I've created several rules for filtering mail to various mailboxes. Some of them are automically applied to all incoming and outgoing mail, while others require that I highlight the messages I'd like to filter and then select Apply Rules from the Message menu. How can I get all the rules to be applied automatically?
I think I need to use smart mailboxes if I want to have the rules applied automatically. It appears that there is no way to convert a dumb mailbox to a smart mailbox. That's DUMB!
No, the mailboxes into which messages are filtered automatically are not smart mailboxes, so it is not necessary to use smart mailboxes in order to have a ruled applied automatically. But I still don't see why some of my rules are applied automatically and some are not.
John,
Think of ordinary mailboxes (what you're calling "dumb mailboxes") as folders in which you store messages, either using rules or by moving them manually. A message can only be in one mailbox, and when you move it from one to another it leaves the first and goes into the second. Incoming rules are applied automatically to new messages as they are downloaded into your inbox, and outgoing rules are applied to outgoing message as they are sent.
"Smart mailboxes" are a different kind of beast. They are not folder-type mailboxes, but they are really saved searches. When you open a smart mailbox, Mail searches your entire mail database and presents those messages that meet your smart mailbox criteria. Those messages remain where they are; you can see their actual location in the smart mailbox iist.
Let me know if this isn't clear.
Ralph
Ralph, all of what you write is clear, but some of my rules are NOT being applied automatically.
Spend some time troubleshooting them. Try applying those rules manually to messages to which you think they should apply. Reread the conditions you've specified carefully to be sure that the rule is doing what you think it is doing and examine the messages that aren't getting filed carefully to make sure they meet those conditions. If the rules require that all of a number of conditions be met, you can explore starting with a rule that requires only one condition and then if it works keep adding conditions one at a time and seeing what happens. See if you can determine more specifically what it is that isn't working.
Ralph
You're lucky if they apply then. Mine apply whenever they feel like it. About half the messages get to the right place ONLY on some rules. Others never apply at all, no matter what I do. I just updated and that update was supposed to fix it. (NO it did NOT)
And yes I've troubleshot them to death for the last year and a half. It's driving me batty.
Some rules not applied without selecting Apply Rules
