Where did Outlook rules go?

The short answer is, as of 11/07/2023 – Rules are not supported in the new Outlook for Windows.

…

To me this is a critical part of using Outlook.

I have rules setup for navigating through the MILES of spam messages I get every day to help me get out the emails I need to see – like ones from the kids’ school, clients, etc.

However, I couldn’t switch back to the Classic Outlook because the toggle was gone. I had one to go to the new Outlook, but not one to go back to the old one.

That’s because “new” Outlook is a completely separate program.

The old or “Classic” Outlook is still on my machine, and I bet it’s still on yours too.

(Side note: As a usability expert, that’s terrible planning. Email is a somewhat critical thing in business now. If someone wants to switch back… let them. You can always alert them to new changes as you roll them out to the updated program. But not allowing users to utilize their email how they want to – that’s a danger to your fan base’s trust.)

How to go back to old Outlook

Open your start menu and search for Outlook.

Then you can pin it to your taskbar.

If you decide you want to get rid of the new Outlook, you can always uninstall it – Start menu, and search for uninstall and you’ll get the “Add or remove programs” option.

In there you can remove it (it’ll have (new) next to the name. I am just going to leave mine for now, because we all know they’re just going to keep updating it anyway and pushing it on us. So I’ll let it update in the background and when they ultimately make us switch, I’ll switch.

Maybe by then rules will work. 😉