XFOR: Outlook Rules May Not Start on Internet Mail

Microsoft Outlook rules (for example, rules that automatically forward or reply to an e-mail message) may not start on messages that are received from the Internet.

This issue generally occurs with rules that act as a result of the recipient of the message (the filter to determine whether the rule starts on a particular e-mail message is dependant on the recipient).

This behavior occurs with recipients who have mailboxes that reside on the same computer that the Internet Mail Service is on (the Internet Mail Service that received the e-mail message). This behavior is typically seen on single-server installations, or in organizations that use site connectors over the Internet Mail Service.

This issue can occur because Outlook rules that are configured to act when the recipient matches certain criteria (for example, if the e-mail message has the recipient in the To line) actually check for the Exchange Server Distinguished Name (DN) in the MAPI properties of the e-mail message.

When an e-mail message arrives from the Internet, and the e-mail message is destined for a local recipient (on the same server), the e-mail message is delivered locally, and the message transfer agent (MTA) does not touch the e-mail message.

Normally, the MTA performs the resolution from Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) proxy address (the address that the e-mail message was sent to over the Internet) to the Exchange Server DN. If the e-mail message does not pass through the MTA, this resolution is not performed, and the rule does not start.

There are several ways to work around this issue:

• You can use the client to work around this issue:
  • When you create a rule, do not specify the recipient, but do specify a portion of the name of the recipient that appears in both the Display name and the SMTP proxy address.
    
    For example, if a user's Display name is Kim Akers, and the user's SMTP proxy address is kim.akers@microsoft.com, configure the rule to check for a Recipient line that contains the following text:
    akers
• You can force messages through the MTA to work around this issue. Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 1 and later allow you to journal messages. You can use a feature that was added to support journaling to force the delivery of messages through the MTA:
  1. WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
     
     
  2. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
  3. Locate the following key in the registry:
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem
  4. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
     Value Name: No Local Delivery
     Data Type: DWORD
     Value: 0x1
  5. Quit Registry Editor.
• You can force the Internet Mail Service to perform the directory lookup to work around this issue. In Exchange Server 5.5 you can use the Internet Mail Service ResolveP2 registry key to force the Internet Mail Service to resolve P2 recipients (which include To addressees on other systems and Cc addresses). In many cases this work around is the best option:
  1. WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
     
     
  2. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
  3. Locate the following key in the registry:
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIMC\ParametersSystem
  4. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
     Value Name: ResolveP2
     Data Type: DWORD
     Value: 0x1
  5. Quit Registry Editor.
  For additional information about this registry value, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  174755� XFOR: ResolveP2 Registry Setting Expanded in Exchange 5.5