Rules in Panther mail

[jtown]

I know this is a small issue for most people but it's one that will decide whether I finally get around to buying Panther this week or just leave it on the back burner.

Can rules be set to "manual"? By that, I mean I don't want rules applied automatically to all incoming email. I prefer to apply most rules after I've had a chance to skim the subject headers. Unless I'm missing something in 10.2.8, the rules are either automatic or off. The only way I can accomplish my goal is to check mail, skim the headers, turn rules on, select all the messages, apply the rules, then turn the rules back off before the next batch of mail is picked up.

BTW, I use rules mostly for sorting. That's why I don't want them automatically applied to incoming mail. I'm on a number of mailing lists and it's a real pain to have to manually pick each group and drag it to the appropriate folder for archiving. However, if my sorting rules are applied to incoming messages, I have to poke through each folder individually to see new messages. Neither method is very efficient.

I know I could use Eudora (which is what I use on the PC) but OSX Mail's junk filter works so well I'd hate to give it up.

 

[awulf]

Those rules in Mail is to sort and change properties on any incoming mail automatically, so you will have to continue to sort manually after reading your new mail, which is what I do without any problems.

This also applies in panther.

 

[Doctor Q]

The mail application is highly scriptable with AppleScript. I'll bet a script could be written to move messages into folders based on their characteristics.

To see the scripting features of Mail.app, open Applications/AppleScript/Script Editor, choose File -> Open Dictionary, and select Mail.

You could even combine Mail's rules with a Script. For example, you could use Mail rules to color your messages at the time they arrive based on their destination folder, and then invoke the AppleScript to move them when you are ready.

All just wishful thinking if you aren't good with AppleScript or don't have a friend who is.