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Mail Sierra not learning what is "not junk"

W

whitman

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 4, 2008
67
2
Since updating to Sierra 10.12.x and/or Mail 10.x, Mail seems incapable of learning what is not junk. I’ve seen forum threads outlining broadly similar problems, so it seems I’m not alone in this.

What happens is that much more mail is being put into the Junk folder, put there by the Mail app itself (“Mail thinks this message is Junk Mail”). And most of it is not junk.

So, I mark it as such. I can’t now use the old right-click method, because there is no longer an entry there for marking as not junk. Now I have to click the new “Not Junk” icon in the toolbar. So far so good, or at least that’s what I assumed.

But Mail does not learn these “not junk” items. The same kinds of mail from the same senders are constantly being shunted into the Junk folder, even after I tell the app otherwise.

I have tried some of the suggestions posted elsewhere here. For example, I tried a reset in Mail’s Preferences/Junk tab. Still the same problem.

It seems from the other posts there is no cure for this … but if anyone does have any new suggestions I’d be pleased to give them a go.

It’s very frustrating.

I’ve just reported it to Apple.
 
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Spark Mail is expected to be available later this week in the Mac app Store. Use that instead. It's saved my life from Mac Mail.
 
Thanks for the ad, vbctv, but I was looking for advice about the Mac Mail app.
 
It is advice, the Mac Mail app is outdated & has many bugs in Sierra. I too had the same issue. I would mark spam as not spam and it would keep going to the spam box. I had the On My mac bug and I've had tons of freezing issues. I used Airmail but that had worse problems on Sierra. Mac mail is a disaster on Sierra.
 
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OSX Mail is junk. It should recognise itself.. :)

I've been using it for ages, and spent a loooong time setting up hundreds of rules to recognise and flag spam, based on patterns in the from field and/or subject line. And it worked really well - only to find it now flags most of my work emails as spam too and I can't figure out how to get it to not flag those; or which rule is causing them to be flagged as spam.

I just now accept my email is in my junk folder and my junk is in.. every folder. :(
 
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vbctv said:
It is advice, the Mac Mail app is outdated & has many bugs in Sierra. I too had the same issue. I would mark spam as not spam and it would keep going to the spam box. I had the On My mac bug and I've had tons of freezing issues. I used Airmail but that had worse problems on Sierra. Mac mail is a disaster on Sierra.
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OK vbctv. Apologies: I assumed (apparently wrongly) from the Spark icon by your name that you were a representative of Spark.

Spark on MacOS does indeed look interesting. Specifically related to my original post: how does Spark deal with junk mail?
 
whitman said:
Spark on MacOS does indeed look interesting. Specifically related to my original post: how does Spark deal with junk mail?
Click to expand...

You could download and try it in 15 minutes. Spark for Mac doesn't even have Rules! But I'd say it deals with spam the proper way...lets the email provider do it.
 
BrianBaughn said:
You could download and try it in 15 minutes. Spark for Mac doesn't even have Rules! But I'd say it deals with spam the proper way...lets the email provider do it.
Click to expand...

Doesn't have Rules? Sounds like it might be too crude an app for me.

Generally, I'm very happy with Mac's Mail app. It was only this recent junk nonsense that's unnerved me. If Apple fixed that - which must be well within their grasp, as it worked perfectly well before Sierra/Mail 10.x - I'd be happy to stay with it.

Still, I'll give Spark a try in the meantime.
 
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So aggravating, especially when I have used it for business over almost 20 years. Yup, rules are gone and junk is now just another mailbox that needs to be checked. Even when Apple did a screenshare with me they couldn't believe it was missing - the "not junk" icon
 
Lois Reed said:
they couldn't believe it was missing - the "not junk" icon
Click to expand...

Lois, I'm unsure if I understand you correctly, but if you mean there is no "Not Junk" icon in Mail 10.x's toolbar ... if you haven't already got the "Junk" icon there, you have to add it by using Customize Toolbar and drag it in. Then when you highlight a message marked as junk, it will turn into a "Not Junk" icon, and you can use it as you see fit. But as I say, maybe that's not what you mean.
 
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I know this, been working with Apple for 20 years now. I even had a tech person share my screen and she was appaled too that they left it out. There is no longer a thumbs-up or a not-junk in any toolbar choices

They assured me the bug would be fixed ... 3 months ago
 
They may not have the thumbs-up or thumbs-down images any more, but they are Junk and Not Junk.
 
I don't have junk or not junk icons in the toolbar either, just checked latest Sierra beta. I've moved onto different mail now but just check now for heck of it, icons are not there anymore. I don't think they have been since Sierra.
 
vbctv said:
I don't have junk or not junk icons in the toolbar either, just checked latest Sierra beta. I've moved onto different mail now but just check now for heck of it, icons are not there anymore. I don't think they have been since Sierra.
Click to expand...

As I said in post #11, you have to add it by using Customize Toolbar - right-click anywhere in the toolbar and you'll see "Customize Toolbar" at the bottom of the popup. Choose that, and then drag to your toolbar what you want from the "Drag your favourite items to the toolbar ...." section that appears. In this case the Junk icon. Then when you highlight a message the app has decided is junk, the Junk icon will turn into a Not Junk icon, which you can click if you disagree. However ...

This is a sidetrack. My main point in starting this thread was that, even if you get the Junk/Not Junk icon, and even if you start marking stuff the app says is junk as not junk, the post-Sierra Mail app is not learning this as it should, and as it always has done prior to Sierra.
 
I just use the client-side settings to add contacts (preventing their messages from being junked) and block others / create rules. I love the convenience and design of macOS Mail, but I gave up trying to get it to manage my mail a long time ago. I'd rather have the stability of the client-side settings which will remain if my computer fails, etc.
 
Goatllama said:
I just use the client-side settings to add contacts (preventing their messages from being junked) and block others / create rules. I love the convenience and design of macOS Mail, but I gave up trying to get it to manage my mail a long time ago. I'd rather have the stability of the client-side settings which will remain if my computer fails, etc.
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I'm not sure what you mean by "client-side settings". Can you explain, please?
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Lois Reed said:
no they do not - that is why the mac tech and I spent hours looking for
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They do not ... what?
 
whitman said:
I'm not sure what you mean by "client-side settings". Can you explain, please?
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Yes! By client-side I mean logging onto the corresponding email websites. So for my Outlook account, I go to outlook.com and change settings or block certain email addresses from the website, which reflects in macOS Mail.
 
Goatllama said:
Yes! By client-side I mean logging onto the corresponding email websites. So for my Outlook account, I go to outlook.com and change settings or block certain email addresses from the website, which reflects in macOS Mail.
Click to expand...

Thanks Goatllama: I see. I wonder, though, if I added the relevant contacts at client-side if Mac Mail app would still mark them as junk, as it seems so keen to do so now.
 
Goatllama, following your suggestion, I did a test yesterday, adding as a contact in the Gmail web browser one of the senders of stuff which Mail constantly marks as Junk despite my marking it as Not Junk. This morning, there it is in Junk again. So that won't do as a workaround.
 
whitman said:
Goatllama, following your suggestion, I did a test yesterday, adding as a contact in the Gmail web browser one of the senders of stuff which Mail constantly marks as Junk despite my marking it as Not Junk. This morning, there it is in Junk again. So that won't do as a workaround.
Click to expand...
Did you also go into the Gmail Spam folder, check the message, and click 'Not Spam?' Apologies if you already did/have done this step before.
 
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