spam filter in Mail not working

As per this article : Mail for Mac: If junk mail filters aren’t working correctly

If the problem persists, click Reset in Junk Mail preferences to reset the junk mail database to its original information. Resetting the database removes everything Mail has learned from you about what is junk or not junk, so you need to help Mail identify junk mail again. After that do the exact settings as in screen shot .

I hope you'll contact Communities again if you have additional questions. But something concerns me.

There can be a big difference between "unwanted email" and "spam" - although if you're getting several hundred unwanted emails a day, they all seem like spam.

"Unwanted email" are advertisements, email bulletins, and the like. "CNN Breaking News," "Forbes Breaking News," "The Master Key," "Anderson Cooper 360," or "Costco Customer Bonus" are all "Unwanted email." These emails always have some text somewhere on the bottom - something like this:

Or this:

If it says, "Click here to unsubscribe" or something like that, that's your "opt out" option. The opt out is a Federal requirement.

However, if the unwanted email ever has an email attachment, that's a warning. Do not double click any unfamiliar attachment. That's an invitation to malware and identity theft.

"Spam," on the other hand, is what's left in your Junk File. In my Junk File, for example, there's only garbage. It can be safely ignored. Maybe, it will take time until your email looks like that, but that's the goal.

Some encouragement. When you're done, you'll get one or two unauthorized emails a month, and no spam.

The way that Mail determines junk mail is by you telling it what is junk and what isn't. The more you tell it, the better it's able to determine what is and isn't junk mail. It does not do it automatically from the beginning, unless you also have set up "Rules" that defines what you want it to consider as junk mail. The way I do this is to right or control click on a message and select "Move to Junk". As you do this more and more, Mail will begin to learn what is and isn't junk.

Have you defined any "Rules"? This is done in the Mail Preferences dialog box by clicking on the last tab in the Preferences pane or dialog box. You can take a look at this on how to create your own Rules to help filter out the junk mail.

What exactly did you mean by "I read the instructions"?

Mail for Mac: Use rules to manage your inbox

Good luck...

I don't know what's causing your spam woes - but there's a solution I learned from Apple support.

If you use webmail on an ISP like AT&T, make sure the spam settings are what you want. If they're not, there might be conflicts on your system.

Once you're done with that, do this:

1. Make sure you know your email passwords.

2. Go to Mail/Preferences/Accounts, and delete the account(s) in blue. Don't delete the iCloud settings.

3. Reenter the settings, and confirm their accuracy.

4. Open Mail, and set up your spam controls as you like.

The "training" method is you doing the right/control click on messages and selecting "Move to junk". The more times you do this the better Mail gets at learning what is and isn't what you consider junk. If you don't do this right/control click action, then it doesn't learn very much.

Good luck...

I don't know what kind of spam you're getting, or where it's coming from, but something's wrong here.

For most users, "advertising emails" and "spam" are the most frequent offenders.

"Advertising emails" come from various sources - the product of a plethora of ad sites. While it might seem like spam... it's really not. This mail appears in your inbox, and nearly always offers an "opt-out" option. If the unwanted mail appears in your inbox, aggressively "opt out" - and the advertising emails will diminish. Fast.

"Spam" nearly always appears in your "Junk" folder. It's probably best to ignore these posts, despite their varying offensiveness.

What's happening is this: you have so much filtering that a lot of legitimate messages are showing up as spam.

This is what I'd suggest:

1. Go to Mail/Preferences/Rules and disable all of your spam filters. You don't have to delete them; just disable them by unchecking them in the left column.

2. Go to Mail, and look at each email, one by one. I can't tell if they're what you want. If you want the message, don't do anything; if you don't want this message in the future, you can choose to opt-out of the mail.

3. If you have unwanted advertising in your in-box (NOT spam box!), tap on the opt-out link until the item appears in your browser window, and choose to opt out. It typically takes about a week for opt-out messages to work.

4. In the Junk Folder, you should only see...well,...junk.

This technique will work!

Check out what Apple suggests for when junk mail filters aren't working at:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22334

Good luck...

This article could help : Mail for Mac: Junk Mail preferences in Mail