It's been awhile since I've heard complaints about the number of rules available in Exchange server mailboxes - apparently the 64KB rules limit meets the needs of most users much better than the old 32KB limit did, however, it's clearly not large enough for two users who recently moved to Office 365.
Because managing a large number of rules in the Rules and Alerts dialog is painful, I prefer using of search folders, instant search, or custom views over hundreds of rules, but anyone who needs more rules can beg or bribe their Exchange administrator to increase the space allowed for their rules.
The procedure for increasing the rules quota up to the maximum of 256KB is the same in Exchange 2013 as in Exchange 2007 and 2010.
To check the current setting, use the Get-Mailbox cmdlet:
Get-Mailbox username -RulesQuota
To increase the quota, use Set-Mailbox cmdlet
Set-Mailbox username -RulesQuota:256kb
Log into Office 365 using PowerShell
Enter the following commands in PowerShell to log into Office 365.
$LiveCred = Get-Credential
Enter the username and password. Note, you must have administrator rights to the server to use this.
Run this cmdlet after logging in:
$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $LiveCred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
Then this:
Import-PSSession $Session
After you are logged in and the session imported, you can use the cmdlets. In this case, you are ready to set the RulesQuota:
Set-Mailbox username -RulesQuota:256kb
David says
If I have the user quota at 256kb is there a way to see how much of the 256kb they are using?
Diane Poremsky says
no, sorry there is not.
NickMDal says
What an awful article. You start by blaming the quota limit problem on the two overly demanding users. You don't hear that many complaints because most users throw in the towel when they see Save greyed out for the tenth time. Then you suggest rules is not really the best thing to use. My god...
Diane Poremsky says
Not sure we're reading the same article... I'm not blaming anyone, just using the two users as a reason for talking about rules limitations again. And because the rules dialog in outlook sucks, there are easier options than a hundred rules. (Outlook on the web's rules dialog is a little better if you have all server side rules.)
Sander says
Hi!
Very useful little guide - but how do I verify if the command has worked? As it gives no verbose confirmation...
Diane Poremsky says
You'll use Get-Mailbox username -RulesQuota to see the current value after using Set-Mailbox username -RulesQuota:256kb
Andy McHugh says
Thanks for the great guide! I ran into an issue trying it, got a rather cryptic error about not having the right certificates so I had to run PowerShell as Administrator and then issue this command: Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned and answer Y. Thanks though! Your article solved a huge problem for us and I'm very happy I found this online.
Rob-P says
To check the current setting, use the Get-Mailbox cmdlet:
Get-Mailbox username -RulesQuota
How exactly? Where from?
Diane Poremsky says
That is a PowerShell command. The exchange admin runs it. If using Office365, the commands needed to log into the server are at the bottom of the article.
Kees-Jan says
It should be:
Get-Mailbox username |select rulesquota