Office users who use run-a-script rules are discovering their scripts are currently disabled (as is Start Application), thanks to a security update. When the update is installed, any existing run-a-script and run application rules will be disabled.
To fix, you need to set the EnableUnsafeClientMailRules value in the registry then restart Outlook.
Outlook 2016
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Security
DWORD: EnableUnsafeClientMailRules
Value: 1
Outlook 2013
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Security
DWORD: EnableUnsafeClientMailRules
Value: 1
Outlook 2010
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Security
DWORD: EnableUnsafeClientMailRules
Value: 1
If you don't want to edit the registry yourself, you can use this ready-to-use .reg file.
Outlook 2016/2019/365 Outlook 2013
Outlook 2010
One option is to convert the run-a-script to an ItemAdd macro. Depending on the conditions in your rule, converting it to an ItemAdd macro may be as simple as adding the application startup macro, renaming the script, and adding an If statement. For information on using ItemAdd macros, see How to use an ItemAdd Macro.
any idea why its called EnableUnsafeClientMailRules
What exactly is unsafe about it
It is disabled because it can do things outside of outlook (start application is disabled too). While it is hard to install an outlook macro, there was an exploit that used run application.
Detect and remediate the Outlook rules and custom forms injections attacks. - Office 365 | Microsoft Docs
How we can do the same thing with Office 365 ?
Thanks in advance
Office 365 desktop software is office 16 - just use the 2-16 keys.
Thank you. This is great!
Changed the registry and it works like you said for Office 2019. Thank you! Wonder why MSFT has not added a default rule of Forward with a Template
They have reply with template - not sure why they didn't think about Forward.
I spoke prematurely. run a script is now there and the script selection dialog shows up but I cannot select a script - the dialog is empty.
Does the macro you want to use with a rule have a name formatted like this - specifically the part in the () ?
public sub macroname(item as mailitem)
hello im trying to find the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Security" path on the registry editor, problem is there is no "Security" folder, this version of outlook is newly installed today, could this be the issue? please help if you can this is the only reason i bought outlook!
if the folder does not exist, you need to add it.
I changed the registry value but it is not appearing for me....anything I should add?
You need to restart Outlook after setting the key.
Hi Diane
I am having problems running my scripts from rules. It was working before my machine was rebuilt. i do remember having this issue last time but i cannot remember what i did to fix it. I have added the registry entry, have recreated the rules, restarted my machine, set the trust center setting to enable all macros . I don't get an error message when i run the rules manually or when a email arrives and I am using outlook 365 64bit. I cannot think of what else to try please help. Thanks
No error messages if you try to run rules manually?
Thank you for your work on this script as follows in Outlook, but when I try to create a new rule and add a script, nothing shows up in the list to select. ' Written by Michael Bauer, vboffice.net ' //www.vboffice.net/en/developers/print-attachments-automatically ' use Declare PtrSafe Function with 64-bit Outlook 'Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias _ ' "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, _ ' ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String, _ ' ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long Private WithEvents Items As Outlook.Items Private Sub Application_Startup() Dim Ns As Outlook.NameSpace Dim Folder As Outlook.MAPIFolder Set Ns = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI") Set Folder = Ns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox) Set Items = Folder.Items End Sub Private Sub Items_ItemAdd(ByVal Item As Object) If TypeOf Item Is Outlook.MailItem Then PrintAttachments Item End If End Sub Private Sub PrintAttachments(oMail As Outlook.MailItem) On Error Resume Next Dim colAtts As Outlook.Attachments Dim oAtt As Outlook.Attachment Dim sFile As String Dim sDirectory As String Dim sFileType As String sDirectory = "C:\Attachments\" Set colAtts = oMail.Attachments If colAtts.Count Then For Each oAtt In colAtts ' This code looks at the last 4 characters in a filename sFileType = LCase$(Right$(oAtt.FileName, 4)) Select Case sFileType… Read more »
That is an item add macro - it run when a new message is added to the Inbox.
Private Sub Items_ItemAdd(ByVal Item As Object)
If you want to use PrintAttachments in a rule, try putting it in a new module.