Modifying Remote Training script for at&t and charter email pre-filtering of spam

[jgallma1]

I started using spamsieve about 2 weeks ago. At first, it wasn’t any different from the apple mail without spamsieve. The primary issue was that I have two sets of email accounts, one set that are at&t and one that are charter. The att email accounts each had a folder called “Bulk” where att pre-filtered suspected spam that can’t be deleted or renamed. Their filter is good, catching spam, but it leaved it in the various bulk mailboxes vice the central junk folder. Spamsieve did not look at these messages so I would have to select them and manually run spamsieve to both train and move them so they could be deleted rather than trashed. The bulk of these were in the ATT mailboxes so I modified the remote training script to look for folders named “bulk” vice “TrainSpam” and that worked; spamsieve filtered them appropriately and sent them to the Junk folder. However, Charter.net email accounts have a similar mailbox but it is called “Junk Mail”. Again, spamsieve does not review messages in these folders.
Hence, I am looking to adapt the remote training script to look at folders called bulk and folders called Junk Mail and consider either a TrainSpam surrogate.
I am not good at apple script but it seems to me I should be able to copy the
" set _messages to my messagesFromMailbox(“Bulk”, _account)
repeat with _message in _messages in the trainMessagesInAccount(_account) routine and paste it under the first routine with a mailbox name of “Junk Mail” vice Bulk and have it check both mailbox names. However, when I did that, it started creating “Junk Mail” mailboxes in all the at&t accounts. I stopped it before I could see what it was add to the charter accounts.

So is there a way to keep it from creating a mailbox if it doesn’t find a “bulk” or “junk mail” mailbox in an account? or is there a more elegant way to do this? or should I just let it create the mailboxes so it can check them each time?

[Michael_Tsai]

@jgallma1

The primary issue was that I have two sets of email accounts, one set that are at&t and one that are charter. The att email accounts each had a folder called “Bulk” where att pre-filtered suspected spam that can’t be deleted or renamed. Their filter is good, catching spam, but it leaved it in the various bulk mailboxes vice the central junk folder.

You should either turn off this server filter (if you don’t want to use it) or use the Mailbox Behaviors setting in Mail’s preferences to use the Bulk mailbox as the special Junk mailbox. Then you will see all the spam caught by your server filters and SpamSieve in the same central Junk mailbox.

@jgallma1

Spamsieve did not look at these messages so I would have to select them and manually run spamsieve to both train and move them so they could be deleted rather than trashed.

I don’t understand the distinction you are making between deleted and trashed. The messages that were already caught by the server junk filter are not SpamSieve mistakes. In general, you should only be training the spam messages that SpamSieve missed, i.e. any left in your inbox. The ones that the other filter caught can just be deleted.

@jgallma1

The bulk of these were in the ATT mailboxes so I modified the remote training script to look for folders named “bulk” vice “TrainSpam”

I strongly recommend not doing that. Not only is the extra training unnecessary and potentially harmful, but also these messages are not even necessarily spam.

@jgallma1

However, Charter.net email accounts have a similar mailbox but it is called “Junk Mail”. Again, spamsieve does not review messages in these folders.

Again, if you want to consolidate the spam, you can do that using Mailbox Behaviors. If you want SpamSieve to review the messages to see if it agrees with the server filter, there is a different script for that.

[jgallma1]

I had not considered mailbox behaviors. Thank you. I have set them and now will see what happens. I am resetting the train remote script back to its original text.

The distinction between deleted and trashed is that I do not delete the trashed emails. Essentially the trash can is an out of sight holding bin for emails I don’t want to see but may someday need to go back to. The spam I delete permanently so that a family member does not inadvertently click on them.

[Michael_Tsai]

@jgallma1

The distinction between deleted and trashed is that I do not delete the trashed emails. Essentially the trash can is an out of sight holding bin for emails I don’t want to see but may someday need to go back to. The spam I delete permanently so that a family member does not inadvertently click on them.

OK, I don’t think this relates to SpamSieve, though. You can hold down the Option key when pressing Delete to delete any message without having it go to Trash.