Filter condition "contains"/"doesn't contain" doesn't always work

[Wayne Ivory]

I have a Rule in my Outlook 2010 client that moves all emails generated by our Ticketing system to a separate folder. Ticket emails are generated for all IT members so we can be aware of what others are doing, but I want to be able to distinguish those assigned to me quickly. I chose to do this by using a View Conditional Format.

The Ticketing system generates a standard clause "Assigned to xxx" so on the Filter Advanced tab I created the condition "Message" "doesn't contain" "Assigned to Wayne Ivory" and set the Font to "Grey". However some of my tickets get set to grey. (As a test I tried using "contains" but that just inverted the fonts, i.e. those that were black became grey and vice versa.)

NOTE: I had to change the extensions on the two attachments in order for the forum to allow them. They are Outlook messages and should you wish to view them you'll need to change the extensions from txt back to msg.

Ticket #30564 displays as grey whilst Ticket #30617 displays as black (default).

Thanks

Wayne Ivory

 

[Wayne Ivory]

I meant to add, if I copy the same phrase "Assigned to Wayne Ivory" quotes-and-all and paste it into Outlook's Instant Search box I see all my tickets, some showing as grey and some as black. If I put a minus sign in front of the phrase I see everybody else's tickets all showing as grey (which I would expect).

Even if not offering a solution, I'd appreciate it if somebody could take the time to setup the same View Conditional Format using my two messages and see if you get the same results so I know I'm not going mad.

Thanks

Wayne Ivory

 

[rst75]

Did you wrap the phrase "Assigned to Wayne Ivory" in quotes? The two sample messages worked correctly here when I did. Doesn't contacts formatted everything but the message that was assigned to you, using contains formatted only your assignment.

Not using quotes left both of your messages formatted (with doesn't contain) as well as a couple of others. I can't see anything in those messages that would match, except for the word "to" but 'to' is in other messages too.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Randy is correct - use quotes. I get the same goofiness you both do without quotes.

 

[Wayne Ivory]

Thanks for taking up the challenge Randy and Diane. I had already been wrapping the phrase in quotes so it's interesting that it works for you on the same messages but doesn't work for me. I wondered if perhaps it was not searching beyond the horizontal line that normally separates emails in a thread, but your results indicate that's not the case. Oh well...

Thanks

Wayne Ivory

 

[Diane Poremsky]

I wonder... if its outlook 2010. Randy and I are using 2013. I'll have to boot a VM with 2010 and test it.[DOUBLEPOST=1408425983,1408422904][/DOUBLEPOST]First filter: used filter dialog, messages contacts "assigned to wayne ivory", in quotes. Both messages show (and only those two)

Using a conditional formatting filter, only one of the messages is highlighted with the contains rule. Doesn't contain flips the colors.

What is odd is that both filters were identical and should work in the same any feature that uses the filter dialog.

 

[Wayne Ivory]

Something I didn't include in my original post (because I was trying to keep it simple) is that I'm using Query Builder and my condition is the last of several. I don't believe the other conditions are impacting the weird result I'm seeing but for completeness here is my full condition set. (I had to do some photo stitching to show it all.)

Thanks

Wayne

 

[Wayne Ivory]

Yes Diane, what you describe using the conditional formatting filter is exactly what I’m experiencing! So did you experience this under Outlook 2013 or 2010 or both?

Thanks

Wayne

 

[Diane Poremsky]

The plain filter showing both is what you want and conditional formatting behavior is wrong?

My screenshots last night are from outlook 2010 - my test the other day was in outlook 2013 and only involved the conditional formatting rule - one message was colored, one was not, depending on if it used contains or not contains.

 

[Wayne Ivory]

The plain filter showing both is what you want and conditional formatting behavior is wrong?

I'm not sure I'm understanding your question correctly, but I would expect (and want!) the conditional formatting to show both the sample emails as you've used them in magenta.

I could have perhaps included a third sample email where the ticket was assigned to somebody else and would expect the first two to be formatted the same and the third to be different, whereas we are seeing the first and second appear differently.

By the way, all the email tickets assigned to others are formatted correctly. From my original post: I created the condition "Message" "doesn't contain" "Assigned to Wayne Ivory" and set the Font to "Grey". All tickets assigned to others are grey as they should be because they match the condition. Some tickets assigned to me are black (default) as they should be because they don't match the condition (i.e. doesn't contain "Assigned to Wayne Ivory" is false). It's only some tickets assigned to me that are grey - it's like Outlook is not seeing the phrase "Assigned to Wayne Ivory" in those messages via the Conditional Formatting filter, yet is seeing it using the plain filter or Instant Search.

Thanks

Wayne Ivory

 

[Wayne Ivory]

What is odd is that both filters were identical and should work in the same any feature that uses the filter dialog.

View attachment 1191

View attachment 1192

Sorry to keep filling up my own thread, but I just noticed something else interesting. In your image of the plain filter Diane I see there is an SQL tab. I seem to recall that is a feature that can be turned on with a registry tweak or something, but the interesting part is that it doesn't appear in your image of the Conditional Formatting filter! That suggests to me that for whatever reason the two filters are not the same code object which might explain the functionality difference...