Mac Mail Rules massive problem

I'm here to defend Laura because the same thing just happened to me. I thought the message was referring to MY mailboxes - not every mailbox to which I ever sent an email. I immediately started hearing from people that they were being bombarded with auto-replies to old emails. I had to force quit and I'm just going to leave my mailbox app closed while I'm away.

My question for Apple would be, "What is the practical function of this configuation?" I can't imagine a situation in which I would ever need to send multiple auto-replies to everyone I've ever emailed. It's WAY too easy to do and it should at least come with a warning about what's about to happen. I would think this is an easy fix, and considering the embarassment that comes with it, I wish they would. (Maybe it's a practical joke because it's like the Sorcerer's Apprentice! Especially the way it won't shut down and seems to be working it's way back into time with OCD intensity)

I have just had the same issue and wonder if you know how to actually set a rule in mac mail to auto respond only to NEW emails with an out of office reply.. I set it up as i do in lotus and other out of office response email programs at work, and never had this issue. Surely there is a simple way to do this with Apple as i love my mac.

I had to disable the rule because so many people were getting out of office replies from emails sent 2 years ago.

Can you assist ? it would be appreciated. regards Michael

johnsonwaters wrote:

I have just had the same issue and wonder if you know how to actually set a rule in mac mail to auto respond only to NEW emails with an out of office reply..

It's actually quite easy, and you undoubtedly did it correctly... except that you told Mail to apply the rule to the messages in the selected mailbox when it asked. That made it send the vacation message for all those messages.

That said, note that I don't recommend using a vacation message at all, much less one constructed in Mail.

I don't like vacation messages in general because they can respond to spam, and have the potential to cause you to start receiving more spam as a result (if the spammer is sitting behind a real address).

The reason you shouldn't use a homemade rule or script for the purpose is that autoresponses to spam may bounce, and autoresponses to some people may generate an autoresponse in reply. This can cause what is called an "infinite mail loop." In other words, your autoresponse directly causes you to receive a new message, which generates another autoresponse, which causes another message to be received, which causes an autoresponse... and so on. This can easily go on until one or both mailboxes are full and cannot receive further e-mail.

If you must use a vacation message, use the vacation message feature provided by your mail server. These are usually written to prevent infinite mail loops, and may include basic spam checking to ensure you're not responding to spam.

Hi Thomas, thats awesome and very helpful.. I agree that the spam issue alone is worth not using the vacation rule for.. I have checked my email service and they do have an auto responder i can set up.. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, i really appreciate your help.

The only way I found to stop this embarrassing rule is to move all your emails from your Inbox to a new folder.

Go to your Drafts folder asap, create a new mail folder under Drafts, name it "Old Inbox". Then go to your Inbox, select all your emails (apple+A), drag & drop them all on to the new mail folder "Old Inbox".

Problem sorted! I hope that helps...

One of my colleagues at work had the same problem...

What a ridiculous rule! So embarrassing...

Suerte y saludos desde Madrid!

Sorry, I'm going to agree with Carlos and Suzann55. a. It's way too easy to do and b. it's not even a worthwhile option. For ease, I usually have one out of office reply with the rules set, so all I have to do is change the wording in the text, and off I go. I've used it plenty of times without problems. Today, I set it, and rather than use the rules I've always set, it sent email responses to every email I've ever received in my inbox. (I did recently update to Yosemite and wonder if the original rules were no longer saved). It's a ridiculous option that shouldn't even exist. I get there are some instances where you would want to send an email to everyone you've ever contacted, like "hey our offices are moving" or "so and so got promoted and can now be reached at this address/phone number." But there is never EVER EVER EVER a reason to send the same email auto response to every email you've ever received in your inbox.

The only way I was able to stop it was to remove the email account entirely from my computer and my iPhone. Even after deleting the rule and taking the email account offline, the responses continued for a good 30 minutes. I'll have to set it back up, and hopefully MacMail won't get too excited and go back to work telling everyone I've ever emailed over and over again that I'm out of town for 48 hours.

