3.1.1   Installing

In addition to these written instructions, there is a video that demonstrates how to set up and train SpamSieve with Apple Mail.

1. Quit Apple Mail. Then double-click the SpamSieve application and choose Install Apple Mail Plug-In from the SpamSieve menu at the top of the screen. When you open Mail once more, you should see three SpamSieve items in the Message menu:

   

2. Choose New Mailbox… (or New…) from Apple Mail’s Mailbox menu, and create a new mailbox called Spam with location On My Mac. (The capitalization is important; do not call the mailbox SPAM or spam.)

3. Choose Preferences… from the Mail menu and click the Rules button in the toolbar. Click the Add Rule button. Change the description to SpamSieve. (The description of the rule must start with SpamSieve, but you can add additional text after that, if you want.) Change the From menu to say Message Type (if you have Mac OS X 10.5) or Every Message (if you have Mac OS X 10.4). Then, next to Move Message, select the Spam mailbox that you just created. The rule should now look like:

   

   Please note that although the rule looks like it will move every message to the Spam mailbox, because you have installed SpamSieve’s plug-in, it will only move the spam messages.

   Now click OK to close the rule and save your changes. Apple Mail may ask if you want to apply the rule; click Don’t Apply (or No if you have Mac OS X 10.4).

4. Drag the SpamSieve rule to the top of the list so that SpamSieve will be able to filter all of your mail.

   

5. Delete any messages in the Junk mailbox. The spam messages will move to the Trash mailbox. (If you do not have a Junk mailbox you can skip this step.)

6. Go to the Junk Mail tab of Apple Mail’s Preferences window and uncheck Enable junk mail filtering. This will hide Mail’s Junk mailbox and disable its junk mail filter so that it doesn’t interfere with SpamSieve.

   

7. So that it starts off at a good accuracy level, you should now train SpamSieve with some examples of your good and spam messages. (There should be spam messages in the Trash from Step 5.) To train SpamSieve with some messages, select them in Apple Mail’s message list, and then choose one of the SpamSieve - Train as ___ commands from the Message menu.

SpamSieve will now automatically move new spam messages that you receive to the mailbox called Spam. If SpamSieve is not running when you receive new messages, it will launch automatically.

To further customize SpamSieve, you can use the SpamSieve - Change Settings command in Mail’s Message menu or modify the rule. You can optionally turn off Mail’s New mail sound in the General preferences and instead let SpamSieve notify you only when you receive new non-spam messages.

If you are using an iPhone, it is recommended that you set both Apple Mail and the iPhone to connect to your account via IMAP rather than POP. To do this, choose IMAP as the Account Type when setting up the account in Mail. This way, SpamSieve on your Mac will be able to filter the spam out of the inbox on the iPhone.

3.1.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train as Spam from the Message menu. The messages will be colored in gray and moved to the Spam mailbox. To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train as Good from the Message menu.

The keyboard shortcuts for these commands are Command-Control-S and Command-Control-G. You can change the keyboard shortcuts from the Keyboard & Mouse pane of System Preferences.

3.1.3   Manually Processing Messages

To manually ask SpamSieve to sift through a mix of spam and good messages, select the messages and choose Apply Rules from the Message menu. SpamSieve will move the ones that it thinks are spam to the Spam mailbox.

3.1.4   Spam Message Colors

SpamSieve sets the colors of spam messages to reflect how spammy it thinks they are. The most spammy messages are colored Blue. Less spammy messages are colored Gray, Purple, Red, Orange, or Yellow (in that order); good messages are left uncolored. The Change Settings command lets you enable or disable spam message coloring.

If you tell Mail to sort the Spam mailbox by color, the most spammy messages will be at the top, and the least spammy ones at the bottom. Thus, if you are skimming the Spam mailbox for false positives, you should spend more time examining the messages at the bottom.

You can also use rules in Mail to file messages into different mailboxes (or otherwise process them differently) based on how spammy they are.

