Yet another "rule not working" post

J

Jim

System is G4 PowerPC, OS X (10.3.5), Entourage 10.1.4. Mail server
is POP.

I'm helping a friend (e.g., it's his laptop). I'm not in front of it
at the moment, so I apologise if I get the exact working of things
incorrect.

At first, there were no rules (and had never had any). I created a
rule that said (paraphrasing) "if any header contains '****' then
move message to SpamFolder". This didn't work, either automatically
or if I ran it manually.

After some experimenting with a rule like "if any header contains
"****" then add the text string '[SPAM]' to the subject", I have
found this:

If the rule says: "header contains '****' then move message", the
message doesn't move.

If the rule says "header contains '****' then modify subject", the
subject gets rewritten.

If the rule says: "header contains '****' then (1) move message and
(2) modify subject", the subject gets rewritten but the message
doesn't move.

If the rule says: "header contains '****' then (1) modify subject and
(2) move message", the subject gets rewritten but the message doesn't
move.

In all cases, I'm running the rule manually.

I read through all the "rules don't work" messages posted in this
newsgroup in the last year or two, and didn't see anything exactly
like this. I didn't find anything at
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/ that looked like it would help
with this problem.

If anyone has a suggestion, I'd be grateful.

Thanks,
Jim
 
B

Barry Wainwright

System is G4 PowerPC, OS X (10.3.5), Entourage 10.1.4. Mail server
is POP.

I'm helping a friend (e.g., it's his laptop). I'm not in front of it
at the moment, so I apologise if I get the exact working of things
incorrect.

At first, there were no rules (and had never had any). I created a
rule that said (paraphrasing) "if any header contains '****' then
move message to SpamFolder". This didn't work, either automatically
or if I ran it manually.

After some experimenting with a rule like "if any header contains
"****" then add the text string '[SPAM]' to the subject", I have
found this:

If the rule says: "header contains '****' then move message", the
message doesn't move.

If the rule says "header contains '****' then modify subject", the
subject gets rewritten.

If the rule says: "header contains '****' then (1) move message and
(2) modify subject", the subject gets rewritten but the message
doesn't move.

If the rule says: "header contains '****' then (1) modify subject and
(2) move message", the subject gets rewritten but the message doesn't
move.

In all cases, I'm running the rule manually.

I read through all the "rules don't work" messages posted in this
newsgroup in the last year or two, and didn't see anything exactly
like this. I didn't find anything at
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/ that looked like it would help
with this problem.

If anyone has a suggestion, I'd be grateful.

Thanks,
Jim
Click to expand...

Was this the ONLY rule? No other rules defined either before or after this
rule?

What about the Junk Mail Filter - was this on and active? What setting?

Were these messages that would have been caught by the JMF if the rule
wasn't in place?

What happens to the 'move' rule if you add another action to notify the user
- do you get to see that notification, and if so, does the message get
moved?

I suspect that the JMF or another rule is interfering with the move. If you
can report back on the result from these questions, it would help
tremendously in tracking down what's happening.
 
J

Jim

Barry - thanks for your quick response.

Was this the ONLY rule? No other rules defined either before or
after this rule?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is the only rule.
What about the Junk Mail Filter - was this on and active? What
setting?
Click to expand...

JMF is disabled.

But I got the rule to work; e.g., the rule will now move the
message to another folder.

The destination folder (I called it "suspected spam") was IN the
"Deleted Items" folder instead at the "top" (e.g., with all the
other folders). I moved the "suspected spam" folder to the "top",
and now the rule moves messages into that folder.

Thanks again, and I hope this helps someone else someday.

Jim
 
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