Leaving Exchange a/c emails in InboxSpamSieve folder

SpamSieve
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1

My set up is:
Macbook Pro 2019, Intel processor
Sonoma 14.5
Outlook 16.85.2 (24052614), using legacy version
SpamSieve 3.0.4, usine the large inbox setup, i.e. “Enable spam filtering for InboxSpamSieve” is checked
One Exchange a/c, two IMAP a/cs

All works fine except that some, but not all, of the Exchange a/c emails moved to InboxSpamSieve stay there, i.e. they aren’t moved to Inbox or Junk. When I click on the InboxSpamSieve folder in the Exchange a/c, they are moved without any further intervention from me. This behaviour is not evident on the IMAP a/cs.

2

Clicking on the folder in Outlook does not trigger SpamSieve to do anything. So it sounds like maybe the messages are being moved and Outlook simply isn’t updating the display until later. You can see in SpamSieve’s Log window when it processed each of those messages.

3

There are Errors reported in the log for the messages which stayed in the InboxSpamSieve. This is repeated for each message a few times. The example below is what it says for all of the errors:

Summary:	SpamSieve checked the InboxSpamSieve folder for new messages to filter.
Error Code:	-2,700
Log Entry:	Error filtering InboxSpamSieve message (RE: Us data): Outlook could not get the source of message: RE: Us data
Date Logged:	Today at 16:19:51

SpamSieve:	3.0.4 at /Applications/SpamSieve.app
Device:	macOS 14.5.0 (23F79) on guys-mbp-16.local (MacBookPro16,1)
User:	Guy (Guy)
Language:	English
4

It’s unclear why Outlook is reporting an error when SpamSieve tries to read the message source. (The -2,700 error code means “Signaled by user scripts or applications when no actual error code is to be returned.”)

Is there eventually a Predicted log entry for the message? Otherwise, SpamSieve would leave the message in InboxSpamSieve, so I don’t know why it would be disappearing when you click on the folder.

5

Yes there is a Predicted good entry ten minutes later, which I think was when I clicked on the InboxSpamSieve folder, because I think that’s when I saw it move to the Inbox.

The SpamSieve log entry for that is:

Summary:	SpamSieve classified this message as Good because its sender was in your Outlook contacts.
Score:	0 (0 is least spammy; 100 is most spammy)
Accuracy:	Correct (if this message is not Good, you should train it as Spam)
Help:	Correct All the Mistakes
Date Logged:	Today at 16:30:48

Subject:	RE: Us data
From:	Ruth Parkes <ruth@sandrasilk.co.uk>
Date Sent:	Today at 15:01:29
Date Received:	Today at 15:01:33
To:	guy.leech@ccmaproperties.co.uk
Size:	65 KB (32 KB compressed)
Identifier:	hWUZgLun6BCOfK5Jzlg97A==
Server Filter:	There is no record of a server junk filter evaluating this message. Some mail servers don’t have junk filters, and some filters move messages to a different mailbox without noting in the message that they did this.
Origin:	CCMA (Exchange) ‣ InboxSpamSieve in Microsoft Outlook 16.85.2 (schedule)

Contacts:	3,505
Excluded Contacts:	0
Outlook Contacts:	4,073

Processing Time:	0.010s
SpamSieve:	3.0.4 at /Applications/SpamSieve.app
Device:	macOS 14.5.0 (23F79) on guys-mbp-16.local (MacBookPro16,1)
User:	Guy (Guy)
Language:	English

Another fact which may be relevant is that for a few weeks, Outlook has periodically slowed up and is shown in Activity Monitor as using 100% or more of the CPU. There may be too many messages in the Inbox - c 23,000 which is about 2 years’ of messages - so perhaps the Outlook hang is delaying the SpamSieve action by preventing it from getting the source of the message? I should move some of the older messages to the Archive or to an OLM, but being able to search older messages in Outlook is sometimes useful.

6

Although why would that affect the Exchange a/c but not the IMAP ones? I have far more spam messages to one of my IMAP a/cs that to the Exchange a/c, currently about 70 per day to the IMAP one, mainly US investment tip sites!

7

Hmm, I wonder if somehow clicking on the mailbox got Outlook to finish downloading the message, and then it stopped reporting the error to SpamSieve.

I recommend recording a sample of Outlook when this happens.

8

A post was split to a new topic: Uninstalling

9

Hi Michael – I am returning to this thread because the problem has persisted and I have recently changed my IMAP email address to Exchange/Office 365 and that mailbox has started exhibiting the same behaviour, of emails getting left in the InboxspamSieve folder. The email address with the problem when I reported it previously was the only Exchange account I had then and it is now happening on both Exchange email accounts - so it look like a problem specific to Exchange emails.

The setup is now:
MacOS 15.3.1
SpamSieve 3.1.1
MS Outlook for Mac Version 16.94.2 (25022327) using Legacy version

The SpamSieve log error when this happens is:

Summary: SpamSieve checked the InboxSpamSieve folder for new messages to filter.
Error Code: -2,700
Log Entry: Error filtering InboxSpamSieve message (guy@leechfamily.net/InboxSpamSieve: Faringdon Regal Way Electricity a/c [CJO-IMANAGECLOUD.FID848574]): Outlook could not get the source of message: guy@leechfamily.net/InboxSpamSieve: Faringdon Regal Way Electricity a/c [CJO-IMANAGECLOUD.FID848574]
Date Logged: Today at 10:46:31

SpamSieve: 3.1.1 at /Applications/SpamSieve.app
Device: macOS 15.3.1 (24D70) on guys-mbp-16.local (MacBookPro16,1)
User: Guy (Guy)
Language: English

The log for this shows “Message data unavailable” under the other tabs – Message, Raw Source & Structure.