• To move all spam messages to a single mailbox, create a single rule named SpamSieve, as shown here:

  

• To separate spam messages by color (spamminess), you should instead create two or more rules. The first rule should be named SpamSieve [Score]. As above, you probably want the conditions to be Message Type is Mail (or Every Message if you have Mac OS X 10.4). When this rule is applied, SpamSieve will calculate the spam score of the message and set its color accordingly. The actions of the [Score] rule will be ignored.

  Below the [Score] rule you can create one or more rules that process messages based on their color. Each of these rules should have a name that starts with SpamSieve, followed by one or more color names in square brackets. Again, the rule conditions should be Every Message. For example, to make a rule that matches the most spammy Blue and Gray messages, you would name it SpamSieve [Blue][Gray] (or SpamSieve [Gray][Blue]). As a shorthand for listing all of the colors, you can simply write [Spam]. To match non-spam messages you can write [White]. You can include additional descriptive text after the brackets to remind you of what the rule does.

  Example: To move blocklisted messages to the trash and other spam messages to the Spam mailbox, you would need three rules:

  1. SpamSieve [Score] (calculates the spam score/color) / Message Type is Mail / Move Message to mailbox Spam

  2. SpamSieve [Blue] (move very spammy messages to the trash ) / Message Type is Mail / Move Message to mailbox Trash

  3. SpamSieve [Spam] (move the remaining spam messages) / Message Type is Mail / Move Message to mailbox Trash

3.2.1   Installing

1. Choose Show Other Scripts from SpamSieve’s SpamSieve menu. Copy the files from the For Emailer Users folder into Emailer’s AppleScripts folder:

   

   You may need to quit and re-launch Emailer in order for it to notice that you have installed the SpamSieve AppleScripts.

2. If you want SpamSieve to color messages that it thinks are spam, set up a mail action in Emailer that looks like this (using the Define Actions… button to set the “Run the AppleScript” action):

   

3. If, instead, you want SpamSieve to move suspected spam messages to a Spam folder (that it creates automatically), set up a mail action in Emailer that looks like this:

   

SpamSieve will now automatically color or move new spam messages that you receive, depending on which mail action you set up. If SpamSieve is not running when you receive new messages, it will launch automatically.

3.2.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train Spam from Emailer’s Scripts menu. To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train Good from Emailer’s Scripts menu.

3.2.3   Manually Processing Messages

To manually ask SpamSieve to color or move messages that it thinks are spam, select the messages and choose SpamSieve - Color If Spam or SpamSieve - Move If Spam from Emailer’s Scripts menu.

3.3.1   Installing

1. Go to Entourage’s Tools menu and select Junk E-mail Protection (or Junk Mail Filter in Entourage v.X). Turn off Entourage’s junk filter by clicking None and then OK (or uncheck Enable Junk Mail Filter in Entourage v.X).

2. Open the Mailing List Manager, also in the Tools menu, and see if there are any items listed there. If so, you can leave them for now, but if you find that SpamSieve isn’t processing certain messages, you should either make sure that Do not apply rules to list messages is unchecked for each Mailing List Manager rule or you should try removing the rules from the Mailing List Manager. (You can re-create them as regular rules.)

3. Open Entourage’s Preferences window. If you see an option in the General Preferences for Sync Services, select it and make sure that Synchronize contacts with Address Book and .Mac is checked. This will cause Entourage to sync its contacts with the Mac OS X address book so that SpamSieve can access your addresses and know from the start that your regular contacts aren’t spammers. You are now done with Step 3.

   If you don’t see Sync Services (meaning that you have a version of Entourage prior to 11.2.3 or a version of Mac OS X prior to 10.4), then there are a few more things to do:

   • If you have Entourage 2004 or later, go to Entourage’s Security preferences and make sure that Warn before allowing an external application to access the address book is unchecked. If there are no Security preferences in your version of Entourage, you can skip this step.
   • Double-click the SpamSieve application and choose Preferences from the SpamSieve menu. Make sure that Use Entourage address book is checked, and click the Load button. Then click on the SpamSieve icon in the Dock and choose Update Address Book “Me” Card from the SpamSieve menu (next to the Apple menu).

