Junk mail problems

[ferrarr]

Maybe you should change the setting to "Mark as Junk Mail, but leave in my inbox"?

I have tried disabling Junk mail filtering. This seems to have no effect. Mail flags messages as Junk whether or not I have Junk mail filtering enabled.

Also, this seems to justify, the emails are being marked as Junk, by the email provider, not through Mac Mail.

 

[Ratsima]

Maybe you should change the setting to "Mark as Junk Mail, but leave in my inbox"?

I can do that, but that doesn't really solve the problem, does it?

Also, this seems to justify, the emails are being marked as Junk, by the email provider, not through Mac Mail.

That may be true. In the case of the email messages sent to my Dot MAC address it is Apple's mail system, via Proofpoint, which is flagging the mails as Junk. And this is exactly what Apple's mail system should do as it has no idea what client will be receiving the message. I have no problem with that. But, if I tell my email client, Mail, to ignore junk mail headers it should do just that. It does not.

 

[Ratsima]

I think what this actually proves is how stupid I am. Instead of me training Mail to handle junk correctly, Mail has trained me, in the manner of Pavlov's dogs, to handle junk on my own. Every time a message from Lazada or Subsurface appears in the Junk mailbox I obediently click "Not Junk" and move on. Mail must be very proud of itself.

 

[Slydude]

I have a similar problem from time to time with a few senders. In fact, even emails from this very forum get treated as junk.

I'm debating trying to apply rule(s) first to catch those that routinely get misidentified and then apply the junk filtering.

 

[Ratsima]

I have a similar problem from time to time with a few senders. In fact, even emails from this very forum get treated as junk.

I'm debating trying to apply rule(s) first to catch those that routinely get misidentified and then apply the junk filtering.

I think that if you apply your rules first, the junk filtering will happen anyway. At least that's my past experience.

I found what might be an interesting hint on this Apple Support page: Change Junk Mail preferences in Mail on Mac

At the top you can select what version of MacOS you have. If you select Catalina, the section called The following types of messages are exempt from junk mail filtering reads:

Don’t filter messages from senders who are in the Contacts app, you’ve previously corresponded with, or know your full name.

But, if you select Mojave, that same section reads:

Don’t filter messages from senders you’ve corresponded with, or who know your full name.

Note the absence of "who are in the Contacts app" in the Mojave version. I wonder if this is a subtle admission from Apple that this aspect of Junk mail filtering doesn't actually work in Mojave; exactly what I've observed.

 

[ferrarr]

Note the absence of "who are in the Contacts app" in the Mojave version. I wonder if this is a subtle admission from Apple that this aspect of Junk mail filtering doesn't actually work in Mojave; exactly what I've observed.[/QUOTE]What about High Sierra? I think Apple just added that in with Catalina?

 

[pm-r]

I'm debating trying to apply rule(s) first to catch those that routinely get misidentified and then apply the junk filtering.

In my experience with Mail, it seems to be quite fussy as to the order of any filters or rules setup. If one does have a rule set up but it doesn't seem to work, then Mail provides an option to then any rules again: Message(menu > Apply Rules.

It may be worth trying.

BTW: For Ratsima, did tour Mail.app Rules or filters you have ever work properly, like in an earlier macOS version???



- Patrick
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[Ratsima]

BTW: For Ratsima, did tour Mail.app Rules or filters you have ever work properly, like in an earlier macOS version???

Rules that don't involve moving messages have always worked well for me. Rules that move messages out of the Junk mailbox have never worked automatically, but do work if I run them manually.

Junk mail filtering has never worked well for me. I have reset Junk mail countless times to fix this. But, lately it has gotten absurd, with mail being put in Junk very inconsistently. In many cases, mail that I receive daily is suddenly Junk. It's inexplicable.

 

[ferrarr]

With the exception of iCloud, I believe the email provider has controls you should either turn off, or re-evaluate.

 

[Ratsima]

With the exception of iCloud, I believe the email provider has controls you should either turn off, or re-evaluate.

With the exception of Subsurface daily email digest, all of the mail that ends up in the Junk mailbox is sent to my Dot Mac address.

I have already visited the Gmail webmail site to tell Gmail that the mail from Subsurface is not junk. That didn't work.

 

[pm-r]

In many cases, mail that I receive daily is suddenly Junk. It's inexplicable.

Have you gone through the expanded headers of the offending emails so that it might give a hint as to some reasons and what if any flags are set.

And not forgetting any boolean logic where a negative plus a negative = a positive as does a positive plus a plus = a positive etc.

