Junk mail filtering in Panther

tony

gamelaner
Ever since I upgraded to Panther, I've seen some strange behavior with Junk mail filtering in Mail. I have filtering turned on, so it automatically moves any messages marked as "Junk" to the Junk folder. After going to Panther, this isn't working. I get mail in my Inbox that is marked as "Junk", but it doesn't move it to the Junk folder. If I turn off filtering, then turn it back on, it asks if I want it check the messages in my Inbox. When I say yes, it does process the Junk mail correctly, but the next time I get a "Junk" message it still shows up in my Inbox.

Things I haven't tried yet, but probably could/should:

1. Delete my mail preferences file. I've been hesitant to do this because it will require me to reconfigure all of my mail account settings again. And I also want to make sure that I won't lose my current mailbox folders.

2. Rebuild the mailbox? (I doubt this would help.)

Has anyone else seen this problem? Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks,

-tony
 
tony said:
Things I haven't tried yet, but probably could/should:

1. Delete my mail preferences file. I've been hesitant to do this because it will require me to reconfigure all of my mail account settings again. And I also want to make sure that I won't lose my current mailbox folders.

2. Rebuild the mailbox? (I doubt this would help.)
Just a 'dumb' question - Do you have the 2nd junk mail setting set for 'automatic' (and not the 'training' selection which does not move the mail) If you 'mark' the message as 'Junk' it should immediately move to the Junk folder. But I think the only way to totally 'teach' mail about your junk is to leave it in training mode for a few days or weeks, then switch back to automatic. That got my mail working a little better (Some junk mail 'gets around' the automatic setting anyway with creative subject naming)
If nothing helps, the junk setup is really inside your user/Library/Mail folder, I think the file called 'MessageSorting.plist' which should only be setting up your rules and Junk mail settings (which is what you need)
 
No, I don't still have it in "training" mode. I've been using it in "automatic" mode for a long time. In my experience, it works quite well. It's only since I upgraded to Panther that I've had this problem.

Thanks for the suggestion to look at the MessageSorting.plist file. I'll look at it, and possibly trash it. That sounds a lot better than trashing all of my Mail preferences.

Thanks,

-tony
 
I am experiencing the exact same problem and its frustrating me to no end... Grrrrr! I have used mail for about 2 years now and well, it used to work, now it doesn't move the mail into the junk mailbox... I know I am not doing anything wrong.

BSDimwit

tony said:
Ever since I upgraded to Panther, I've seen some strange behavior with Junk mail filtering in Mail. I have filtering turned on, so it automatically moves any messages marked as "Junk" to the Junk folder. After going to Panther, this isn't working. I get mail in my Inbox that is marked as "Junk", but it doesn't move it to the Junk folder. If I turn off filtering, then turn it back on, it asks if I want it check the messages in my Inbox. When I say yes, it does process the Junk mail correctly, but the next time I get a "Junk" message it still shows up in my Inbox.

Things I haven't tried yet, but probably could/should:

1. Delete my mail preferences file. I've been hesitant to do this because it will require me to reconfigure all of my mail account settings again. And I also want to make sure that I won't lose my current mailbox folders.

2. Rebuild the mailbox? (I doubt this would help.)

Has anyone else seen this problem? Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks,

-tony
 
Another, maybe dumb, question. Is there another rule that may conflict with the spam filter? Guess not...

However: I'd try moving the prefs to a safe location and try it out. (And you should really memorise your mail-account settings. You never know when you might need it at a different location on another computer...)
 
Because you have a new version of Mail (assuming this as I have not had the time to upgrade to Panther), you need to keep it on training for at least a week. Then move it to Automatic.

That should correct things.
 
I have the same problem. I upgraded to Panther a couple of weeks after it was released. The new mail worked fine including the junk filter. Then all of the sudden this weekend it stopped moving junk mail to the junk mail folder. I didn't touch any of the settings to make it do this, it just started doing it on its own. Just something else for Apple to fix on a future update.
 
To all of you having the same problem - I solved it shortly after my original posting.

I'll try to tell you what I did, but I don't have access to my Mac from here, so I'm just going by memory.

Here's what I can remember:

1. Go to Preferences and turn off Junk filtering. Quit Mail.

2. Go to your Library/Mail folder, and find the Junk file (folder?). Trash it.

3. Take the MessageSorting.plist (Was there anything else? Sorry, I don't remember.) and drag it to your Desktop. Once everything is working, you can trash it, but if you have problems, you can always put it back.

4. Start up Mail, go to Preferences, and turn on Junk filtering.

5. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, or whatever works for you.

6. Have somebody send you some spam to test it.

This fixed the problem for me.

Let me know if this doesn't work. I might be able to figure out more when I'm sitting at my Mac.

-tony
 
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