Apple mail sends non junk to junk folder

What I have seen, particularly since updating to 10.12, is Mail marking non-junk mail as junk and moving it to the junk folder. This is to say it is brown, labeled as junk by Mail. These are senders in my Contacts and in my previous recipients list. I persistently label these emails as NOT JUNK, but nothing changes, they still are often, but not always, sent to the Junk folder. I've done everything I know to get these senders recognized as legitimate, but to no avail.

Since the point of the junk folder is to not have to look at all the spam, and now I have to go through it carefully to see if it is incorrectly labeled, this is not optimal.

Those emails were probably not marked as Junk by Apple Mail. They were probably marked as junk by your provider and moved to the junk folder there. Apparently, you are using IMAP mail service for the account with those messages.

Log into your providers webmail site for those messages. You can mark them as non-junk there.

The iCloud account should not be the same as the Hotmail site. You should have control of the Junk messages the same either from the computer or from the website. Sometimes the iCloud server will mark something as junk, but I think (not 100% sure) that you will have to ability to mark as Not Junk from the Mail application.

If you get any more like that from iCloud in the Junk Mailbox and not marked as junk, look at the website to make sure they are marked as junk there. Go to the Mail application and move them from the Junk mailbox to the Inbox. The website should reflect the change and the message should no longer be marked as Junk at the website.

In general, I think Apple Mail's handing of spam is just horrible. I find all kinds of non-spam in my Junk folder... but Mail doesn't actually mark it as Junk, so there's no option to tell Mail it ISN'T Junk Mail. It just puts it there, where I have to go fish it out. No controls within Mail to make any meaningful adjustments to how the Junk filter works. I shouldn't have to clutter up my Contacts lists with random companies and email addresses, just to stop Mail from doing something dumb. More frustrating than useful, IMO.

If the text isn't brown and there is no option to mark it as non-junk, then it's not Mail putting them in the junk folder. It's your mail provider marking them as SPAM and is why they end up in the Junk mailbox. Go to your provider's webmail site and deal with the messages there. You may have the option to change settings for spam filtering there.

Except this is APPLE'S OWN mail system, coming to a mac.com/me.com/icloud.com account (not a third-party mail account like Hotmail), so no Junk/Spam preference to tinker with within the icloud.com web interface, or the Mail app interface. So, like I said originally, no ability to make meaningful adjustments here.

Same rules apply with iCloud email. It's not the Junk filter in Mail that's puts them there if you have no option to mark as not junk and they are not brown. Something else is happening with those emails you are getting in the junk mailbox. Make sure you have no rules that move anything to the junk folder. You might also have corrupt mailboxes that need to be rebuilt.

Look at the messages that are being moved to Junk and see if anything is in common such as a particular provider, non address book senders, etc. That may help narrow down the problem.

You can try to uncheck "Trust junk mail headers in messages" in Mail's Junk preferences, but I doubt it will help.

You can also check the box to leave junk messages in the inbox.

You may need to create a new discussion to draw others in to help troubleshoot why messages are being put in the Junk Mailbox when they are not junk.

I have exactly the same problem - 288 iCloud messages in the junk folder that aren't marked as junk. The interesting thing is they are in Junk on my iMac but not on my MacBook Air. All the messages in Junk on the iMac are marked as junk. The junk preferences are the same on both computers (I think iCloud syncs mail preferences, doesn't it?).

I have no idea how to fix it -- frustrating.

Jay

Sorry, I messed that up.The second to the last sentence should be:

All the messages in Junk on the MB Air are marked as junk.

So the total message is:

I have exactly the same problem - 288 iCloud messages in the junk folder that aren't marked as junk. The interesting thing is they are in Junk on my iMac but not on my MacBook Air. All the messages in Junk on the MB Air are marked as junk. The junk preferences are the same on both computers (I think iCloud syncs mail preferences, doesn't it?).

I have no idea how to fix it -- frustrating.

Jay

I have similar problems with the junk mail filtering.

Also, important messages from email addresses in my contact list are marked as junk and placed in the junk folder on my macbook.

I change these to "not junk", but future emails from the same source are marked as junk once again.

The system is not "learning".

I just checked all my rules and found that one rule I have is to move what I consider junk emails to the trash and delete, but that rule is not followed.

I then went to my junk mail preferences on the macbook and saw that I had this box checked, so I unchecked it just now.

I will see if this helps.

Paul

Same issue here — iCloud messages end up in the Junk mail folder even though they’re not marked as junk. It happens on both my Mac and my iPhone — on the latter I can actually watch them being moved when I open the Mail app.

There seems to be a bug in Mac Mail's Junk Mail, at least in OS X 10.11.2 that puts email in the Junk Mail mailbox without marking it as junk mail and/or in brown.

A temporary solution that helped me was to go to Mail Preferences/Accounts and UNcheck the box that says "Store junk mail on the server." Once I did that, email routed to the junk mailbox was marked as junk in brown. This enabled me to highlight good email that had erroneously been placed in the junk mailbox as "not junk" and manually move the good email to the inbox.

I am having the same issue. I noticed that it got worse after January 1, 2016 when e-mails that I used to receive (some with credit card bills, BTW) started going to the junk folder. When I told my credit card company that I didn't pay my bill because their e-mail suddenly started going to the Junk folder, they knew what I was talking about. This is crazy.

This sounds more like blaming somebody downstream than an attempt at an actual solution. While I see the same defect in Apple's email app, almost none were already marked as Junk. In general, I've found Apple's handling of email awful... all the way back to when nobody could even spell e-mail.