7.13.1   Why are Apple Mail inbox messages not being processed?

Mail Extension

When using the Mail extension, please follow the Checking the Apple Mail Setup instructions to make sure that Apple Mail and SpamSieve are properly set up. Normally, SpamSieve will then immediately filter new messages that arrive unread in the inbox.

In rare cases, a macOS bug can prevent Apple Mail from sending new messages to the SpamSieve extension for analysis. You can check the Log window to see whether this is the case; if the log is not showing the messages as Predicted, that means SpamSieve is not seeing them. If this bug is affecting you, please let Apple know and reference bug number FB12819637.

SpamSieve has a built-in feature to work around this bug. In most cases, all you need to do is make sure that Check inboxes for new messages not sent to Mail extension is enabled in the Settings ‣ Apple Mail ‣ Setup window. Then SpamSieve will periodically double-check the inboxes to make sure that any new messages have been filtered. This happens on a slight delay. If you want to see for sure whether a message in the inbox has been processed yet, you can enable the Add green flag to unread good messages option or check the Log window to see whether there is a Predicted log entry.

We strongly recommend granting SpamSieve Full Disk Access. Otherwise, the workaround will be be slower and may report an error, as described below. If you are using macOS 12 Monterey or earlier, it is recommended that you use the Mail plug-in setup, which avoids all of these issues.

Large Inboxes Without Full Disk Access

If you haven’t granted SpamSieve Full Disk Access, to avoid slowing down Apple Mail, SpamSieve will skip checking an inbox if it contains more than 5,000 messages, and it will tell you in the Log window and in Settings ‣ Apple Mail ‣ Setup that it did this. Such mailboxes are shown in orange in the Select Mailboxes to Filter… sheet. If you have an inbox with more messages:

• You can reduce the size of the inbox by moving some messages to the Archive mailbox or to another mailbox that you create, such as Inbox2. This is what we recommend because it will make checking the inbox faster and ensure that Mail doesn’t slow down or freeze.
• If there are fewer than 10,000 messages, you can select your inboxes in Filter spam messages in other mailboxes to tell SpamSieve that you want it to use this higher limit, understanding that depending on the speed of your Mac this may cause slowness or freezes in Mail.
• If you have a very fast Mac and really know what you’re doing, you can go to the esoteric preferences to raise the limits.

Mail Plug-In

When using the Mail plug-in, please follow the Checking the Apple Mail Setup (Plug-In) instructions to make sure that Apple Mail and SpamSieve are properly set up. Then SpamSieve should immediately filter new messages that arrive unread in the inbox.

Other Mailboxes

If the unprocessed spam messages are not in your inbox, see the Why are other Apple Mail mailboxes not being processed? section.