With earlier versions of SpamSieve, we recommended configuring Apple Mail to
move the spam messages caught by SpamSieve to a Spam mailbox under On My
Mac. This was for several reasons:
- Mail had a special built-in Junk mailbox, but (prior to macOS 10.9)
it would hide this mailbox when Mail’s own junk mail filter was turned
off.
- Mail providers had smaller account quotas, so removing spam messages
from the server right away freed up valuable space.
- If there was also a server junk filter active, having the SpamSieve
messages in a separate mailbox made it easier to see which filter had
moved which messages, which helped with troubleshooting.
With SpamSieve 2.9.45 and later, we recommend using the Junk mailbox
instead:
- Mail now makes the special Junk mailbox available at all times.
That’s where new users expect their spam messages to go, and it’s
simpler not to have to create a new mailbox.
- Mail accounts typically offer much more space, and network connections
are faster so that accessing the messages from the server is less
burdensome.
- Consolidating the spam messages caught by multiple filters makes it
easier to review and to delete it automatically or all at once using
the Erase Junk Mail command. It is still possible to see which
filter caught which messages.
- With more people accessing their mail account from multiple devices,
storing the messages on the server makes it possible to see and
train them when you’re away from your Mac.
- Mail can automatically put the spam messages from each account into a
separate Junk mailbox, without the more elaborate multi-rule setup
that was previously required. You can also easily view all the spam
messages together in the special All Junk mailbox, offering the best
of both worlds.
- Moving the spam messages to per-account server Junk mailboxes
avoids two Mail bugs in macOS 10.15 and later. One bug caused messages
to be colored as spam and moved out of the inbox on the server but
still shown in the inbox on your Mac. The other bug
caused Mail to delete the spam messages instead of moving them. For the
small percentage of users affected by these bugs, we’ve been
recommending various rule and preferences changes to work around them.
Using the Junk mailbox instead of the Spam mailbox will protect
all customers from these bugs from the outset, and with a much simpler
setup than before.
- Future versions of Mail will use Mail App Extensions rather
than Mail plug-ins. At least initially, Mail App Extensions only
support the Junk mailbox. Switching from Spam to Junk will
help prepare you for this transition.
New installations of SpamSieve will use the Junk mailbox by default, and
the Setting Up Apple Mail instructions have been updated to reflect this.
If you are already using SpamSieve with a Spam mailbox and are not
encountering the bugs mentioned above, you can continue with your current
setup. It will keep working the same way as before, without your having to
change anything.
If you want, you can switch an existing SpamSieve installation (on macOS 10.11
or later) from Spam to Junk:
- Choose Install Apple Mail Plug-In from the SpamSieve menu to make
sure that you have the latest version of the plug-in. Restart your Mac.
- Open Mail’s Settings window, click on Rules, and open the
SpamSieve rule. Where it says Move Message, change the mailbox
from Spam to the special All Junk or top-level Junk
mailbox.
- Make sure that Mail is set to use a Junk mailbox on the server.
- Choose SpamSieve - Change Settings from the Message menu in
Mail. When it asks if you want Train as Spam to use the special
Junk mailbox, click Yes.
- If you are using any extra SpamSieve AppleScripts, such as Apple Mail -
Remote Training or
Apple Mail - SaneBox, update
them to the latest versions. If you are using the Apple Mail - Server
Junk Mailbox
script, switch to the new Apple Mail - Rescue Good Messages
script.