7.1.1 Checking the Apple Mail Setup

This section is about checking the setup of Apple Mail and SpamSieve when using the Mail extension setup. If you are using the Mail plug-in setup, you should instead go to the Checking the Apple Mail Setup (Plug-In) section.

In Apple Mail:
1. Go to Settings ‣ Extensions and make sure that SpamSieve is checked.
2. In Settings ‣ Junk Mail ‣ Junk Mail Behaviors, make sure that Enable junk mail filtering is unchecked.
3. In Settings ‣ Junk Mail ‣ Blocked, make sure that Enable blocked mail filtering is unchecked.
4. In Settings ‣ Accounts ‣ Mailbox Behaviors:
  - For each IMAP or Exchange account, check the Junk Mailbox setting and make sure that you select a Junk/Spam/Bulk mailbox that’s on the server, not under On My Mac.
  - For each Gmail account, select [Gmail]/Spam for the Junk Mailbox. If you don’t see that choice, you may need to log into Gmail on the Web and set the Spam label to Show in IMAP. You can see what this looks like in the Hiding Special Gmail Mailboxes From IMAP section.
  - For each POP account, make sure that a Junk mailbox is visible under the account in the sidebar of Mail’s main window.
  - For more information about all of this, see the Setting the Junk Mailbox in Apple Mail section.
5. In Settings ‣ Accounts, make sure that each account has a unique name. Duplicate Apple Mail Accounts can prevent messages from being filtered.
6. In Settings ‣ Rules, there should be no active rules that have SpamSieve at the beginning of the rule name or that move messages to Spam, Junk, or Trash.
In System Settings ‣ Privacy & Security:
1. Under Automation, make sure that SpamSieve has access to control Mail. This is described more in the Granting Automation Access section.
2. Under Full Disk Access, make sure that SpamSieve is listed and that access is enabled. This is described more in the Granting Full Disk Access section.
In SpamSieve, go to Settings ‣ Apple Mail ‣ Setup:
1. Make sure that Enable spam filtering using Mail extension is selected.
2. Make sure that Check inboxes for new messages not sent to Mail extension is checked. In the event that a macOS bug prevents the Mail extension from filtering new messages, this will double-check the inboxes to remove any spam.
If you have new messages arriving in mailboxes other than in the inbox (e.g. because of rules in Apple Mail or on your mail server), go to Settings ‣ Apple Mail ‣ Filtering in SpamSieve and make sure that Filter spam messages in other mailboxes is checked. Click Select Mailboxes to Filter… and make sure that Filter is checked for each mailbox that you want to be filtered.
To test that messages are able to move properly for manual operations:
1. Make sure that you see the SpamSieve menu bar icon at the top of the screen or follow the What If I Don’t See the SpamSieve Menu Bar Icon? instructions.
2. Drag a spam message to the inbox. Select it and choose Train as Spam from the SpamSieve menu bar icon. Its background color should change to gray. It should move to the Junk mailbox or to whichever location you selected in Settings ‣ Apple Mail ‣ Training.
3. Drag the spam message back to the inbox again. This time, select it and choose Filter Messages from the SpamSieve menu bar icon. It should move to the Junk mailbox or to the Trash, depending on how you have the Move it to the Trash if the spam score is at least option configured.
Finally, we need to check whether automatic operations work:
1. When you receive a new spam message, go to Settings ‣ Apple Mail ‣ Filtering. Click the Filter Now button and wait for it to finish to ensure that SpamSieve has processed all the new messages.
2. Then go to the Window menu and choose Log to open the Log window. Scroll to the bottom.
3. There should be a log entry for the new message:
  - Predicted: Spam indicates that the message was processed, and SpamSieve correctly thought it was spam.
  - Predicted: Good indicates that SpamSieve made a mistake on this message, but at least it is automatically processing new mail.
  - If there is no Predicted log entry, something is not right, and there will probably be an Error log entry explaining what the problem is.
  - If it works with Filter Now, it should work automatically, although there may be a slight delay before messages are filtered, depending on how often you’ve set SpamSieve to check for new messages and how much mail you have. You can use the Add green flag to unread good messages option to help see when SpamSieve has finished processing your inbox.

If something is not as described above, check the Log window in SpamSieve to see whether an error was reported. If you don’t understand what the problem is, please go to SpamSieve’s Help menu and choose Save Diagnostic Report. Contact technical support, attaching the report file, and explain what happened when you followed these instructions.