But if there's something goofy in your email client application, you'd probably need to go a googling to the problem and confirm that it's a general goofup.


- Patrick
======

 

[Ratsima]

Have you gone through the expanded headers of the offending emails so that it might give a hint as to some reasons and what if any flags are set.

And not forgetting any boolean logic where a negative plus a negative = a positive as does a positive plus a plus = a positive etc.

But if there's something goofy in your email client application, you'd probably need to go a googling to the problem and confirm that it's a general goofup.


- Patrick
======

I posted earlier in this thread some of the results of looking at the headers. And, yes, some of the email messages have positive SPAM headers. But, I've told Mail not to to trust junk mail headers. Mail ignores this.

My email client is the Mac Mail application.

If you do a Google search on "How do I stop mail from going to junk in mac mail?" it returns over 54 million results.

 

[pm-r]

If you do a Google search on "How do I stop mail from going to junk in mac mail?" it returns over 54 million results.

Yup... that's a **** of a lot of hits, and also over quite a wide stretch of time, but it seems in most cases there is a solution provided to correct the problem, in other cases, they just seem to be a statement stating something doesn't work in Mail as far as junk and or filtering goes.

I would have though that reviewing all the rules with a magnifying glass and using extreme logic and precise sorting order that Mail uses should sort out the problem. But that is probably easier said than done.

Anyway, it's certainly a challenge for some, And maybe changing some of the existing rules to something else may help.

PS: You may have mentioned it earlier, but without reading all the posts, is this just a new problem with the new OS or has the problem exists for some time???



- Patrick
======

 

[Ratsima]

Yup... that's a **** of a lot of hits, and also over quite a wide stretch of time, but it seems in most cases there is a solution provided to correct the problem, in other cases, they just seem to be a statement stating something doesn't work in Mail as far as junk and or filtering goes.

I would have though that reviewing all the rules with a magnifying glass and using extreme logic and precise sorting order that Mail uses should sort out the problem. But that is probably easier said than done.

Anyway, it's certainly a challenge for some, And maybe changing some of the existing rules to something else may help.

PS: You may have mentioned it earlier, but without reading all the posts, is this just a new problem with the new OS or has the problem exists for some time???

This is a long-standing problem that I attempt to tackle now and then hoping that new eyes might see something that I have missed. Over the years I have tried every rational solution that I've seen. Nothing works.

Time to throw in the towel and just put up with it.

Kind of like the self-assigned IP addresses on my iPad and iPhone and the fact that no Mac web browser can display certain Apple Support pages.

Unfortunately, many things don't work the way they're supposed to.

 

[Ratsima]

I've had Junk mail filtering turned off for four or five days now and still Mac Mail insists on putting mail that it "thinks" is junk into my Junk mailbox. This is astounding to me:

 

[pm-r]

Dang, can't post here again so just testing.

 

[pm-r]

Just testing. Can't reply to this post for some unknown reason.

Edit:
Well, this worked but sure took a while to show up!!

I can;t get the original reply text to work so I'll give it a rest and see if that helps.

Frustrating, and it only happens for me at these forums. Odd.

- Patrick
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[pm-r]

I'll try replying again... in two parts...

...still Mac Mail insists on putting mail that it "thinks" is junk into my Junk mailbox. This is astounding to me:

Did you manage to catch this article from your Google search hits that gives a good explanation as to what may be happening???:
Mac tip: Keep Mail from marking the wrong messages as “junk”
Mac tip: Keep Mail from marking the wrong messages as "junk" | here's the thing

... ... ...

 

[pm-r]

... ... ...

I would also try toggling the 'Enable the junk mail filtering' On and Off several times like a light switch that doesn't always make make proper contact. Maybe one of the switches would update the preference file to work correctly.

I would also try disabling the 'Perform custom actions' option Checkbox regardless of the filtering setting, And also check out it's 'Advanced' Settings' And also double check any Rules you may have set up.

Also check the "Exemptions" list and make sure that particular sender is in your contacts list etc.
... ... ...

- - - Updated - - -

... ... ...
There should be some reasonable explanation for its inexplicable action, but maybe Mail just does have a bug especially considering the number of hits on the same/similar problem so many seem to be having.


If nothing seems to work with Mail's settings, then maybe consider using Spam Sieve.app to relieve your frustration


- Patrick
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[pm-r]

EDIT
PS: Finally got all my reply posted but it took multiple tries using three separate shorter post attempts...
I'd sure like to know what the occasional cause of the problem is.


- Patrick
======