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General discussion

spam filter in mac mail doesn't work - help!!

Dec 2, 2006 3:00AM PST

Hi there,

I'm having trouble with the spam filter of Mac Mail 2.0.8.

I've set the preferences to trust the email headers of my isp (which detects and marks spam quite well) - Mac Mail just plain ignores it.
Furthermore, I've been trying to teach it - it's been now 4 months that I'm marking spam as "junk mail" before I delete it. No results with that, either. Since I'm getting about 60-80 spam-mails every single day, this becomes a major issue.

Any ideas about what I can do to fix this please??!?
Your help is very much appreciated.

Nicole

(I'm using a Macbook Pro OS 10.4.6)

Discussion is locked

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Sorry, I haven't tried this on an Apple. But it's what I use
Dec 2, 2006 3:13AM PST
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Consider GMail
Dec 2, 2006 3:21AM PST

I use GMail along with Mail.app and it filters reasonably well. I'm also trying out Michael Tsai's SpamSieve (http://c-command.com/spamsieve/) which is working fantastically. SpamSieve has a fully-functional 30-day demo and after that it will run you $30.

Perhaps you should create another email address specifically for correspondence-in other words, give that email address to real people you need to communicate with, and use your current email address for registration and forms on the web. At least that way you can segregate your spam and your real email. That's my system and it works out pretty well, provided you keep your 'real' email address relatively private (i.e., only giving it to people you want to email you).

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Spam Filter
Dec 2, 2006 10:32PM PST

The Spam filter in Mail does not actually stop you from receiving Spam, it just marks it as Junk and after the training period, when it is set to automatic, it will just move that mail straight into the Junk folder.
During the training period, the junk still appears in your In box, as you have found out.

I can't comment on the "trust email headers" thing as my ISP does not do that.

Is your Junk Mail filter now set to automatic or is it still in the training mode?

P

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You can create a rule to delete junk mail
Dec 3, 2006 1:20AM PST

If you don't ever want to see junk mail you can create a Rule in mail that will automatically delete any messages determined to be junk.

The problem however is that it may delete good messages. I have my junk mail folder to clean out once a day which is usually fine enough for me.

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thank you all! but I think I need to get more specific...
Dec 7, 2006 11:09PM PST

... about my problem.

My email address is an address connected to the domain/my homepage.
since I'm working as a freelancer I need my email-address to look professional and also be consistent. Therefore I cannot switch it to any of the private email-account providers...

also, my email address is listed in some directories - can't avoid it because obviously it comes with the work I do and therefore I want that people are able to find me/find how to contact me.

Back to the problem:
whatever I do (keep "mail" in the "training" mode or instead put it to the "regular" mode) - it simply doesn't mark the spam as junk mail!!! Not even the ones that are already marked by my ISP.

Deleting the junk mial would be a great option, if "mail" could do it automatically without me sifting through tons of junk amidst my regular mail, always running the risk that I don't recognize a "white" mail since it's hard to spot those if you have to scroll through all this garbage...

To get "mail to to recognize junk and put it in the junk folder would be a HUGE STEP!!!

Thanks for your help! And sory I'm getting back so late - I thought I was tracking this discussion, but didn't get any notofication of somebody responding...

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Spam
Dec 8, 2006 8:18AM PST

Does the Mail filter put any mail into the junk folder?

I find that it does not catch emails that have a graphic as the text of a message, no matter how many times I tell it to. However, I never get that type from the same address again.

Not sure what is going on with the mail that your provider has marked as junk. Is it possible to build a filter that would "collect" this marked mail. Is there something distinctive about the mail when it arrives at your end?

P

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only mailordamons... undeliverable mail that I never sent...
Dec 8, 2006 6:21PM PST

The only mail being marked as spam automatically are mailordamons (could not deliver, because...).

In fact everything else - no matter wether text and/or pictures is not being put in the junk mail folder nor is it being recognized.

The junk mail senders obviously vary (I guess they use fake accounts), however: the junk that is already marked as such by my ISP has "*********SPAM**********" proceeding in the subject line. Quite a few spams even say "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" in the subjet. However, when I tried to filter it through rules (if such and such appears mark as junk) nothing happens. In fact it's as if I didn't do anything. Quite frustrating.

Even more, I very much appreciate your help, since I'm at the end of my wits.

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Wow!
Dec 8, 2006 10:06PM PST

The first thing that springs to mind is that the "Turn on Junk Mail" check box has not been checked. Somehow I doubt that though.
The other thing that occurs to me is that the rules are created to look for ALL criteria to be correct instead of ANY. Just a thought

Can you create any rule and have it work. For instance, create a rule that states that any mail with Elephant in the subject line, goes to a certain mailbox.
Then send yourself an email with Elephant in the subject line.

Does it work?

P

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Mail app version
Dec 9, 2006 7:45AM PST

I note that your version of Mail is 2.0.8 and you are running 10.4.6

My version of Mail is Version 2.1 (752/752.2) and I am running 10.4.8

Try running Software update and see if the two updates that you are missing, makes any difference


P

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Did you ever resolve this problem?
Dec 13, 2006 11:02PM PST

I see you stopped posting

P

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Junk filter not working
Jun 5, 2007 4:45AM PDT

I have the same problem as in the original posting. Does anyone know a correction for this?

The rules in general simply do not work: the example earlier of setting rules to capture a subject line = elephant does not function. I have uninstalled the only Mail plug-in (Act-on), and have tried reseting the junk mail, to no avail. Otherwise, Mail operates normally.

I am using an Intel Mac (which may be telling? the problem started about the time of the switch to this machine), Mail version 2.1.1, Mac OS 10.4.9.

Help greatly appreciated.

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mac mail junk mail filter not working
Jul 16, 2007 10:46AM PDT

I have a powerbook G4 and I am running version 10.4.10
I don't know what version of Mail , but I check for new software weekly.

I am having the same problem as you. PLUS when I reset the preference to move the junk mail automatically,lots of mail not marked junk goes into the junk folder as well!

I am getting overwhelmed with spam in the last few weeks. I have not noticed anything going into the junk filter unless I put it there.

Something seems to have changed.

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solution to junk mail filter not working in mac mail
Jul 17, 2007 1:52AM PDT

I finally fixed this problem simply by deleting the file:

Library > Mail > MessageRules.plist

You then start with a fresh slate, i.e. you have to redo training mode for the junk filter. But this fixes all the faulty and strange behavior, at least in my case.

Good luck! -w.