4. Choose Install Entourage Scripts from the SpamSieve menu. After you quit and re-launch Entourage, you should four SpamSieve items in Entourage’s Scripts menu:

   

5. Now, set up a mail rule in Entourage that looks like this:

   

   To do this, choose Rules from Entourage’s Tools menu. Click on the tab corresponding to the type of account you have (e.g. POP). If you have more than one kind of account, you will need to create an identical rule for each account type. Click the New button. Change the name of the rule to SpamSieve - Move If Spam. Then click just to the left of Change status to select the first action. Click Remove Action to delete the Change status action. Click on the menu that says Set category and select Run AppleScript. Then click the Script… button and Select the SpamSieve - Move If Spam\cmM file. This file is stored in the Entourage Script Menu Items folder:

   

   It is important that you create the rule exactly as shown. Do not add additional actions below the action that runs the AppleScript. Such actions would apply to all messages (not just spam ones), which is probably not what you want.

6. If you are using a POP account and have no other Entourage rules, you are now done. If you have Entourage rules to filter your non-spam messages, or if you are using an IMAP, Hotmail, or Exchange account, you will need to do a few more things. Drag the SpamSieve rule to the top of the list and then follow the instructions in Two SpamSieve Rules.

SpamSieve will now automatically move new spam messages that you receive to the Junk E-mail folder. If SpamSieve is not running when you receive new messages, it will launch automatically.

The following customizations are optional but recommended:

• Choose Entourage ‣ Preferences… and click on Notification. Turn off the sounds and new mail notifications, and let SpamSieve notify you only when you receive new non-spam messages.
• If you’re using an IMAP account, choose Tools ‣ Accounts. Edit the account and click on the Options tab. Make sure that Always download complete message bodies is checked and that Partially receive messages over is not checked.

To further customize SpamSieve, you can use the Change Settings command in Entourage’s Scripts menu.

3.3.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train Spam from Entourage’s Scripts menu. To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train Good from Entourage’s Scripts menu.

The keyboard shortcuts for these commands are Command-Control-S and Command-Control-G.

Note that due to the way Entourage’s AppleScript interface works, you may not be able to train SpamSieve by selecting messages in mail views. Instead, select the messages in their actual folders. Also, the training commands do not move IMAP messages to/from the spam folder as they do POP messages.

Make sure that you correct SpamSieve’s mistakes by using the commands in the Scripts menu—do not click the underlined blue text to indicate that a message is not spam.

3.3.3   Manually Processing Messages

To manually ask SpamSieve to move messages that it thinks are spam to the Junk E-mail folder, select the messages and choose Apply Rule ‣ All Rules from Entourage’s Message menu.

3.3.4   Spam Message Categories

SpamSieve colors spam messages in Entourage using one of two categories. Messages that you mark as spam (using the SpamSieve - Train Spam command) and incoming messages that SpamSieve thinks are spam are colored with category Junk. Incoming messages that SpamSieve thinks are spam, but which it is less sure about, are colored with category Uncertain Junk. This makes it easier for you to check through the Junk E-mail folder for false positives.

It is also possible to have Entourage put the Junk and Uncertain Junk messages in separate folders. To do this, setup your SpamSieve rules in Entourage as shown here. Create a new folder in Entourage called Uncertain Junk. Then create a third rule called SpamSieve - Move Uncertain Messages that looks like SpamSieve - Move Messages, except set it to match category Uncertain Junk and choose the Uncertain Junk folder for it to move the messages to.

You can adjust the threshold for uncertainty in SpamSieve’s preferences. For example, if you want SpamSieve to put blocklisted messages in the trash and other spam messages in the Junk E-mail folder, you would set the threshold to 98. Then set SpamSieve - Move Messages to put messages in the Deleted Items folder, and set SpamSieve - Move Uncertain Messages to put messages in the Junk E-mail folder.

To turn off the uncertain spam feature, so that all spam messages are marked using the Junk category, use the Change Settings command.

