Rules FAQ
Common questions about rules and automation in Missive.
An error says my rule will never match; what can I do?
If you see this error when saving your rule…
…it means the conditions will never match any message.
In the image above, it fails because an email can't come from more than one From address, and the rule expects All conditions to match.
To fix this, nest one of the From conditions in a new block by pressing the > arrow:
In the new block, switch from All to At least one condition matched:
See Complex rules for more on combining conditions.
Why is my rule not working?
Most common cause: you created a personal rule when you needed an organization rule (or vice versa).
Personal rules only trigger on private conversations.
Organization rules only trigger on conversations shared with your organization.
If the conversation has a colored banner, it's shared with your organization - you need an organization rule.
How can I see which rules ran on a conversation?
Hover over the word Rule on the conversation event to see the rule name.
If you're an admin or it's your personal rule, click Edit to modify it.
Can I hide rule events in conversations?
Go to Settings > Preferences > Appearance and disable conversation events.
To show events in a specific conversation, select Show events from the conversation menu:
How do I target replies vs new messages?
Two ways:
Check the message count:
Check for "Re:" in the subject:
Add more conditions for other languages (Re:, AW:, SV:, etc.).
What is the limit on rules I can create?
The maximum number of rules you can create is 1,000 personal rules and 1,000 organization rules per organization.
Can I try rules on the Starter plan?
Rules require Productive or Business. Starter users can trial rules for 30 days.
Can I auto follow-up on emails I send?
Yes - create an outgoing email rule with a delay condition and a "Send response" action.
Can I detect high importance emails from Outlook users?
Yes. Outlook users can mark outgoing emails as "High Importance" using RFC 4021 headers. While Missive doesn't support sending these flags, you can detect them in incoming emails using the Headers condition.
Create an incoming email rule with a Headers condition and check for either:
Importance: high(standard header)X-Priority: 1(alternative header)
Then apply actions like adding a label, assigning to someone, or sending a notification.
Note: Gmail doesn't support high importance flags. This only works with emails sent from Outlook or other clients that support RFC 4021 priority headers.
Why did my incoming email rule trigger multiple times?
Incoming email rules trigger once per email account that receives the message.
When multiple accounts receive the same message (via CC, BCC, or email forwarding), the rule runs separately for each account.
Actions that produce the same result each time:
Adding labels
Assigning users
Closing conversations
Actions that produce different results each time:
Forward - Sends multiple forwarded messages
To run the rule only once:
Add an Email account condition to limit the rule to one specific account. This ensures the rule triggers once, regardless of how many accounts receive the message.
Last updated