9.3 Setting Up Eudora 5.2

Using SpamSieve with Eudora 6 is highly recommended. However, SpamSieve can also work with Eudora 5.2, and some Eudora 6 users may prefer the configuration described here because it is more customizable.

Choose Show Other Scripts from SpamSieve’s SpamSieve menu. Move the SpamSieve Eudora Helper file in the For Eudora 5.2 Users folder to the Applications folder of your hard disk. You will need to launch this applet the first time you use SpamSieve with Eudora.

Also in the For Eudora 5.2 Users folder is the Uninstall Eudora Helper file. Run this applet if you no longer want to use SpamSieve with Eudora.
Create a mailbox in Eudora called Spam that is at the same level as the In mailbox. When you receive new spam messages, SpamSieve will move them to the Spam mailbox. It will also mark good messages by setting their priority to lowest (indicated by two downward pointing carets) and mark spam messages by setting their status to transfer error (indicated by a red “X”).
Now proceed to the Do an Initial Training section. To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them. Choose the Filter Messages command in Eudora’s Special menu. Then double-click Train Spam.

To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them. Choose the Filter Messages command from Eudora’s Special menu. Then double-click Train Good.

SpamSieve will process new mail automatically. If you ever need to manually ask it to sift through a mix of spam and good messages, select one or more of them. Choose the Filter Messages command in Eudora’s Special menu. Then double-click Filter.

Setting Options

By configuring the SpamSieve Eudora Helper applet, you can tell SpamSieve to process your good messages and spam messages in other ways. First, quit the applet. Then open it using the Script Editor program in the AppleScript folder of your Applications folder. The top of the script contains the following lines:

property moveToSpamFolder     : true  -- moves spams to a "Spam" mailbox
property markSpamMessages     : true  -- marks spams with red x
property markSpamMessagesRead : false -- marks spams as "already read"
property labelSpamMessages    : false -- colors spam messages brown
property markGoodMessages     : true  -- marks good messages with carets
property labelGoodMessages    : false -- colors good messages green
property removeSpamMessagesFromServer : false

You can change a false to true or a true to false to set the options the way you want. For instance, to have SpamSieve not move spam messages into a separate mailbox, change the true in the first line to false. When you are finished making changes, choose Save in Script Editor’s File menu, close the window, and then re-launch the SpamSieve Eudora Helper.

Script Editor 2.0 cannot edit the SpamSieve Eudora Helper applet. To customize the applet, use Script Editor 1.9 or a third-party script editor.

Eudora Limitations

The following limitations are due to problems with Eudora’s “notification” interface. Because of these limitations it is recommended that you use Eudora 6 and the SpamSieve Eudora Plug-In. The plug-in avoids these limitations.

Eudora gives messages to SpamSieve after all the other filters have run. It is not possible to change this ordering.
SpamSieve cannot filter messages that are moved by other filters. For instance, if you have a filter that moves incoming messages from Steve Jobs to a separate mailbox, SpamSieve will not mark any of those messages as spam, even if a spammer pretends to be Jobs. This limitation applies to both automatic filtering of incoming mail and manual filtering of selected messages.
Sometimes the wrong message is marked. That is, SpamSieve may decide that message A is spam and ask Eudora to mark it with a red “X”; in rare circumstances, Eudora will instead mark some other message B with the “X.” You can tell if this has happened by comparing SpamSieve’s log to the way the messages are marked in Eudora. This problem seems to occur when the In mailbox is sorted.
Sometimes SpamSieve never sees a message that should have been filtered. You can tell if this has happened by the absence of that message in the log. It may help to remove any “notify user” filter action that you have set up.
Sometimes SpamSieve determines that a message is good or spam, but Eudora does not mark it at all. You can tell if this has happened by comparing SpamSieve’s log to the way the messages are marked in Eudora.
SpamSieve cannot add or filter messages that are stored in the Trash mailbox or in mailbox files outside the Mail Folder folder in the Eudora Folder. Note that this includes all IMAP messages. To access these messages, first move them to a non-trash mailbox file that is stored inside the Mail Folder folder.
If you manually apply filters while Eudora is in the process of downloading mail, Eudora will show the SpamSieve dialog box twice. If this happens, just choose Skip the second time.
Sometimes Eudora erroneously shows the SpamSieve dialog when you check for new mail.
Sometimes after a long delay in talking to the mail server, Eudora stops notifying SpamSieve when it receives new messages. You can work around this by quitting and re-launching the SpamSieve Eudora Helper.