iMail Rules issues.

Question

iMail Rules issues.

Hi all,

I'm having issues implementing iMail Rules. It moves the email to the requested folder and apparently replys automatically too (ran test from hotmail acc.). However it doesn't mark the emails as 'replied', just unread. So I can't be sure that the people received a response.

I already tried separating the rule into two rules, one to move and one to reply to message. I also changed the order of the commands within one rule, first move then reply and the other way around.

Here's the rule I have set up

----

Description: Open for Applications

If ONE of the following contitions are met

TO CONTAINS "work@xxx.co.uk"

MOVE MESSAGE to mailbox "applications"

REPLY TO MESSAGE reply message text...

----

Another point to makeis that I haven't previously read the incoming message on another device.

Can anyone throw some light on this?

Thanks,

Lizzy

iMail-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.6.8), imap.gmail.com / SMTP

Posted on Mar 2, 2012 1:42 AM

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Answer 1

kurt188

Level 4

1,340 points

Mar 2, 2012 5:37 AM in response to Thesleepingfox

First, there's no such thing as iMail; the program is simply Mail.

However it doesn't mark the emails as 'replied', just unread. So I can't be sure that the people received a response.

Rules only work on incoming mail, not outgoing mail. If you think you need to mark items as Read, you have to do it yourself.

Another point to makeis that I haven't previously read the incoming message on another device.

It's not clear what that has to do with your Rules. Please be more specific.

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Answer 2

Mar 6, 2012 2:14 AM in response to kurt188

Hi Kurt,

thanks for your reply. Sorry for not having the correct terminology I'm not so versed in the technical langauge!

'Rules only work on incoming mail, not outgoing mail. If you think you need to mark items as Read, you have to do it yourself.'

I'm talking about incoming mail- I am trying to set up a rule which moves incoming messages addressed to "

work@xxx.co.uk" to a specific folder and auto answer them.

The problem is that it correctly moves these messages to the folder, but does not appear to answer them. The reason I cannot be sure if the people are receiving the auto reply is because the messages remain with the blue dot next to them which normally denotes unread. If a message is replied to I normally see an arrow making a U-turn.

Another point to makeis that I haven't previously read the incoming message on another device.

"It's not clear what that has to do with your Rules. Please be more specific."

I added this sentence because I already did some research on the problem before starting my own discussion. In other discussions people mentioned that reading the message on another device could affect rules. I thought it might be worth mentioning.

Best

Lizzy

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Answer 3

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Mar 6, 2012 4:11 AM in response to Thesleepingfox

I think the problem is that messages can have only one mark & the blue "unread" dot has higher priority than the "replied to" arrow.

You could test this by adding a "mark as read" action to the rule but obviously that won't show you which of these incoming messages you haven't actually read yet.

One workaround for this might be to create a smart mailbox for these messages that has three conditions:

* From is equal to (or contains) work@xxx.co.uk

* Message is unread

* Message was replied to

Since smart mailboxes are really just saved searches that appear as regular mailboxes, clicking on that mailbox would show you every message from work@xxx.co.uk that was both replied to & as yet unread. As you read those messages they will be "removed" from the smart mailbox but not actually removed from your "applications" mailbox.

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Answer 4

Mar 6, 2012 7:04 AM in response to R C-R

Dear R C - R

thanks for your suggestion, I created the intelligent mailbox and added the three conditions. I gave it a test but ran into the same problem. The email remains marked as unread, leaving me uncertain as to whether the auto reply I set up with rules has been implemented.

I thought that if an auto reply had indeed been sent, the email would be marked as replied. Maybe this is just simply not the case : (

Have a good week

Lizzy

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Answer 5

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Mar 6, 2012 7:48 AM in response to Thesleepingfox

I'm not sure you understood what I meant about how to use the smart mailbox. The idea is if you see a message in it, you know that it has been replied to (because of the third condition) & you have not read it (because of the second one) even though the only mark you will see is the unread mark.

This is a workaround for the fact that Mail will show only one mark (either "unread" or "replied to") and it will always show "unread" if both are true.

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Answer 6

Mar 8, 2012 1:28 AM in response to R C-R

You are totally right, I didn't geddit ; )

Now I do!

Really great work around thanks very much R C-R, problem solved.

Have a great day : )

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Answer 7

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Mar 8, 2012 12:19 PM in response to Thesleepingfox

I'm happy this workaround works for you. Sorry if I didn't explain it better the first time.

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