Mail App auto reply problem URGENT help needed

Thanks, I will check the rules with gmail but I know I have never set anything up on the server, except, of course, the long-winded way of setting up OOO which I will now revert to using and which I was trying to avoid with this nightmare mistake!

Then I'll take a deep breath and reenable the account on the laptop and hope for the best. Hopefully all will be well and my clients and friends will soon forget the bombardment they received as a result of my stupid error! Although to be fair, I took the instructions on how to set up the rule, specifically for the purpose of OOO auto reply, from a reputable Mac magazine which made no reference to the problem it could/would cause.

Thanks again.

franfromdorset

I followed advice on another thread to disable the mail account on the device I was using when the problem occurred, and this did seem to stop the constant stream of OOO messages being sent to people - one of my contacts received 110 messages! The problem now is that I dare not re-enable my mail account on the affected device until I am absolutely sure that whatever caused the problem won't happen again. That is what I need help with. Is there a way I can be sure that deleting the Rule has stopped the problem? Or could it be lurking in various places as these things sometimes do, and start generating OOO messages again?

Thanks for this detailed reply. To answer your questions in order.

No one has reported back to me that they have received the OOO messages on old emails since the original problem occurred and I deleted the rule so I think they have stopped but cannot be absolutely sure.

The account in question is Gmail and iCloud was not activated for mail on this or any of my devices (iPhone and 2 iPads).

I cannot remember exactly what I did but if there was an apply button at the end of the Rule setting Process I would have clicked it assuming I was applying the rule. How is someone supposed to know that they are applying the rule retrospectively? I realise the system doesn’t know your rule is an OOO auto reply, but I cannot imagine why you would want to apply any new rule retrospectively?

The rule has been deleted, the Mail app closed, the mail account disabled on the device (MacBook Pro) and the device rebooted.

The only other rule that exists is one that I think Apple instal about Apple News? I certainly didn’t create it.

I need to feel confident that I can reenable the account on the laptop and not have the problem occur again because of some time lag in the rule or some way it is embedded that I haven’t removed. For example would it be a good idea to delete the account from that device and then reinstall it? Would that help to be sure that it is ‘clean’?

Thanks for your help.