(1) Rule tester - Disclaimer, Personal signature in Exchange email, footnote

Rule Tester

Before you deploy the CodeTwo Exchange Rules PRO in the production environment, it is a good idea to test its work safely in a virtual enironment called the Rule Tester. It is especially recommended if you have set up multiple rules with high level of complication i.e. those with multiple Conditions, Actions and Exceptions. Rule Tester emulates production environment. The user can conveniently check how the program will process exactly the messages sent from specified senders to specified recipients. The user can modify other message parameters such as their format (HTML, RTF, Plain Text), formatting, attachments etc.

Rule Tester resembles popular mail clients in how it looks and works. In the left pane you will find the mailboxes that can be used to send messages from. The middle pane shows the list of messages in the selected mailbox. The right panel shows the contents of the selected message. The toolbar includes standard buttons for sending mail.

To open the Rule Tester click its tab in the main window of the program (Fig.1.)

Fig.1. Rule tester window.

The rule tester looks and works in a similar way to the popular Microsoft Outlook.

The left pane Mailbox list shows the test mailboxes (Fig.2.).

Fig.2. Mailbox list panel.

By default it consists of four virtual mailboxes; they mailboxes exist only in the rule tester.

The central pane shows the list of messages that are present in the folder selected in the Mailbox list (e.g. Inbox folder) (Fig.3.).

Fig.3. List of messages in the selected folder.

The right pane of the rule tester is used to preview the messages from the central pane (Fig.4.).

Fig.4. Preview of the selected message.

To send a test email choose one of the mailboxes and click New in the toolbar of the w rule tester. A window of a new message will appear (Fig.5.).

Fig.5. Window for composing test messages.

To choose a recipient of the test message click To… and in the dialog box that opens choose one of the recently used recipients (Recently Used tab) (Fig.6.). Confirm by clicking OK.

Fig.6. Dialog box to choose the recipient.

You can also choose the recipient from Active Directory (Active Directory Users tab) or provide the email address in the field next to the To… button. You can define more than one recipient for a single message. To select the sender click From… and choose a user from AD or provide the email address manually (Fig.7.).

Fig.7. Dialog box to choose the sender.

Next, in the Subject field provide the subject of the message and compose the body of the message in the edit field below. The toolbar of the new message contains options that are available also in MS Outlook and OWA. You can use them to change the look of the font, set the format of the message (HTML, RTF or Plain Text) or add other elements such as images or tables.

When you have finished composing the message click Send. If the senders and recipients included in the test message do not have mailboxes in the Mailbox list pane, these mailboxes will automatically be created.

Select the inbox of the message of the recipient of the message and open the message that arrived to see if the rule or rules have worked as required (Fig.8.).

Fig.8. Test email.

In addition, you can track how the message is processed by CodeTwo Exchange Rules PRO and how rules are applied. Right click the message in the inbox of the recipient and choose Processing Trace (Fig.9.).

Fig.9. Context menu of the message.

The window that appears Message Processing Trace (Fig.10.) contains the list of rules defined in the program along with information on the conditions that are met and actions performed on this message. The rules that have been used and conditions met are marked by a green tick. The performed actions are marked by a grey sprocket. The conditions that have not been met and actions not applied are marked with a red X.

Fig.10. Window of Message Processing Trace.

To remove a mailbox or a message from the rule tester highlight it and click Remove. This option is also available from the context menu after right clicking the selected item. You can also reply to test messages by clicking Reply, forward them by clicking Forward and Resending by clicking Resend. These options are also available from the context menu.