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Mail rules not working...

I have set a mail rule to mark all messages as read. This rule will only work if I force it to apply (Cmd +A to select all then right click apply rules). The messages show as read on Mail, but when I view the same account on my ipad they still show as being unread. Is this a Mavericks problems?


I am still having lots of problems getting mail to apply rules. Someone has suggested that it only works on new mail. Very confused. It works sometimes and doesnt at other times.


I am using Gmail

MacBook Pro, iOS 7.0.3

Posted on Nov 8, 2013 1:05 PM

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60 replies

Feb 17, 2017 5:59 AM in response to Hugo Stiglitz

I had the same problem as Hugo Stiglitz. I, too, try to run several AppleScripts in order to handle incoming Paypal payments, sending out replies. And I had the same effect: The scripts would sometimes run, sometimes not. I am currently running OSX 10.11.6


I've identified some issues and believe it now being solved, with some hints from this discussion:


  • The scripts would run if Mail is front and the inbox which receives the mails is selected. OTOH, if I had selected a "smart" mailbox and had Mail in the background, it did not run the scripts.
  • While I had these Rules at first and second position in the Rules list, there were more rules following, mainly for working with SpamSieve. I now suspect that these following rules would somehow interfere with the applescript invocation, even if these further rules did not alter or move the incoming message.


Therefore, I made the following changes to my rules and scripts:


  • The two rules that detect the Paypal mails invoke the AppleScript first, then use the "Stop evaluating rules" action each. That prevents the SpamSieve rules from running, and this may be the key to it.
  • The scripts activate Mail right away in order to make sure it's in the foreground.

Jul 23, 2017 12:42 AM in response to rb290169

I see this is old but there are a lot of people with the same issue so I thought I'd share. I'm no expert but the following worked for me on Sierra.


I deleted all my rules, closed the Mail app, then navigated to user/Library/Mail/V4/MailData/

I then deleted RulesActiveState.plist


On re-starting Mail I recreated the same rule that had previously failed to run and it now works! The mail app has recreated the deleted file so I can hazard a guess the problem might have been caused by corruption within it.

Dec 11, 2013 11:42 AM in response to rb290169

User DISGUISE is off on an unrelated tangent.


There was no mention of iCloud and not everyone is using iCould and it is not the end all solution to everything.


Mavericks Mail Rules are not functioning properly.


Specifically the "Mark As Read" function is not working.


It was not working in Mountain Lion and has not been resolved in Mavericks.


Whether the Rule is set first or last or as the only Rule I am stil having to manually mark messsages as read.


Additionally - messages that I have opened and read are in fact still marked as UnRead.


Still having to manually mark items as read.


Things were very stable in Snow Leopard 10.6.x.


You would think a company with 40+ years of software development would manage to not break a stable piece of software. Too much to expect I suppose.

Jan 10, 2014 12:17 PM in response to hype7

hype7 wrote:


Guys — my suspicion is that this is a Gmail thing. Most rules running entirely with iCloud seem to be running fine, but Gmail rules are not. Anyone else notice this?

Unfortunately, that's not the case for me. I hardly use GMail at all. In my case any rule that I created for my multiple mail accounts prior to upgrading to Mavericks is fine. Any new rule I create does not work.

Jan 17, 2014 6:01 AM in response to hype7

Not necessarily Gmail... 🙂 I have the same problem with One.com and hotmail and...


What I did found out is that the problem doesn't exist when my Apple Mail is open on my iMac for instance, so when it is open the mails come in the right folders instantly. It's just that, from the moment I close the Apple Mail on my iMac or Macbook, it all starts going wrong again 🙂

Mail rules not working...

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