On this message, I then clicked on InboxSpamSieve and the message was moved to the Inbox. The log entry for that was:

Summary: SpamSieve classified this message as Good because its sender was in your Outlook contacts.
Score: 0 (0 is least spammy; 100 is most spammy)
Accuracy: Correct (if this message is not Good, you should train it as Spam)
Help: Correct All the Mistakes
Date Logged: Today at 10:51:53

Subject: Faringdon Regal Way Electricity a/c [CJO-IMANAGECLOUD.FID848574]
From: Robert Pennington robert.pennington@carterjonas.co.uk
Date Sent: Today at 10:40:42
Date Received: Today at 10:41:06
To: guy@leechfamily.net
Size: 126 KB (74 KB compressed)
Identifier: GIAwTxbQ1rfYcDK6TwkdLQ==
Server Filter: There is no record of a server junk filter evaluating this message. Some mail servers don’t have junk filters, and some filters move messages to a different mailbox without noting in the message that they did this.
Origin: guy@leechfamily.net (Exchange) ‣ InboxSpamSieve in Microsoft Outlook 16.94.2 (schedule)

Contacts: 5,515
Excluded Contacts: 2
Outlook Contacts: 4,073

Processing Time: 0.128s
SpamSieve: 3.1.1 at /Applications/SpamSieve.app
Device: macOS 15.3.1 (24D70) on guys-mbp-16.local (MacBookPro16,1)
User: Guy (Guy)
Language: English

On this log entry, the Message, Raw Source & Structure tabs are now populated.

I am using the same Exchange server as I have been for some years which is hosted by SMS. I also moved my wife and son’s emails from IMAP to Exchange at the same time and they are not experiencing the same problems with SpamSieve, but they use Apple Mail as the client, not Outlook.

I have not tried uninstalling and reinstalling SpamSieve.

Do you have any idea of what might be causing the problem?

10

This seems to be exactly what you reported before, which is that it appears that SpamSieve is waiting for Outlook to download the message and somehow clicking on the folder triggers it to finish.

Do you have an option in your Outlook accounts settings to Download headers only? If so, please make sure this is unchecked.

11

Thanks Michael and yes, it’s exactly the same as before, except now on two Exchange email accounts. “Download headers only” has been unchecked on both throughout. There is an Outlook option under Settings_Reading “Automatically download pictures from the internet” where “In messages from my contacts” is selected.

12

OK, it sounds like Outlook is not obeying the setting. Are you still seeing high CPU use before clicking on InboxSpamSieve?

I believe this is for loading images that are not included in the message, so it’s not relevant in this situation.

13

I think the high Outlook CPU usage was caused by too big a database - when I archived large numbers of emails last year, it stopped.

The clicking on InboxSpamSieve doesn’t always seem to trigger it to move the messages from that folder. And it just stopped responding and I had to force quit & restart

14

If it’s hanging I recommend recording a sample, as mentioned above, and reporting that to Microsoft.

15

Sorry I wasn’t clear - it was SpamSieve hanging, not Outlook. And that hasn’t happened before so probably unconnected with the non moving problem

16

OK, please record a sample of SpamSieve if it hangs.

As to Outlook, if it seems to be idle and selecting InboxSpamSieve doesn’t help, you could record a sample of it and we could see whether it’s busy trying to download the message or not doing anything at all. (The Sync Status and Sync Errors windows may also be helpful here.)

17

Hi Michael - No more hangs from SpamSieve. I have tried to record a sample of Outlook which I started then clicked on the InboxSpamSieve folder where a message was stuck which was moved to the Inbox once I clicked on InboxSpamSieve. I attach it, but I’m not sure if I captured the right time period. This particular message was from my phone, so from the same email address to which it was sent.
Sample of Microsoft Outlook.txt (640.5 KB)

Outlook is not showing any Synch errors at the moment.

I mentioned before that I haven’t tried uninstalling and reinstalling Spam Sieve - should I just try doing that?

18

It looks to me like Outlook is stuck waiting for both an Exchange server and an IMAP server.

I don’t think that would help.

19

Hi again Michael - I went SMS who are my Exchange hosts and they said:

"I do understand that spamsieve may be saying its outlook/microsoft but it’s really for them to offer support on that. It’s a third party solution which we have no knowledge of nor access to any of their developers to debug.

The outlook and exchange servers you’re connecting to are now the completely normal microsoft 365 ones. Always the latest and as you say, have been updated many times over the time.

If it really was outlook/exchange, you would see this in normal daily use rather than just with spamsieve"

My Outlook client has been updated by Microsoft 22 times since this symptom first appeared last June.

Since SpamSieve is reporting the error as “Outlook could not get the source of message” but Outlook is in fact downloading the messages correctly and identifying their source (I think), could this be a problem with the way SpamSieve is reading the Outlook data? As I think I’ve mentioned, this isn’t happening on all messages.

20

I also just started reloading Outlook addresses in the spamSieve settings. SS seems to have hung - I’ve left it for the moment with the spinning beachball. I attach an Activity Monitor Sample Process file taken while it has been doing this.
Sample of SpamSieve.txt (207.8 KB)