabled Then
If olkAct.Folder = Application.ActiveExplorer.CurrentFolder Then 'olkCurrentFolder Then
strRules = strRules & olkRul.Name & vbCrLf
End If
End If
End If
Next
Next
If strRules = "" Then
strRules = "None"
End If
MsgBox strRules, vbInformation + vbOKOnly, "Rules Related to this Folder"
Set olkRul = Nothing
Set olkAct = Nothing
End Sub
I suspect that you are out of luck... a classic MS proprietary format.
However, a subset of the rules wizard interface is supported via VBA - see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb206763.aspx for details. You could script something up to export the rules as human-readable but it may well not cover all your rules.
Good luck!