3.3.5   Two SpamSieve Rules

This section, for Entourage 2004 and 2008 users, describes how to setup Entourage rules for SpamSieve if:

• you are using an IMAP, Hotmail, or Exchange account, or
• you want to filter non-spam messages with additional Entourage rules, after they’ve been processed by SpamSieve

At this point, you should have followed the instructions in the previous section to create an Entourage rule for SpamSieve. Uncheck the Do not apply other rules… option for the rule so that it looks like this:

Then, create a second rule that looks like:

The action of the rule should be to move the messages to the Junk E-mail folder. After setting up the rule, make sure that the SpamSieve - Move Messages rule appears directly below the SpamSieve - Move If Spam rule in Entourage’s Rules window. Any additional rules that you want to process the non-spam messages should be listed below the SpamSieve - Move Messages rule.

Note: If you are using Gmail and IMAP with Entourage, change the criterion for the “SpamSieve - Move If Spam” rule from “All messages” to “Folder Is Inbox (Gmail).”

3.3.6   IMAP Accounts and Entourage v.X

Entourage v.X does not support moving IMAP (or Hotmail or Exchange) messages via AppleScript. Thus, if you have one of these types of accounts, the spam messages will not be moved to your Junk E-mail folder. The best solution is to update to Entourage 2004 or 2008, which do not have this limitation. If you do not wish to do this, here are some possible workarounds:

• If you do not require IMAP, you can try creating a POP account in Entourage and re-entering your account information. Many IMAP accounts also work via POP, and this will allow SpamSieve to move the messages that it thinks are spam.
• Create an Entourage rule that moves messages that SpamSieve has marked as junk into another folder. After receiving mail, manually apply this rule to the messages in your IMAP account.
• Make a mail view of your IMAP account that looks for messages that are not junk. In this way, you can view your good messages without being distracted by the spam ones.

3.4.1   Installing

If you are using Eudora 5.2 or Eudora 6 Lite, please see the Eudora 5.2 section.

1. Double-click the SpamSieve application and choose Install Eudora Plug-In from the SpamSieve menu. SpamSieve will install its plug-in, disable other junk mail plug-ins (which would conflict with SpamSieve), and reveal the Eudora application file for you.

   

2. Select the Eudora application file and choose Get Info from the Finder’s File menu. Expand the Plug-ins pane, and check the Esoteric Settings plug-in to enable it. Make sure that SpamWatch OSX and SpamHeaders OSX are unchecked. You can now close the info window and launch Eudora.

   

   When you start up Eudora, you should see SpamSieve listed in the About Message Plug-ins… window that is accessible from the Eudora menu. Please note that the version number displayed in this window is the version of the SpamSieve Eudora Plug-In; it will not be the same as the version number of the SpamSieve application. The current plug-in version is displayed in SpamSieve’s about box.

3. Choose Preferences… from the Eudora menu, scroll down to the Junk Extras settings panel (which is at the very bottom), and check Always enable Junk/Not Junk menu items. Next, select the Junk Mail pane and make sure that Hold junk in Junk mailbox is checked. The Junk Threshold slider must be set to the middle position (50). If you are using IMAP, make sure that Run junk scoring plugins on this IMAP account is checked in the IMAP settings pane.

Now Eudora will use SpamSieve to filter all incoming messages. It will move the spam messages to the Junk mailbox. This happens before Eudora runs any incoming message filters that you have set up.

Normally, Eudora will launch the SpamSieve application when new messages arrive or when you train SpamSieve from inside Eudora. If this does not happen, make sure that the SpamSieve application is stored directly in your applications folder.

3.4.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve to recognize your spam, select one or more spam messages (in any mailbox) and then choose Junk from Eudora’s Message menu.

To train SpamSieve to recognize your good mail, select one or more non-spam messages (in any mailbox) and then choose Not Junk from Eudora’s Message menu.

You can also use toolbar buttons for training SpamSieve.

3.4.3   Manually Processing Messages

It is not possible to manually process selected Eudora 6 messages with SpamSieve. Incoming messages will be processed automatically, however.

