Is there a rest or sysinternal command that can be executed that will reload outputs.conf.
try this endpoint on the instance
https://localhost:8089/services/configs/conf-outputs/_reload
Don't forget to use the POST method:
curl -ku admin https://localhost:8089/services/configs/conf-outputs/_reload -X POST
I don't think so. Whenever you edit a .conf file directly you need to restart splunk in order to read the changes.
not always true. props/transforms edits that deal with search-time EXTRACT/REPORT can be reloaded with
| extract reload=t