MACos Email Rules - just not working

Spammers can use fictitious From addresses, while the real source of the email is unlikely AOL, but an account on a forwarding Mail server whose address is hidden in the Mail header. This is known as a Return-Path server and that address cannot be spoofed.

Select one of these email items, and from the Mail View menu > Message > Raw Source. This will pop open a small window with the Mail headers in it. Press ⌘+F to open a search window at the top of this window, and enter Return-Path. The address contained in angle brackets is the Mail server behind that SPAM email, and you can block those with a custom Mail rule, or by using the third-party SPAMSieve.

In Apple Mail, no Return-Path header item is setup by Apple, so on a Mail rule's From selector, you will find an entry at the bottom of that menu named Edit header list… where you can add Return-Path and add it to the menu. When you have a candidate SPAM email item selected, and you change the From header item to Return-Path and choose contains, that Return-Path string is automatically added as an entry to the rule. When you save the rule, it will prompt you to apply the new rule against the selected SPAM email, taking whatever action you assigned to it, and applying this rule to all future arriving emails with that exact Return-Path address. Here is an example rule item:

In many cases, I use the arrow keys to crawl through the Return-Path address and just remove all of the account-related gibberish to just the domain name in it, as I have done with Adobe above. By doing this, I still exclude Adobe even when they change their unique account id for a different mail campaign.

Rules in Apple Mail for desktop have never consistently worked. It's a problem that has been going on for many years and has never been directly addressed by Apple.

You will find that some parts of a multi-function rule work and parts don't. For example, the rule marks the message read, but won't move it to the appropriate mailbox. Seems like the moving to another mailbox step is the most common failure I've seen.

Also, if Apple Mail runs long enough (like over a day or two), it will seem to forget to check for new mail at all at some point.

Closing, force-quitting, or otherwise restarting mail will usually get rules and mail checking to work again (briefly), but it's a pain. Every morning, I have to "select all" mail in my inbox, then right click and "apply rules" manually.

This happens on every one of our iMacs and laptops (over 30), even on the new M1 iMacs.

And since Monterey, the feature where Mail learns and suggests a folder to put an email into when right clicked ("mail suggestions"), is also not working - at least not on the new M1s. I had an Apple support tech duplicate this on one of THEIR OWN iMacs, and they still just swept it under the rug.

So the temporary "Solution" to your issue (and most Apple Mail issues) is, completely close Apple Mail. And then start it again. And hope that someone at Apple will eventually fix the app.

xxymoxx wrote:

I am getting spammed from various sources and getting to me through a aol.com address, how that works god knows, but it is really p£ssing me off now. I have created rules to delete anything to aol.com and this does jack-sh%t.

Its getting to the point where I am thinking of just deleting the native client as its so pants and get something else.

Any ideas why this is not deleting the incoming mail as configured in Rules?

Friends don't let friends do AOL.

There is both client side filtering and Server side filtering. YOu maybe able to log into your AOL account through a browser and look for setting or a help menu to up the Spam filter to be more aggressive.

If Junk mail is not working for you as expected—

If junk mail filters aren’t working in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

Change Junk Mail preferences in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

Reduce junk mail in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

Mail advanced junk mail settings on Mac - Apple Support

Change Junk Mail Advanced settings in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

Identify and filter junk mail in iCloud - Apple Support

Identify and filter junk mail in iCloud - Apple Support

Manage junk mail in Mail on iCloud.com

Manage junk mail in Mail on iCloud.com - Apple Support

Personally I have Junk turned off and use a third party Spam filter—

If Junk mail is not working for you as expected you can turn it off in Mail>Preferences.

You have the options of installing a third party spam filter. for example:

https://c-command.com/spamsieve/

ref:

So you never had the aol email address it is being sent to?

Who is you email provider?

Select an aol message and and go to Mail>View>Message>Default Headers.

New the bottom of the header what is listed as Delivered-To:?

Also to add, the listed email sending address can be spoofed. I have had spam sent to me and my email address was listed as the sending email address.

xxymoxx wrote:

I use Gmail. Weird huh?

Not weird at all. The email sender can address the email to any email address. Your valid email address is in the BCC field along with all other recipients of the spam email.

Well, I've never been able to get rules to work 100% of the time with spam.

The problem seems to me the spammers have learned how to circumvent the rules with graphics in place of text. As well as other tricks.

Currently, Yahoo is allowing many to pass. Sooner or later Yahoo will wake up and do something, but they are not too quick to react. All the rest seem to be about as irresponsible.

The best I can do is get "junk" messages moved to trash. But I still have to empty the trash manually.

So when you view Default Headers the Delivered-To: list different aol email addresses?

Who is you email provider?