Version 2.9.1 of SpamSieve is now available. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Added support for Microsoft Outlook 2011 SP2 (a.k.a. 14.2.x). If SpamSieve can detect that you were using Outlook 2011 before, and that SP2 has been installed, SpamSieve will auto-update its scripts automatically. Otherwise, you can choose Install Outlook Scripts from the SpamSieve menu. Either way, the SpamSieve rules in Outlook will continue to work without modification.
• SpamSieve now tries to detect whether its Apple Mail plug-in is damaged and auto-heal the installed copy if necessary.
• If there’s an error updating SpamSieve’s Apple Mail plug-in, it now reports more information to try to diagnose the problem.
• If the Apple Mail plug-in detects that it’s damaged, it will alert the user to download and install a fresh copy.
• SpamSieve now checksums the Outlook script files (both the installed and built-in copies) to detect whether they are damaged.
• Made a change to eliminate a particular cause of false positives for some users.
• SpamSieve no longer triggers Mac OS X’s “accept incoming network connections” firewall dialog.
• Added some exception guards to work around bugs in the Growl SDK.
• When an unexpected error occurs and no stack trace is available, SpamSieve will now try to report the approximate location.
• Improved the What information should I include when I report a problem? section of the manual.

For information about previous releases of SpamSieve, please see the version history.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.9. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Added support for upcoming versions of Mac OS X.
• Made various changes to improve SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy.
• SpamSieve is now code-signed using a Developer ID certificate for Gatekeeper.
• When training an Exchange message as good in Apple Mail, SpamSieve is better at moving it to the proper inbox.
• Processing incoming messages with Outlook is more efficient. To take advantage of this change, choose Install Outlook Scripts from the SpamSieve menu.
• If you’ve used the SpamSieve - Change Settings command in Apple Mail to tell SpamSieve not to use a local spam mailbox, training a message as spam will now try to move the message to a spam mailbox on the same server account, rather than always using the first account.
• Added support for training messages as spam via Herald (version 2.1.2 and later), a notification plug-in for Apple Mail.
• When sorting spam messages by color in Apple Mail, you can now use Grey as a synonym for Gray.
• The score script command has a new auto training parameter that can be used to override the setting in the preferences on a case-by-case basis. This might be useful, for example, if you’re writing an AppleScript to triage messages that have already been classified, and you just want to get SpamSieve’s opinion without having to make any corrections.
• Adjusted the drone AppleScripts so that they’re easier to troubleshoot.
• If Apple Mail gives SpamSieve empty data for a message, the plug-in now assumes the message is good and does not pass it on to SpamSieve for analysis.
• Added support for Growl notifications via GNTP (requires Mac OS X 10.7 or later).
• SpamSieve is better at handling file permission errors.
• SpamSieve is better at handling errors when running helper tools.
• Improved SpamSieve’s ability to still function when the application package is damaged.
• Added the AddStandardRules esoteric preference, which lets you prevent SpamSieve from creating its built-in blocklist and whitelist rules if you prefer to manage the rules yourself.
• Fixed a bug that could reduce SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy for some messages with attached files.
• Made various improvements to the documentation.
• Updated the German localization.

For information about previous releases of SpamSieve, please see the version history.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8.8. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Improved compatibility with pre-release versions of Mac OS X.
• Added support for Postbox 3.0.
• Added support for Growl 1.3.
• Made various changes to improve SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy.
• The Exclude my addresses feature now lets you specify additional addresses via Terminal, if you don’t want to clutter your “Me” card in Address Book.
• The Apple Mail plug-in installer is more resilient to permissions errors.
• Added example of using colored flags to sort spam messages in Apple Mail by spamminess.
• Added some logging to detect obscure errors when loading SpamSieve’s Apple Mail plug-in.
• Improved the French localization.

