Remove hidden rules in Outlook 365

This one was a little tricky for me. I have didn’t know that Outlook 365 rules get corrupted too. A client called me complaining about emails going to his Deleted Items instead of the Inbox. Then, I found a way to remove hidden rules in Outlook using PowerShell.

I was wearing my cool Moka pot beanie which help me think better. I opened my Windows machine and started PowerShell.

First you need to login to your Exchange by using the command:

Connect-ExchangeOnline

Then identify all Inbox rules by running this command:

Get-InboxRule -Mailbox username@soyhat.com -IncludeHidden

You should get a list of rules:

Name                                                                                Enabled Priority RuleIdentity
----                                                                                ------- -------- ------------
Junk E-mail Rule                                                                    True    0        701440950116391...
For all messages whose subject contains "Scheduled Task CleanUPTempFiles Completed" True    1        723058228327769...

Identify the offending rules. They usually how blank under the Name field.

Remove the rule using PowerShell

Finally, run this command to remove the hidden rule in Outlook:

 Remove-InboxRule -Mailbox cabani@soyhat.com -Identity "4037758540914360321"

Use the Identity field to remove the rule. Just copy/paste it in your PowerShell.

That’s all! You can always contact me if you have any questions. Also, check out my shop for cool T-Shirts and coffee mugs. I make my own designs.