I know the original post is a couple of years old, but I just went through this nightmare scenario. I am a huge fan of all things Apple, but why on Earth does Apple have to be so unintuitive at times? Why not just have a normal "out of office" type of feature that is found in every other email program that I have ever used? Out of Office/Auto Reply: Starting Time, Ending Time, Message you want to use, DONE. Why go through the "Rules" feature that makes it so easy to SEND A SMURFING EMAIL TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER EMAILED YOU SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME? Ok, fine, there is a "Warning" once you set up a rule:

But really, to me, it's saying 2 different things and could be more clear. I read "active rules will always be applied to new messages" and thought, hey great, sounds good to me. I thought it was just asking me to apply my rule to the inbox selected: ie: "This" mailbox. Not, please apply my rule to EVERY EMAIL I HAVE EVER RECEIVED TO THIS INBOX SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME. I click "Apply" and now my message goes out to EVERY EMAIL THAT I HAVE EVER RECEIVED SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME. I'll take the blame for not fully understanding what I was clicking on, but really, this issue could be easily addressed by the team at Apple in a variety of ways. For smurf's sake - click "DON'T APPLY!"

I may be our failure, maybe you are right. Maybe its not designed for fallible humans.

At least you got it to work, I followed the instructions step-by-step and it doesn't send out any auto response.

I just signed up for Office 365 from the "you know who" brigade - and whilst I've been testing out my email rules for received mail I've found that the rules apply whether the message is read (I used both the web mail and the mac mail app with an IMAP mapping to hotmail) and also they worked if the message is yet unread.

So although this is not the ideal post - it does cost money to use Office 365 (annually or monthly), but it did work (for me). As you get a month free it might be worth checking it put and then if to works great, if not, sorry about that but at least you can say you have tried another avenue.

I haven't tested it on the issue that people were talking about re. OOTO - but, for those who are trying to work in a "business like" fashion - and don't want to fall foul of the Mac support and the developers or Mac communities with their crass responses of "it's your own fault" or "you should have done it this way if you want it to work" - all of which are very useful comments I'm sure when you are trying to treat someone else without any respecter having any empathy or humanity in understanding that the person logging the issue is most probably only in the forum, rightly or wrongly, to express a frustration, make a suggestion or two or perhaps find out how to do something.

It will be a better time and place when developers realise that we use software to assist our business and not actually have software define how our business works or the processes we use...

"Apply" to all email in your inbox should not be the "default" option! As mentioned by someone before, setting up an auto-reply isn't something most people do on a regular basis. Besides the message itself being confusing, the fact that it is the "default" option tends to make us think this is a suggested/frequently used option. Sorry -- but there is nothing normal about emailing people from years ago that you are out of town. In fact, it is a big safety concern.

When is apple going to at the very least remove this as the default option? I agree with providing second warning as well.

Clearly this issue has been happening for YEARS to people, so why isn't anyone at apple listening?

It shouldn't be the default option.

I know I'm reviving an old thread but as it's still persisting, I thought people experiencing it now should know it is indeed still the same ultimate issue.

I created a rule to act as an 'out of office' responder and as others have mentioned (and someone else shared the dialogue box screen shot of), after setting the rule, Mail prompts if you want to Apply (highlighted as default) or not apply this rule to the appropriate mailbox(es), etc... I pressed 'Apply' and as such it applied the out of office to every e-mail in my mailboxes, going back over 2 years. It started sending an out of office to ~100,000 e-mails.

Needless to say, I turned off wifi and it stopped, after countless thousands went out.

I know that some have shouted from the rooftops that this is user error and not Apple's issue but a bug is a bug. This is not a bug in code but it IS a bug in the user interface. The dialogue in the box is not as clear as it should be and for most users who seldom, if ever, set 'rules', it should be much more clear as to the implications of the action. To get around this, maybe Apple should consider a simply 'Out of Office' tool/feature and as such remove the need for the average user to need to set a rule for a likely temporary action.

After turning off wifi (I was not hardwired), I took my mailboxes offline, closed Mail and turned off my computer. I waited a day (I was scared, it was the weekend and my iphone was still sending and receiving e-mails normally so I wasn't really cut off) even though I'm sure 1 minute would have sufficed, turned it back on, and all was right with the world again.

yes, I have this same problem! and I know what you mean about "apply" and "don't apply": you are right. the "apply" made the auto reply go to ALL messages in your mailboxes, not just new incoming ones. the same thing just happened to me. I deleted the rule, but am still getting a few messages in my other email account (because I had emailed myself from personal to work email). I am very concerned about this!

does anyone else know how to make sure it stops sending these auto-replies? My colleagues and bosses will not be pleased with me!

I know this is an old thread but I had to reply. Thank you so so much for taking the time to post your solution. You have just ended an unbelievably frustrating problem I've for the past four years. Mine was a bit different I had a rule that I deleted that was moving emails to a folder I had created. the solution was the same though. Thank you again.