How to make Apple Mail on Mac reapply rules?

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Level 1

89 points

How to make Apple Mail on Mac reapply rules?

On a MacBook 15" 2018 with T2 chip I have just reinstalled macOS 10.14.6 after erasing the internal boot volume, then migrated accounts, apps, data and settings from a clone of the boot disk made just before I erased it. After discovering that all my email (all IMAP accounts) survived, but didn't seem to have been indexed (hence Flagged and VIP only contain mail received after reinstallation), I discovered the Mailbox > Rebuild. That seemed to do the trick, but my Rules don't seem to be applied. Most of them just are supposed to change the background color of the emails, which is a big help when looking for something, but the rules aren't being applied, not even when I change them and Apply and then change them back and then Apply.

Does anyone have a clue as to what to do?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 12, 2021 4:44 PM

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Answer 1

Richard Liu Author

Level 1

89 points

Jun 12, 2021 8:01 PM in response to BDAqua

Well, no. At least, I wasn't when I opened this thread. Later, somewhere, I read that the rules could be applied to an individual email by selecting it, right-clicking, and choosing Apply Rules. Then I did the obvious, selecting a handful of emails and apply the rules, and then only a minuscule leap of the imagination was required to select all and apply the rules.

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