SpamSieve keeps a log of messages that it has filtered, words that it has used
to decide whether the messages were spam, messages you have added to the corpus,
and any errors that have occurred. The Open Log command in the Filter
menu opens the log file so that you can look at it. Normally, there is no reason
(aside from curiosity) to look at the log file. However, if you believe
SpamSieve is not working as it should, the log file provides useful information
about what SpamSieve has done.
- For each incoming message, there should be an entry in
SpamSieve’s log that says Predicted: Good or Predicted:
Spam. If you see only Trained: entries (or no entries
at all) for a message, then the mail program did not ask
SpamSieve to analyze that message, and you should check the
setup.
- If SpamSieve left a spam message in your inbox, there
will be a Predicted: Good entry for that message in the
log. The Reason can provide clues for why SpamSieve thought the
message was good.
- If it says sender <address> in address book, you
might want to remove that address from address book, add
it to the Me card, or else uncheck SpamSieve’s option
to Use Mac OS X Address Book.
- If it says sender <address> in Entourage address book,
you might want to remove that address from Entourage’s
address book (then click Load while holding down the
Option key) or uncheck SpamSieve’s option to Use Entourage
address book.
- If spam messages are being predicted as good and you don’t
understand why, please send in a report.
- If SpamSieve moved a good message to the spam folder, there
will be a Predicted: Spam entry for that message in the
log. The Reason can provide clues for why SpamSieve
thought the message was spam.
Note: It’s best to search the log using the Edit ‣ Find ‣ Find… command,
rather than the Filter search field in the toolbar.
SpamSieve stores its log in the folder:
/Users/<username>/Library/Logs/SpamSieve/
(To open the Library folder under Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, go to the Go menu
in the Finder and hold down the Option key.) If you find that the logs are
taking up too much disk space, you can delete the .bz2 files at any time.