For information about previous releases of SpamSieve, please see the version history.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8.7. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Improved compatibility with pre-release versions of Mac OS X.
• Made various changes to improve SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy.
• SpamSieve now runs as a 64-bit application on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. This allows for faster launch times and reduced overall system memory use if you are running exclusively 64-bit applications. It also prevents problems caused by buggy input manager haxies. You can use the Finder’s Get Info window to set SpamSieve to run in 32-bit mode if you want to play classic Mac OS notification sounds or to reduce the memory use of SpamSieve itself.
• When training an Apple Mail message in the Spam mailbox as good, SpamSieve is now better able to match it up with the proper inbox.
• Offloaded more PDF processing to the helper tool so that SpamSieve itself doesn’t crash if you receive a message with a corrupt PDF attachment.
• Made the Apple Mail plug-in installer more robust and better at reporting errors.
• An error finding the built-in copy of SpamSieve’s Eudora plug-in will no longer prevent SpamSieve from launching, unless it actually needs to install the plug-in.
• Entourage is supposed to create the Entourage Script Menu Items folder, but for extra robustness SpamSieve will now create it if it’s missing.
• If SpamSieve’s PDF reader detects that the CTLoader input manager is loaded, it now logs a warning that this may cause SpamSieve to hang.
• Tried to work around an unconfirmed issue that could prevent SpamSieve from processing the first few Apple Mail messages on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
• Fixed a bug with re-personalizing the application via URL.
• Clarified the Do an Initial Training section of the manual.
• Updated the Import Addresses… instructions for Microsoft Outlook.
• The Setting Up a Spam Filtering Drone section of the manual now includes instructions for setting up a drone for multiple mail accounts.
• The manual now explains how to open the Library folder on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.

For information about previous releases of SpamSieve, please see the version history.

SpamSieve and Lion’s Apple Mail

Summary: After updating to Lion, Apple Mail will not automatically launch SpamSieve. After launching Apple Mail for the first time, you must manually launch SpamSieve once (e.g. by clicking its icon in the Dock). Thereafter, Apple Mail will automatically launch SpamSieve, and everything will behave normally.

If you’re updating from Snow Leopard, the first time you launch Apple Mail under Lion it may disable SpamSieve’s plug-in. While the plug-in is disabled, Mail will not auto-launch SpamSieve, you will not see the SpamSieve commands in Mail’s Message menu, and Mail will move all new messages to the Spam mailbox without consulting SpamSieve.

For most users this will not be a problem, as a few new messages are easily dragged back to the inbox. (There’s no need to train them as good, since SpamSieve didn’t think they were spam.) However, if you’d like to prevent any messages from being misfiled, you can, before updating to Lion, open Mail’s Preferences window, go to the Rules tab, and uncheck the SpamSieve rule. This will temporarily disable it.

To get SpamSieve and Mail working again, just launch the SpamSieve application (e.g. by clicking on its icon in the Dock). It will detect that the plug-in has been disabled and automatically re-install it. (If, for some reason, this does not happen automatically, you can choose “Install Apple Mail Plug-In” from the SpamSieve menu.) If you had unchecked the SpamSieve rule, go back to Mail’s preferences and check it to re-enable SpamSieve.

EagleFiler’s Capture Key and Lion’s Apple Mail

Use of the capture key is currently not recommended with Apple Mail on Lion. It does not work when Mail is in full screen mode, and for some users it will report errors when capturing messages or import the messages as a complicated folder structure instead of a mailbox file. An update to address these issues is forthcoming, and you can contact technical support if you’d like to try a pre-release build of EagleFiler.

Update: This is fixed in EagleFiler 1.5.5.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8.6. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Made various changes to improve SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy.
• Improved compatibility with Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion).
• Added support for Postbox 2.5.
• Updated the Setting Up MailMate instructions for the new preferences in MailMate 1.1.2.
• Updated the Setting Up Outlook instructions for Microsoft Office 2011 Service Pack 1.
• Updated the Setting Up Postbox instructions to ensure that messages that you train as spam are moved to the junk mailbox or trash.
• Worked around a rare OS/hardware condition that could prevent SpamSieve from launching.
• The Apple Mail plug-in is better at reporting errors when it’s unable to fully load itself.
• Made various other clarifications to the manual.
• Adjusted the help page titles to fit better in the menu and search results.

For information about previous releases of SpamSieve, please see the version history.

It’s Your Choice

We’re happy wherever you choose to purchase our software. The Mac App Store makes it very convenient to buy, download, and install, and you get updates via the store. The purchase is tied to your iTunes account. If you buy direct, you drag-and-drop to install and get updates via the application’s auto-updater or the Web site. Either way, you can sign up for a mailing list or RSS or Twitter feed to be notified about new versions and important product news.

Prices

Pricing is substantially the same, although there will be slight differences due to Apple’s pricing tiers and currency conversions. All Mac App Store purchases are for single-user licenses. Purchasing direct, you can also buy family packs and get volume and educational discounts. Although you pay the same price, Apple’s higher fees mean that direct purchases send 25+% more of your money to C-Command.

