2.1   Requirements

SpamSieve is a universal binary that runs natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs using Mac OS X 10.5 through 10.8. It is designed to work with the following e-mail programs:

• Apple Mail from Mac OS X 10.5 and later.
• Emailer 2.0v3, previously available from Claris.
• Entourage v.X (2001) and later (Entourage 2004 or 2008 recommended) from Microsoft.
• Eudora 5.x or 6.x (in Sponsored or Paid mode) from Qualcomm. SpamSieve will also work with Eudora 8.0.0b1 (a.k.a. Penelope) if you follow the Thunderbird instructions. It does not work with Eudora 8.0.0b2 or later.
• GyazMail 1.2.0 (1.5.8 or later recommended).
• MailForge 2.0.4 and later from Macsimize Software (formerly from Infinity Data Systems).
• MailMate 1.1.2 and later from Freron Software.
• Mailsmith 2.3.1 and later from Stickshift Software. (By applying this workaround you can use SpamSieve with Mailsmith 2.1.5.)
• Outlook from Microsoft Office 2011 and later.
• Outlook Express 5.0 and later from Microsoft.
• Postbox 2.0 and later (not Postbox Express) from Postbox, Inc (non–Mac App Store version).
• PowerMail 4.0 and later (6.x recommended) from CTM Development.
• Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 or 2.x from Mozilla. Thunderbird 3 through 14 are not compatible with plug-ins for Thunderbird 2.x, and due to changes in Thunderbird it does not look like it will be possible to create a SpamSieve plug-in for newer versions of Thunderbird. However, SpamSieve does work with Postbox, which is an enhanced version of Thunderbird.

SpamSieve also works with Web mail accounts via Apple Mail, provided that they allow access via POP, IMAP, or Exchange. This includes AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Just set up Apple Mail to access your account and then follow the normal SpamSieve setup instructions in the Setting Up Apple Mail section. Gmail users may wish to go to the Labels settings and set All Mail not to Show in IMAP. See also the How should I configure the junk filter on my mail server? section.

SpamSieve works roughly the same way with each mail program. If you use multiple mail programs at once, SpamSieve will share its training data and statistics among them. Emailer, Eudora, Postbox, and Thunderbird provide SpamSieve with access only to parts of each e-mail message, so SpamSieve’s accuracy will be slightly reduced when using these mail programs, although it should still be much better than their built-in spam filters.

SpamSieve does not run on iOS, but you can use it together with your Mac to filter mail on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. This is described in the iPhone Spam Filtering section.