Not so smart mailboxes?

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I was setting up my smart mailboxes and it kind of seems strange that the messages stay in you inbox also and when you delete from the inbox it also deletes from the smart mailbox. Is there any way to change that?
I'd like to have the mail automatically go to its smart mailbox and not the inbox. It just annoys me to have multiple copies, but I like to have things broken out into more managable smaller folders.

Also, anybody give me a hint on how to successfully import a .csv into my address book.

Thanks
 
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It's just like the smart playlists in iTunes. Same concept.
 
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Smart Mailboxes are much like aliases in that they "point" to the original email. They are a convenient way of organizing mail by certain criteria without sorting or bothering the inbox. Think of smart folders as a super-powered "search".

What it sounds like you want to do is set up filters (called rules in Apple Mail), so email based on your criteria are moved to their own box. Assuming you are using Mail, you can setup your own rules in Mail's preferences.
 
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I have set up rules and it does filter them into the smart mailbox. But it keeps a copy in the inbox and in the smart mailbox. So my inbox is still just as cluttered as it was. Am I missing where I can tell it to only go to the smart mailbox?
 
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No. The smart mailbox is only an alias (shortcut basically) to the original email, which is kept where you leave it. If you want it to be moved, you need to make a regular folder for it and then create "Rules" in the general Mail app preferences and tell it to move the messages the meet the rules' criteria to the specified folder.

I hope that makes sense.
 
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I have set up rules and it does filter them into the smart mailbox. But it keeps a copy in the inbox and in the smart mailbox. So my inbox is still just as cluttered as it was. Am I missing where I can tell it to only go to the smart mailbox?

A smart mailbox is a list of messages, not an actual container that holds messages. It's a search that constantly updates the results. It's just like a "view" in MS Outlook. It can't hold messages, or copies of messages; it only displays messages from your inbox that match the criteria.

Rules are used to move messages from one mailbox to another. As lifeisabeach said, Rules can be set up in Mail Preferences. Smart mailboxes are not rules, and are not affected by rules.
 
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Okay, I got it through my thick skull and got it figured out. Thanks for the help.
 

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