Trials

Each product has a fully-featured 30-day trial version that’s available from the Web site. If you purchase direct, you can click a link in your order confirmation to enter your serial number and take it out of trial mode. If you purchase from the Mac App Store, you should first delete your trial version so that the store doesn’t see the application as already installed. Your preferences and user data will be seamlessly shared between both versions.

Updates and Upgrades

Our standard policy has been to provide customers lots of free minor updates and 50% discounts on major upgrades. The Mac App Store does not support upgrade pricing, so currently we can only guarantee the 50% discount if you originally purchased direct from C-Command. We’ll do the best we can, however, and Apple may make more options available in the future.

Initially getting into the Mac App Store took longer than we would have liked. Because DropDMG and EagleFiler use encryption, there was some additional paperwork that needed to be completed with the U.S. government and Apple before the apps could be submitted to the store. Then it took more months for Apple to review the apps and be convinced that they followed the guidelines. Now that the applications have been approved, we’re optimistic that updates will be available from the Mac App Store more quickly. However, there will always be some delay. For example, having previously approved DropDMG 3.0.5, Apple took 17 days to approve the 3.0.6 update.

Transfers

If you purchase via the Mac App Store, the direct version will recognize your receipt from Apple. So (barring changes in the way Apple handles receipts) you’ll always have the option of downloading the software yourself to get the full features and the latest updates. (Thanks to Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software for the clever idea that makes this possible.) Apple, unfortunately, provides no way to transfer purchases in the other direction, for existing customers who would prefer to receive updates via the Mac App Store.

Feature Differences

We intend the Mac App Store and direct versions of the products to be as similar as possible, however some differences are necessary in order to comply with the rules for Apple’s store. Our first priority is to design the direct versions as best we know how; they should not be limited by Mac App Store considerations. Secondly, if a feature cannot be accepted in the Mac App Store, we will try to adapt it or make it available in another way. This may not always be possible or practical, however. Here are the current differences between the Mac App Store and direct versions:

DropDMG

• The direct version has a button in the preferences for installing the command-line tool and man page. With the Mac App Store version, you can install these manually via Terminal.
• Some files and folders have ownership or permissions such that DropDMG needs an administrator password to correctly copy them. The direct version will ask for the password as needed. The Mac App Store version will stop and report an error.
• The direct version has a checkbox in the preferences to Always run with root access. This lets DropDMG run unattended and copy the aforementioned files without asking for your password each time. With the Mac App Store version, you can enable this feature via Terminal.
• The direct version runs on Mac OS X 10.5 and later; the Mac App Store version requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later.
• Update (2011-10-13): The Mac App Store version defaults to “Ask Later” for the destination folder, rather than “Next to Source.”
• Update (2012-02-07): The Mac App Store version has a slightly different application icon.

EagleFiler

• The direct version automatically adds a “Save PDF to EagleFiler” command to each application’s Print dialog. With the Mac App Store version, you can install the PDF service manually.
• The direct version uses OpenMeta to share your recently used tags with other applications. The Mac App Store version can read the list of recent tags but cannot update it.
• Previous versions of EagleFiler maintained an error log in the file ~/Library/Logs/EagleFiler/EagleFiler.log. Mac App Store applications are not allowed to write to this folder, and Mac OS X’s logging subsystem has improved since EagleFiler’s log feature was designed, so both versions of EagleFiler now use the system log database, which appears under the “All Messages” section of Console.
• The direct version runs on Mac OS X 10.4 and later; the Mac App Store version requires Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later.

Update (2012-03-20): We expect Apple’s upcoming application sandboxing requirement to significantly increase the differences between the direct and Mac App Store versions. The precise differences will not be known until we see which features and bugs the sandbox has when the requirement is instituted.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8.5. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Improved SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy.
• Improved compatibility with the Thunderbolt MacBook Pros and pre-release versions of Mac OS X.
• Freron Software’s MailMate now works with SpamSieve, as described in the Setting Up MailMate section of the manual.
• Whitelisting Previous Recipients now works with Microsoft Outlook 2011.
• The Train as Good command can now move spam messages out of the spam folder when running a localized version of Microsoft Outlook 2011.
• SpamSieve’s Apple Mail plug-in helper now runs as 64-bit on Mac OS X 10.6, where possible, to prevent input manager haxies from interfering with the training commands.
• Added a workaround to prevent SpamSieve from hanging if the address book database is damaged.
• Clarified the text in the Welcome and Purchase windows.
• Improved the instructions for using Microsoft Outlook and Entourage with Exchange accounts.
• Updated the Setting Up Postbox section of the manual.
• Made various improvements to the documentation.
• Updated the Danish and Spanish localizations.

