Storing junk mail on server

I’m using Apple Mail for OS X 10.5, and when I set it up for SpamSieve, c-command’s instructions explicitly said to create the spam folder as a local mailbox, so I did. But I’d prefer to have the spam folder on the server. (I use IMAP.) Is there anything wrong with this? Maybe it might slow things down, but it wouldn’t affect correct behavior, would it?

One reason I want to put the junk folder on the server is so that Mail displays the “official” junk folder with the nice icon, as in this screenshot. However, no matter what options I change in Mail’s preferences, I can’t get that junk folder to appear. Is there a way to make it come back?

I recommend using a local spam mailbox because it’s much faster and it doesn’t fill up your server with messages that you’re going to delete anyway. However, if you want to use an IMAP mailbox you can tell SpamSieve that using the Change Settings command.

The icon that Mail displays is not determined by whether the mailbox is local or remote.

Yes.

Thanks, but those instructions seem to be contradictory. They state:

“Select Move it to the Junk mailbox. … Select Perform custom actions.”

Those two options are mutually exclusive.

And when I select “Perform custom actions”, which comes last in the instructions, the built-in Junk mailbox disappears.

Any suggestions?

They’re not. One is a radio button and one is a push button. Please do what it says. You do want it to use the custom actions, but if you don’t select “Move it to the Junk mailbox” first, Mail might not allow you to select the Junk mailbox in the custom actions.

No, they are both radio buttons. Here is an example of what I’m seeing. Note that the “Move it” and “Perform custom actions” are mutually exclusive.

I did do what it says. After completing the instructions, I noticed that the Junk folder had disappeared after clicking “Perform custom actions”. I went back and switched to “Move it” and the Junk folder came back. I switched to “Perform custom actions” again and it went away again.

However, after restarting Mail, the Junk folder came back once more and seems to have stayed.

My mistake; I misread what you wrote. In any case, I do recommend clicking both of them, even though they are mutually exclusive. This was not necessary on Tiger, but it helps on Leopard.

Good. I think the important point is that you need one “Move it to the Junk mailbox” in order to be able to select Junk in the Advanced sheet. Then Mail will save the rule and remember what to do, even if it doesn’t immediately continue to show the Junk mailbox.