Apple Mail rules: applying to folders other than Inbox

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Level 1

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Apple Mail rules: applying to folders other than Inbox

Hi,

my IMAP folder is reaching its capacity limit and I would prefer to move some emails to a local folder "On My Mac". I decided to begin by moving locally all emails dating from 2017.

So I have set up a rule as follows:

The rule has worked out fine, but alas it seems to be applied only to the "Inbox" folder. Mail does not seem to perform this rule to other folders that I have on my Exchange-IMAP server. In particular, all emails (dating from 2017) in the folders "Archive" and "Sent" are still there.

How can I enforce that the rule be applied to all folders in the account?

(side question/comment: it's annoying that there is no way to set "absolute" date. I had to calculate that Jan 1, 2017, lies 1312 days ago and that Dec 31, 2017, lies 948 days ago.)

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Aug 5, 2020 9:31 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BobTheFisherman

Level 10

81,655 points

Aug 5, 2020 9:34 AM in response to dcd

Mail rules are only automatically applied on incoming emails. If an email is already on your computer you need to apply the rule manually.

Use rules to manage emails you receive in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

dcd Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 5, 2020 10:52 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Well, this is what happens. When you set up a new "rule", Mail automatically asks

Then I say "Apply", and the rule is applied -- but only to the "Inbox" (I assume because, at the moment when I opened "Preferences" and set up the rule, "Inbox" was the active folder).

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Answer 3

dcd Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 5, 2020 10:28 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

I understand, thanks.

I have now applied the rules manually to the folders in question ("Sent" and "Archive") and it worked. Thank you!

It's interesting, though, that despite the fact that, as you write

rules are only automatically applied on incoming emails

they are apparently also automatically applied to existing emails (retrospectively) -- but only if those emails are in the "Inbox" folder.

Thank you!

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Answer 4

Aug 5, 2020 10:39 AM in response to dcd

dcd wrote:

I understand, thanks.

I have now applied the rules manually to the folders in question ("Sent" and "Archive") and it worked. Thank you!

It's interesting, though, that despite the fact that, as you write

rules are only automatically applied on incoming emails

they are apparently also automatically applied to existing emails (retrospectively) -- but only if those emails are in the "Inbox" folder.

Thank you!

I don't think so. You must have manually applied the rule to the inbox if the rule was applied to existing emails in the inbox.

But I may be mistaken.

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Answer 5

Aug 5, 2020 11:10 AM in response to dcd

Correct.

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Apple Mail rules: applying to folders other than Inbox

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