Apple Mail doesn't apply rules unless I choose "Apply Rules" manually
Solution 1
This is a bug.
In their infinite wisdom, Mail.app developers decided only to apply rules to 'unseen' messages. If the IMAP 'seen' flag is set, rules will not be applied.
I started a forum thread on the apple forums on this topic.
Solution 2
I found following post: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-delete-and-manage-old-messages-in-os-x-mail/
So you have to do the following:
- Add your filter that you want to apply.
- Add the rule condition: Every message.
- Set the drop down to "all"
You need to set "all" because if you set "any". What happens is that it evaluates every message, it will automatically match "every message". Then because you set "any". It won't consider the actual filter. Then it'll execute the action. So if you set the "delete" action. You will automatically delete every message in your inbox. A very dangerous mistake.
Solution 3
I had the same issue, but it turned out the first rule in the list (News from Apple) had "Stop evaluating rules" as the last action.
I removed this action and it worked fine.
Solution 4
Not sure if this is exactly your problem, but something similar happens to me.
I've got a Mac running Apple Mail and an iPod touch, both checking the same IMAP account. The Mac is asleep during the day. While out and about, I'll check my mail on the iPod, read the new messages, and leave them in my inbox. When I come home, I wake up the Mac, and Mail syncs with the server. The filtering rules are not applied.
The reason for this behaviour is that Mail only appears to apply rules to "new" mail. Having already seen these new messages on another device, I'm not so much downloading new messages to Mail as I am synching with the server. So, no rules applied for these messages.
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Kornel
Mainly doing image compression R&D & web app development. Specialising in webby stuff (full stack), plus C and Rust. Developer of pngquant2, ImageOptim. Maintainer of MozJPEG, Sparkle, superagent. Has a GitHub. Really bad at filling bios.
Updated on September 17, 2022Comments
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Kornel over 1 year
I'm using Apple Mail with IMAP account. I have several filtering rules defined. The problem is that Mail doesn't apply them automatically to incoming email. Even spam isn't filtered automatically.
For all incoming email, every time, I have to select e-mails and select "Apply Rules", and then rules work fine (that one time on selected e-mails only).
It works like this on two separate installs of Mail with different accounts (both IMAP though).
How can I get Mail to apply all rules automatically every time to all e-mails?
I wonder does it ignore rules because of misconfiguation, bug or does Apple seriously expect people to use "Apply Rules" menu item regularly?
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velop over 9 yearsThe thread seems to be deleted. But on my MacBook with Mavericks the bug is still valid. Any news on this one?
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Ben L. about 9 yearsMake sure that when you set the "Every Message" action, that you make sure that the rule matches ALL conditions, instead of ANY conditions. otherwise you will affect every message in your inbox.
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Display Name over 8 yearsnot fixed in both Yosemite & El Capitan. Ugh…
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Iulian Onofrei over 6 yearsNeither in High Sierra!
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SteffX about 6 yearsSee answer by velop below for a fix
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Tobias F. Meier over 5 yearsThank you! That should be on on Apples FAQs.
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Vasily Hall about 5 yearsI did the following to finally get it working: 1) remove "stop evaluating rules" from Rule #1 Apple News 2) Add "Every Message" to my rule 3) Add the Account name to my rule (Google account)
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GForce about 5 yearsThis also fixed my problem, but in addition to the solution presented, I also had to add the account name as a rule as @Vasily Hall suggested.
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volvox almost 5 yearsThis doesn't work for me. Yes, if I do all of these things, I can colour a mail, and it works on the way in too. But when I switch the action to an applescript which works on mails when I select them and run opt-cmd-L no probs, MacMail ignores the script run.
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wheeliebin about 4 yearsThanks. Eight years later this is still a pain. Why would they do that!!
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JavaKungFu almost 4 yearswow I just spent 20 minutes trying to figure out why my rules didn't work. Thanks! and wtf apple.
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Bane about 3 yearsThank you for this insight -- I've applied the change and we'll see how it goes fingers crossed. That said, this feels like an inherently stupid decision; that flag applies at the level of "if an email matched this rule, do these things" so why should it stop the processing of ALL emails and not just that one email? Isn't the actual intention behind such a rule (when seen on other platforms) to be "handle this email in this way and then do not process this particular email through any other rules"? What is the point of having a global "stop processing rules"-rule?
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Fred Lackey over 2 yearsHow does this rule cause problems? Looks like it targets only Apple messages.