For information about previous releases of SpamSieve, please see the version history.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8.4. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• SpamSieve now integrates with Microsoft Outlook 2011. For more information, see the Setting up Outlook section of the manual.
• SpamSieve now integrates with Postbox, an enhanced version of Thunderbird. For more information, see the Setting up Postbox section of the manual.
• Adjusted SpamSieve’s tokenizer to improve the filtering accuracy.
• The Train as Good command in Apple Mail is better at moving messages in the spam folder or trash back to the inbox.
• Fixed a regression where the whitelist and blocklist windows wouldn’t open when running SpamSieve under certain localizations.
• Improved the localizations.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8.3. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Adjusted SpamSieve’s tokenizer to improve the filtering accuracy.
• Improved compatibility with pre-release versions of Apple Mail.
• MailForge now works with SpamSieve, as described in the Setting up MailForge section of the manual.
• Made some changes to better support the upcoming Microsoft Outlook 2011. (Full support will come when Office ships.)
• Added various updates and clarifications to the manual.
• Fixed a regression where SpamSieve wouldn’t be able to install its Apple Mail plug-in if Mail’s folder had been redirected using an alias.
• Fixed a bug where SpamSieve would sometimes quit when coming out of trial mode.
• Fixed a bug where sometimes the Hits column in a rules window couldn’t be resized.
• Worked around an OS bug that could cause an internal error when reporting a corpus error.
• Made various modernizations to SpamSieve’s code and interface files.
• The Apple Mail plug-in now shows up with the proper name in Mail Plugin Manager.
• Updated the disk image layout.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8.2. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Improved compatibility with pre-release versions of Mac OS X.
• Added Dutch, Italian, and Swedish localizations.
• Made various code improvements and modernizations.
• SpamSieve is better able to recover from certain types of damaged corpus files.
• Updated the Setting up Eudora section of the manual.
• Improved the layout of the Software Update window.
• Adjusted the packaging of the disk image and the installation instructions.
• Fixed a bug that could cause a crash when parsing messages with an invalid Date header.
• Fixed a regression where SpamSieve would sometimes bring up an alert sheet to report that you already had the latest version.
• Fixed a crash in the software updater.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8.1. This is a free update that includes the following change compared with SpamSieve 2.8:

• Fixed a regression in the SQLite build that could cause SpamSieve to crash when running on a PowerPC-based Mac.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.8. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Made various changes to improve SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy.
• Adjusted the SpamSieve - Train as Good command in Apple Mail to reduce confusion. Training a message as good now will only move the message into the inbox of an enabled account. If no account matches the message or if the proper account is disabled, it will move the message into the inbox of the first enabled account (even if it doesn’t match). Thus, the message will always move out of the Spam mailbox, and it will no longer seem to disappear because it was moved into an inbox that was hidden.
• Made various code modernizations.
• Apple Mail now auto-launches SpamSieve sooner, to speed up the filtering of the first messages.
• Improved the support for server-side Spam mailboxes in Apple Mail.
• Clarified the instructions in the Do an Initial Training section of the manual.
• Added the How do I make SpamSieve catch spams sent from my own address? section to the manual.
• Expanded the Correct All Mistakes section of the manual.
• Improved the Apple Mail troubleshooting instructions.
• Improved the styling of the Apple Help.
• Improved SpamSieve’s launching speed.
• Fixed a bug where, in rare circumstances, SpamSieve didn’t filter all of the first batch of messages when using Apple Mail on Mac OS X 10.6.
• SpamSieve will now warn you if it looks like its Apple Mail plug-in has been damaged by an application slimming utility. This could lead to Mail continually reporting that the plug-in was incompatible.
• SpamSieve will now complain if it looks like you’ve manually installed the Apple Mail plug-in in the wrong folder instead of using SpamSieve’s installer.
• Made a change to try to work around a bug in Apple Mail that could make training a message as good create a duplicate copy of the message.
• Improved the Purchase window to reduce confusion about the demo period, serial numbers, and the number of seats that you’ve purchased.
• Modernized the Software Update window and code.
• Changed the way the Software Update feature finds the downloads folder on Mac OS X 10.5 and later because sometimes the one that Internet Config returned would be invalid or unwanted.
• Fixed a bug where SpamSieve would crash when processing certain invalid URLs.
• Fixed an error where a newly added whitelist/blocklist rule might not be auto-selected.
• Removed the Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese localizations because they were out of date. If you would like to update the translation for one of these languages, please contact spamsieve@c-command.com.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.7.7. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Improved compatibility with pre-release versions of Mac OS X.
• Made some changes to improve SpamSieve’s filtering accuracy.
• Fixed a bug where the “Train as Good” command in Apple Mail didn’t move Exchange messages back to the inbox.
• Encoded HTML mail is spam is now off by default, to reduce the number of false positives.
• Modernized the code.
• Updated the Vietnamese localization.
• Updated the Apple Mail script for discarding spam.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.7.6. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Improved compatibility with pre-release versions of Mac OS X.
• Expanded the Can I delete spam messages after training SpamSieve with them? section of the manual.
• Fixed a bug in the Setting up a Spam Filtering Drone instructions.
• Improved number entry in the corpus window.
• Improved the reporting of unexpected errors.
• Updated links to indicate that Mailsmith is now available from Stickshift Software.
• Added a Console warning if the Apple Mail plug-in detects that CTLoader is installed.
• The crash reporter works better with Mac OS X 10.6.
• Fixed a mistake in the French localization.

