Where are my mail rules in macOS Sierra?

Quit Mail.

Drag the rules files from an old V2 folder and replace the rule files in V4.

Open Mail.

Check folder destinations for each rule. They might be reset to Inbox or another folder but the structure of the rule should be in place.

IMHO if you have hundreds of rules that's too many. If you give some examples of your rules we could offer suggestions.

For example, you want all your mail from your buddies to go into your buddy folder. Just assign your Buddies in the address book to each Group named Buddy. If you add extra addresses in the future to this Group, the rule using group will automatically include the new address. It's a lot easier than having to open the rule and add individual addresses.

Use VIPs instead of a rule to view messages from your friends, family and other important messages.

No software company that I know of warns you about updating. Regarding rules, it's one of the most difficult features to manage. I support Microsoft email and rules have been a constant torn for users as well.

FWIW, if you have Gmail accounts, use filters (Gmail name for rules) that you create in your browser so the filter runs before you download and goes directly to the correct folder when downloaded.

Suggestion:

The must read could all be put in a group 'must read' in Contacts so you can create a rule to flag these to read.

Sender if member of group > 'must read'

Mark as Flagged > name one of your flags as 'must read'

Next create a Smart folder to show these flagged messages.

Message has flag > 'must read'

After reading the message unflag it.

I just discovered the loss of mail rules today. Wow! This is horrible. No warning and now hundreds of rules to recreate by hand! That is BS. Screen shots and days typing won't cut it. I do have a backup and will look for a way to import the old work.

dianeoforegon - thank you for the reply. I will find my old V2 folder. Whether I have two rules or two hundred rules, a software company should at least warn of potential upgrade issues so we can be prepared. There should be some type of migration plan, even if manual.

I do have VIPs in place for family, but I have sorting that separates out must reads from other mail. I also receive mail on multiple accounts that may belong in specific community organization folders. All works great, so I will attempt to revive my work.

Thank you

This is about 1 yr later.... I just upgraded from Mavericks to Sierra and I had a ton of problems, including the loss of rules for mail. I called Apple support before the upgrade to make sure that I am "safe", as I am an inexperienced Apple user but nobody warned me that my rules will be deleted... As others have mentioned, Apple could do a much better job with its software when it basically forces users to keep upgrading every year. Many of us would be so happy to be just left alone with a version that works. I waited with the upgrade to Sierra until the threat of High Sierra and refusal of Apple support people to help when they heard about Mavericks. Now, with the problems created by Sierra if I call for help I am told that all problems are solved by upgrading to High Sierra and that I should just upgrade. No way, Jose. Too bad that this is Apple's stand, when in fact every new OS version comes with many bugs and major problems. Months after the upgrade I am still not back to where I was....

Thank you JD – I recently migrated from my old laptop running Yosemite to a new system running High Sierra. I have far too many rules to want to rebuild all over again. I followed your advice here and so far all back in Apple Mail, including my signatures. Whew!!!

I had the extra headache of migrating from a Time Machine backup as my old system died a GPU death, and was lucky to also have a clone. I had to go the long road to access my Library folder from backup, as of course it wasn't visible, by using the Go to Folder command under the View menu of finder (/Volumes/<Bootable>/Users/<name>/Library/ – I can say it took me a while to figure out the correct address with a final cheat by looking it up in Disk Utility. Again, Whew!!! Thanks again.

I've had this issue several times over the years when upgrading OS's, and I've never been successful, until this morning. I finally figured it out when moving from Yosemite to Sierra:

When you update to Sierra, a V4 folder is created. This is where all the pertinent mail data prefs reside for Sierra.

You need to copy from V2 (or V3, depending on what OS you're upgrading from) two or three files. I copied three:

SyncedRules.plist

RulesActiveState.plist

SyncedFilesInfo.plist

This last one, maybe not. I copied these three into the V4 folder of my Mail folder in my user Library location. Mail was not running at the time. I relaunched Mail and all of my rules were there, intact, and active.

Just so you know.

J D Thomas

ThomaStudios

Obviously the V2 folder is not used by Sierra. When moving the data to V4 they are overwritten after opening Mail -

Besides - anyone having the same issue when trying to add an action to a rule (window collapsed)?

THX for any useful hints!

What ARE Mail Rules - I tried it and nothing happened?

Has this been addressed or fixed? Im having this same issue.

Glad to be of service and happy it worked for you.

Do a manual sync from the V2 folder:

- close Mail

- open Library: use the go menu while holding down the alt key

- find SyncedRules in the V2 folder and use this to overwrite SyncedRules in the Mail/V4 folder in your library

- find SyncedRules in the V2 folder and use this to overwrite SyncedRules in the Mail/V4 folder in iCloud/Mobile Documents (you will need to make this folder visible). To make the contents of Mobile Documents visible, find the the Mobile Documents folder in the Library then make an alias. Click on the alias and you will see the Mail folder that is hidden on iCloud.

- once both folders are synced open Mail.

That is the only solution that people propose make a screenshot what at joke, no?

Why not take a pen and paper...

Seriously I have the same problem ever and ever, loosing time, I expect apple make upgrade and improve the system not the opposite, that's insane.

Migration should be easy not a nightmare.

I'm a Mac user since 20 year.

Hi siamless, I am sorry to hear that your V2 folder has been overwritten. The V2 folders on all of our computers (3 iMacs) remained intact during the upgrade to Sierra. Good luck with your problem! Henry

Rule files are stored in MailData folder in your User's Library/Mail/V4 folder. Depending on what version OS you had installed previously, you could try restoring the rule files from a backup. Previously Mail was stored in V2 and/or V3 folder.

The rules are stored in a property list at:

~/Library/Mail/V4/MailData/SyncedRules.plist

Quit Mail

Restore plist file

Restart Mail

You will have to re-enable each rule. Check folder destination as well.

Show User's Library

The User's Library folder is hidden by default. To unhide: Select the Finder in the Dock. Under Go in the Menu bar > hold down the Option key and you’ll see the Library.

Finding the User Library Folder

http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/resources/0167/site/chap11.html#FindingtheUserLi braryFolder