Are you facing the error saying “There was an error reading the rules from the server. The format of the server rules was not recognized” when you open the Outlook app and try to check the mailbox? Then this error is mostly because of the problematic rules created in Outlook. To resolve this error you might need to reset the rules, delete and re-add them or delete the problematic rule. Sometimes even the corrupted files can cause this issue so running the scanpst.exe tool and repairing the errors if found would help. In this article, let us see in detail the different methods to solve the error reading of the rules from the server issue. Let us start!
Method 1 – Reset The Rule Engine
Step 1 – Open the Microsoft Outlook app
Step 2 – Click on the file tab at the top left corner
Step 3 – In the info tab on the right side click on manage rules & alerts
Step 4 – On the rules and alerts window, click on the options
Step 5 – Click on the export rules button
Step 6 – Browse and select a folder on your computer where you want to save local files and assign a name
Step 7 – Then click on save. Now you have a local backup of all the rules
Note: In case if you have multiple Exchange accounts then you must export the rules that are created for each account and name them appropriately to avoid any confusions.
Step 8 – Once the backup is completed, close the Outlook and its traces. Also make sure it is not running in the background processes
Step 9 – Open the run prompt using Windows + R keys together
Step 10 – Copy the below command and paste it in the run prompt. Hold Ctrl + Shift keys together and hit enter so that the commands will run using admin access
Note: If you have the Outlook.exe file in different location then modify the path accordingly in the command
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\OUTLOOK.EXE" /cleanrules
Step 11 – If you want to be specific then you can use below keywords
/cleanrules - This command will reset the entire rule engine
/cleanclientrules - This command will only remove the client side rules
/cleanserverrules - This command will only remove the server side rules
Step 12 – A user account control window will appear, click on yes and the command will be executed. Then check if the error is resolved.
Method 2 – Delete And Re-add The Created Outlook Rules
Step 1 – Open the Microsoft Outlook app
Step 2 – Click on the file tab at the top left corner
Step 3 – In the info tab on the right side click on manage rules & alerts
Step 4 – On the rules and alerts window, click on the options
Step 5 – Click on the export rules button
Step 6 – Browse and select a folder on your computer where you want to save local files and assign a name
Step 7 – Then click on save. Now you have a local backup of all the rules.
Step 8 – Now select all the rules from the rules and alerts window and click on delete. Restart the Outlook app
Step 9 – Click on the file tab at the top left corner
Step 10 – In the info tab on the right side click on manage rules & alerts
Step 11 – On the rules and alerts window, click on the options
Step 12 – Click on the import rules button
Step 13 – Browse the location on your computer where you have saved the backup [ in step 7]
Step 14 – Select it and click on open button
Step 15 – Once it is imported restart the Outlook app and then check if the issue is resolved.
Method 3 – Delete The Latest Created Rule From The Outlook.com
Step 1 – Open the Outlook.com by going to its website
Step 2 – Login to the account with your appropriate email and password
Step 3 – Click on settings (gear icon) that is at the top right corner of the window
Step 4 – In the search bar of the settings list, type rules and click on inbox rules
Step 5 – From the appeared window, you will see the number of rules created. Now identify the rule that was added at last and since then on you are facing the issue
Step 6 – Click on delete rule (bin icon) which is at the right of that particular created rule
Step 7 – Once the rule is deleted restart the Outlook app and then check if the issue is solved.
Method 4 – Reset The Outlook.srs File
Step 1 – Close the Outlook app and all its traces
Step 2 – Open the Windows explorer (File explorer) using Windows + E keys together
Step 3 – Copy and paste the below command in the address bar of the file explorer and hit enter
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook
Step 4 – In the Outlook folder find Outlook.srs file and right click on it
Step 5 – From the appeared list, click on rename
Step 6 – Now rename the file as Outlook.srs.old so that when you launch the Outlook app it should ignore this particular file
Step 7 – Launch the Outlook app and then check if the error does not appear.
Method 5 – Run The SCANPST.EXE Tool
Step 1 – Close the Outlook app and all its traces
Step 2 – Open the Windows explorer (File explorer) using Windows + E keys together
Step 3 – Navigate to the following path in the File explorer
Note: The below path might vary according to your OS version. So navigate to the appropriate path where there is scanpst.exe file. You can search it manually using find option as well
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
Step 4 – Double click on SCANPST.EXE file
Step 5 – Click on browse and specify the path of pst file
Note: The default pst file might be located in different paths based on the version. You can also manually search them using find option
For Outlook 2013 version onwards the path might be
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
For Outlook 2010 version onwards the path might be
Documents\Outlook Files
Step 6 – Once the location is specified click on start to perform a scan
Step 7 – If there are any inconsistencies they will be listed
Step 8 – Click on the checkbox beside Create a backup of the scanned file (a tick mark should be present). This creates a backup, incase if the process goes wrong you can restore the backup
Step 9 – Click on repair. Wait till the process is completed. Once done check if the problem is resolved.
That’s it! I hope the above provided information is helpful and easy to follow. Let us know which method did you apply and got the issue resolved. Thank you!!