• DropDMG’s “Use custom icon for mounted image” feature. Fixed in DropDMG 2.8.6.
• Various minor issues fixed in EagleFiler 1.4.9.
• In order to use DropDMG’s Create Disk Image/Archive Automator action, use the Finder’s Get Info command to make Automator run in 32-bit mode.
• Various minor issues fixed in SpamSieve 2.7.6.

• Periodically delete your old messages.
• Create “archive” mailboxes in Mail and periodically move your older messages into them. This allows Time Machine to create a single hard link for the entire mailbox.
• Setup Mail to automatically delete old spam messages. You can change the “SpamSieve” rule in Mail’s preferences to move messages into the trash, and then set Mail to automatically delete old messages in the trash. Or, you can set it up to put the spam into the Junk mailbox and have it auto-delete the old messages in that mailbox.
• Archive your old mail in EagleFiler. To do this, select the messages in Mail and press EagleFiler’s capture hotkey. After it’s finished importing, delete the messages from Mail and empty the trash. Once the mail is in EagleFiler, Time Machine will only have to back up one file for the whole mailbox. Since the file never changes (EagleFiler stores metadata such as tags and notes separately), Time Machine will never have to re-copy that data.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.7.5. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Made various accuracy improvements.
• Fixed a problem where Apple Mail (running on pre-release versions of Mac OS X 10.6) could freeze at launch if you had a rule involving address book groups.
• Rewrote the Setting up a Spam Filtering Drone instructions.
• Added Why does the Spam mailbox appear empty when there’s a number beside it? to the frequently asked questions.
• Updated the Automatically Deleting Old Spam Messages instructions to include Entourage.
• The search fields are now scrollable.
• The Apple Mail plug-in is better at detecting when SpamSieve’s Dock icon is hidden.
• Worked around a problem where Mail could crash if you had installed two copies of the SpamSieve plug-in at the same time.
• Fixed a bug that could cause SpamSieve to freeze when applying a whitelist/blocklist rule involving certain regular expressions.
• The crash reporter works better with pre-release versions of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
• Fixed a bug that could prevent SpamSieve from launching.
• Updated the Dutch, Japanese, and Korean localizations.

SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.7.4. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Improved compatibility with pre-release versions of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
• SpamSieve is better able to recover from corpus files that were damaged due to disk errors.
• Improved the Entourage installer’s error handling.
• Improved the error reporting when saving the corpus.
• Improved the troubleshooting instructions.
• Fixed a problem where messages trained as good in Apple Mail could be moved into the inbox of a disabled account.
• Fixed a bug that could cause harmless error messages to be logged to the Console when playing System 7 sound files.
• The crash reporter now warns before sending a report without an e-mail address.
• You can now press Enter to click the Send Report button in the crash reporter.