3.4.4   Setting Options

Eudora applies SpamSieve to all incoming messages. The Junk Mail area of Eudora’s preferences lets you customize how Eudora interacts with SpamSieve. Note that the Junk Threshold slider will have no effect because SpamSieve always considers messages with scores of 50 or above to be spam. Thus, you should set Eudora’s junk threshold to 50 and use the slider in the Advanced tab of SpamSieve’s preferences if you need to adjust its sensitivity.

Other settings in the Junk Mail pane do affect SpamSieve. For instance, if you check Mail isn’t junk if the sender is in an address book, then Eudora will not pass those messages along to SpamSieve; it will assume that they are good. Note that Eudora always considers your address to be in its address book, even though it may not be explicitly listed there. Thus, if you receive spam that is forged so that it appears to be sent from your own address, you must uncheck Mail isn’t junk if the sender is in an address book in order for SpamSieve to catch it.

To still have SpamSieve whitelist your address book, you can export the Eudora address book to vCard and then import it into the Mac OS X Address Book, or use SpamSieve’s Import Addresses… command to import the Eudora Nicknames file.

The Junk Extras area of Eudora’s preferences lets you control some additional settings, such as whether junk messages are removed from the mail server.

3.4.5   Updating Eudora

Re-installing the Eudora application or updating it to a newer version may have the side effect of enabling Eudora’s built-in junk mail filter plug-ins, which would interfere with SpamSieve. The next time you launch SpamSieve, it should detect this situation and disable the plug-ins automatically.

3.4.6   Installing the Plug-In Manually

If the Install Eudora Plug-In command doesn’t work, you can install the plug-in manually as follows:

1. Go to the SpamSieve menu and choose Show Other Scripts.

2. In the Finder window that opens, hold down the Apple key and press Up Arrow. Now you should see a window containing the file SpamSieve Eudora Plug-In.

3. Create the folder:

   /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Eudora/PlugIns/
   

   and drag the SpamSieve Eudora Plug-In file into it.

3.5.1   Installing

Using SpamSieve with Eudora 6 is highly recommended. However, SpamSieve can also work with Eudora 5.2, and some Eudora 6 users may prefer the configuration described here because it is more customizable.

1. Choose Show Other Scripts from SpamSieve’s SpamSieve menu. Move the SpamSieve Eudora Helper file in the For Eudora 5.2 Users folder to the Applications folder of your hard disk. You will need to launch this applet the first time you use SpamSieve with Eudora.

   Also in the For Eudora 5.2 Users folder is the Uninstall Eudora Helper file. Run this applet if you no longer want to use SpamSieve with Eudora.

2. Create a mailbox in Eudora called Spam that is at the same level as the In mailbox. When you receive new spam messages, SpamSieve will move them to the Spam mailbox. It will also mark good messages by setting their priority to lowest (indicated by two downward pointing carets) and mark spam messages by setting their status to transfer error (indicated by a red “X”).

3.5.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them. Choose the Filter Messages command in Eudora’s Special menu. Then double-click Train Spam.

To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them. Choose the Filter Messages command from Eudora’s Special menu. Then double-click Train Good.

3.5.3   Manually Processing Messages

To manually ask SpamSieve to mark or move messages that it thinks are spam, select one or more of them. Choose the Filter Messages command in Eudora’s Special menu. Then double-click Filter.

3.5.4   Setting Options

By configuring the SpamSieve Eudora Helper applet, you can tell SpamSieve to process your good messages and spam messages in other ways. First, quit the applet. Then open it using the Script Editor program in the AppleScript folder of your Applications folder. The top of the script contains the following lines:

property moveToSpamFolder     : true  -- moves spams to a "Spam" mailbox
property markSpamMessages     : true  -- marks spams with red x
property markSpamMessagesRead : false -- marks spams as "already read"
property labelSpamMessages    : false -- colors spam messages brown
property markGoodMessages     : true  -- marks good messages with carets
property labelGoodMessages    : false -- colors good messages green
property removeSpamMessagesFromServer : false

You can change a false to true or a true to false to set the options the way you want. For instance, to have SpamSieve not move spam messages into a separate mailbox, change the true in the first line to false. When you are finished making changes, choose Save in Script Editor’s File menu, close the window, and then re-launch the SpamSieve Eudora Helper.

