Mac Mail Rules massive problem

Thanks skelly714, in my time of need your words were there for me. As emails were flying out left, right and centre and I was having a mild panic attack... Your advice has just saved me a lot more embarrassment than could have been!

For anyone else encountering this problem let me just repeat the advice to stop the rule in its tracks: "disable the mail account which is causing the problem (in preferences) I personally just un-ticked the mail icon, shut down and re-start the computer."

Thanks again 🙂

Your problem, hardware or software, may not be exactly the same as that of the original poster of this older thread, and it can be very confusing for everybody if we try to answer more than one question in each thread, which can also result in you applying the wrong advice to your particular problem.

In order for us to give your problem our proper attention to try to solve it, would you kindly start your own thread, describing the trouble you are having in the fullest detail, including completing your details to show what Mac or iDevice you are using, what operating system, and what version of the application in question. Please remember to post in the forum relevant to your hardware or version of OS X. A full list of all the support forums is here:

http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

What a load of BS! I just had this issue this morning and am still trying to stop it. The message clearly states "will apply to new messages"!!! Why the F would you even want it to apply to old messages!!!? When you set up an "out of office" it is obviously set up from that time going forward until your return - why even have the f'ing option!? Agree MASSIVE APPLE FAIL. Fix it up FFS.

OMG! I had this terrible experience today and I am still traumatised!

I was trying to set an out-of-office response and it went out as a reply to hundred and thousands of old emails. I just wanted to crawl under a stone and wait a few years. This is a terribly humiliating experience - I deal with a lot of people via email as an attorney, both clients and others, and this is not something you want to see happen.

Please Apple - I have been trying to use Mail instead of other popular mail applications but now I am not sure if it is worth it. I really really want to use Mail so could you please fix this horrible bug - (yes I think it is a harmful bug in the design). At least let the replies stop when you delete the rule !!! First I deleted the rule, than I tried to disable the account, tried to find the message in outbox, tried to take to computer offline but nothing worked until I googled this thread on my phone (since my computer was offline) and saw the recommendation to shut it completely down. Next step would have been throwing the computer out of the window.

Now I am so tired and frustrated and will spend my evening replying to people that are sending me emails and telling my I must have a virus on my computer since they have received 100 emails from me as a reply to old emails ....Not a good day.

I have to join this party too! I was to set up an auto response after my casting job was over to direct people to the casting poducer who was wrapping out the show. When I did a test email, I started getting all these responses! So it blasted to everyone that casting was closed for this kids show and now parents are blowing up the other producers email wanting to know if they made it! I deleted the rule and the email account immediately. I just got an email from the other producer inquiring why all these parents are emailing her.

I thought the rule was clear when I chose "All emails" sent to "this address" will get "this response." But apparently that means all emails you ever received in the past will get this response out of the blue!

Thankfully I'm no longer working on that show, but I still want to crawl under a rock!

Hi,

I had the same issue!!

Can the emails moved to draft can later be returned to inbox?

What folders (other than inbox) does the rule apply to?

I couldn't create a folder in drafts so I created one "on my Mac".

Thanks!

Well my problem is same but different. I never even had a rule yet it replies I'm not there to reciev emails. how do i get rid of a rule that isn't even there? Just went through an auto reply rally with a place i ordered blinds from. At least 20 back and forth. If this a mac forum why is this still not answered. I see people with similar problems yet still have the problems. I also checked Youtube and nothing. If mac is the best why no fix?

Actually though this is an old post, it may help someone later, the logic is wrong, the reply should have been in Carlos' example, No, I do not want to apply this rule (to messages in the selected mailboxes), because it is referring to the OLD messages already in your mailbox. What you want is for the rule to apply from the point that you make the rule until you stop it (in the case of an autoresponder rule).

However, if I give another example, I create a rule to delete mail that fits a certain condition(s), then there perhaps I want it toe apply to all the mail in my mailbox(es) that fit the condition(s). So, then it will delete the OLD mail. Hope the helps people to understand what Apple rules is asking in the pop-up cited by Carlos in NY.

Again, it only means all emails you ever received in the past" IF you clicked "Apply" in the pop-up that followed the creation of your rule asking you if you wanted to apply it to all messages that met your conditions (see Carlos in NY above). If you select not to apply it then the rule is created, but only begins to be put into operation when the very next e-mail comes into the mailbox(es) you designated that meets the conditions of the rule.

A rule cannot continue acting if you have deleted it. Are you entirely certain you deleted it from your rule list in Mail? Go to Mail -> Preferences -> Rules and make absolutely sure that rule is not in that list. Also, if there are other rules, be sure that none of them include an auto-reply.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean when you say you accidentally clicked "Apply"... there is no such button. There is an Apply Rules menu item (with a shortcut command-option-L). Is that what you are referring to? If so, note that that is a one-time action. It runs the rule once on the selected messages, which would cause the rule to send an auto-reply once to the messages that were currently selected.

If you are 100% sure none of your rules are sending auto-replies and people are still getting auto-replies from you, you must have created an auto-reply some other way. Perhaps you set a vacation message on your e-mail server, by logging in to web mail and setting a vacation message preference there.

The Apply/Don't Apply buttons you're referring to relate to either acceping or undoing the changes you have made to the preferences. Apply simply meant "keep the changes I have made."

I have no idea what's going on. There's no way your mail rules are doing this, because you don't have any rules. Is it possible that you are using MobileMe to sync mail rules to other devices? If so, it's possible the rule got synced to another device and is still active there.

By the way, the screenshot you posted has a LOT of personal information in it! Six of your own e-mail addresses, one of your web host, a ticket ID from your web host support, among other things. Posting that kind of information in a forum like this is a very bad idea. I have asked the hosts to remove that link, but you would be well advised to remove the screenshot itself from the server you've got it on.

Go to System Preferences -> MobileMe and click the Sync tab, then make sure to uncheck the item reading "Mail Rules, Signatures and Smart Mailboxes." That will not remove rules that have been synced to another Mac, however... you'll need to check Mail on any other Macs that you sync with MobileMe. You can also check the rule settings on MobileMe itself by logging in at www.me.com and going to the Mail applet's settings, though that will only affect incoming mail on that MobileMe account. (Is this happening for all your accounts or for one specific account? Try testing by having someone send you mail at several different accounts, then they can let you know which account sent back replies for which messages.)