Script Editor 2.0 cannot edit the SpamSieve Eudora Helper applet. To customize the applet, use Script Editor 1.9 or a third-party script editor.

3.5.5   Eudora Limitations

The following limitations are due to problems with Eudora’s “notification” interface. Because of these limitations it is recommended that you use Eudora 6 and the SpamSieve Eudora Plug-In, as described in the Eudora 6 section. The plug-in avoids these limitations.

• Eudora gives messages to SpamSieve after all the other filters have run. It is not possible to change this ordering.
• SpamSieve cannot filter messages that are moved by other filters. For instance, if you have a filter that moves incoming messages from Steve Jobs to a separate mailbox, SpamSieve will not mark any of those messages as spam, even if a spammer pretends to be Jobs. This limitation applies to both automatic filtering of incoming mail and manual filtering of selected messages.
• Sometimes the wrong message is marked. That is, SpamSieve may decide that message A is spam and ask Eudora to mark it with a red “X”; in rare circumstances, Eudora will instead mark some other message B with the “X.” You can tell if this has happened by comparing SpamSieve’s log to the way the messages are marked in Eudora. This problem seems to occur when the In mailbox is sorted.
• Sometimes SpamSieve never sees a message that should have been filtered. You can tell if this has happened by the absence of that message in the log. It may help to remove any “notify user” filter action that you have set up.
• Sometimes SpamSieve determines that a message is good or spam, but Eudora does not mark it at all. You can tell if this has happened by comparing SpamSieve’s log to the way the messages are marked in Eudora.
• SpamSieve cannot add or filter messages that are stored in the Trash mailbox or in mailbox files outside the Mail Folder folder in the Eudora Folder. Note that this includes all IMAP messages. To access these messages, first move them to a non-trash mailbox file that is stored inside the Mail Folder folder.
• If you manually apply filters while Eudora is in the process of downloading mail, Eudora will show the SpamSieve dialog box twice. If this happens, just choose Skip the second time.
• Sometimes Eudora erroneously shows the SpamSieve dialog when you check for new mail.
• Sometimes after a long delay in talking to the mail server, Eudora stops notifying SpamSieve when it receives new messages. You can work around this by quitting and re-launching the SpamSieve Eudora Helper.

3.6.1   Installing

To enable SpamSieve, open GyazMail’s Preferences window and click Junk Filter. Make sure that Enable Junk filtering is checked and that the pop-up menu says SpamSieve.

By default, GyazMail will color the spam messages brown. If you want the spam messages to also be put in a separate folder, create a folder called Spam. Then click on Rules in the Preferences window and create a new rule as shown:

3.6.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select the messages, go to GyazMail’s Message menu, and choose Junk ‣ Mark as Junk. This will make the Message ‣ Status ‣ Junk item checked.

To train SpamSieve with good messages, select the messages, go to GyazMail’s Message menu, and choose Junk ‣ Mark as Not Junk. This will make the Message ‣ Status ‣ Junk item unchecked.

You can also use the Junk button on the toolbar or the Message ‣ Status ‣ Junk menu command to toggle the junk status of the selected messages.

3.6.3   Manually Processing Messages

To manually ask SpamSieve whether the selected messages are spam, choose Junk ‣ Recheck Junk Status from the Message menu.

3.7.1   Installing

Mailsmith 2.0 and later feature direct integration with SpamSieve. This is more convenient and easier to use than the script- and filter-based integration that was necessary when using previous versions of Mailsmith. You can enable SpamSieve simply by clicking the Use SpamSieve checkbox in the Spam Handling pane of Mailsmith’s preferences. For more information about using SpamSieve with Mailsmith, please see Chapter 8 of the Mailsmith User Manual.

3.7.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them and then choose Mark as Spam from Mailsmith’s Message menu. To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them and then choose Mark as Non-Spam from Mailsmith’s Message menu.

3.7.3   Identifying Spam Messages

When using SpamSieve with Mailsmith, Mailsmith tags messages using the Is Spam and Is Not Spam properties. Although you can use Mailsmith’s Advanced Query feature to search on these properties, they are otherwise not visible in the user interface. Therefore, you should mark spam messages in a visible way, either by letting Mailsmith move them to a separate mailbox, or by setting up a filter to change the messages’ labels based on their Is Spam and Is Not Spam properties. Otherwise, you will not be able to correct SpamSieve’s mistakes to improve its accuracy.

In Mailsmith 2.2 (in public beta as of this writing), this is no longer a concern because Mailsmith automatically marks each message with its spam score, from 0 to 100.

3.7.4   Mailsmith Extras

Choose Show Other Scripts from SpamSieve’s SpamSieve menu. This reveals the Mailsmith Extras folder, which contains AppleScripts for use with Mailsmith. These make it possible for scripters to further customize and automate the labeling and marking of messages in Mailsmith. If you are using Mailsmith 2.0 and do not write your own AppleScripts, you can ignore the Mailsmith Extras folder.

You can add the AppleScripts to Mailsmith’s Scripts menu by copying them to the Scripts folder inside the Mailsmith Support folder. A filter such as the following may be used to change the labels of incoming spam messages.

This filter will pass all messages along to SpamSieve for analysis. It will set the Is Spam or Is Not Spam property of the message, and change the label of the message if it is spam. This is roughly equivalent to enabling SpamSieve in Mailsmith’s preferences, but because it uses AppleScript it is more customizable. Additionally, you can change the filter criteria to pass only select messages along to SpamSieve.

3.8.1   Installing

1. Choose Show Other Scripts from SpamSieve’s SpamSieve menu. Copy the files from the For Outlook Express 5 Users folder to the Script Menu Items folder inside the Microsoft User Data folder (which is likely in your Documents folder).
2. Follow the instructions for Entourage to create a rule in Outlook Express that applies the SpamSieve - Move If Spam script. SpamSieve will now move new spam messages that you receive to the Spam folder. If SpamSieve is not running when you receive new messages, it will launch automatically.

3.8.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train Spam from Outlook Express’s Scripts menu. To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train Good from Outlook Express’s Scripts menu. The keyboard shortcuts for these commands are Command-Control-S and Command-Control-G.

Make sure that you correct SpamSieve’s mistakes by using the commands in the Scripts menu—do not click the underlined blue text to indicate that a message is not spam.

3.8.3   Manually Processing Messages

To manually ask SpamSieve to move messages that it thinks are spam, select the messages and choose SpamSieve - Move If Spam from Outlook Express’s Scripts menu.

3.9.1   Installing

If you are using PowerMail 4, please see the PowerMail 4 section.

PowerMail 5 ships with built-in support for SpamSieve. To enable it, go to the Mark as Spam pane of PowerMail’s Preferences window. Click the Spam filter assistant… button and tell the assistant that you want to use SpamSieve. For more information about how to configure PowerMail’s handling of spam messages, please see the PowerMail documentation.

3.9.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them and then choose Mark as Spam from the Mail menu. To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them and then choose Mark as Good from the Mail menu.

3.10.1   Installing

1. Choose Show Other Scripts from SpamSieve’s SpamSieve menu. Copy the files from the For PowerMail 4.x Users folder to the PowerMail Scripts folder inside the PowerMail Files folder. The PowerMail Files folder is probably located in your Documents folder.

   

2. If you want SpamSieve to label messages that it thinks are spam, set up a filter in PowerMail that looks like this:

   

3. If, instead, you want SpamSieve to move suspected spam messages to a Spam folder (that it creates automatically), set up the filter to use the SpamSieve - Move If Spam script instead.

SpamSieve will now mark or move new spam messages that you receive. If SpamSieve is not running when you receive new messages, it will launch automatically.

3.10.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train Spam from PowerMail’s Scripts menu. To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them and then choose SpamSieve - Train Good from PowerMail’s Scripts menu.

3.10.3   Manually Processing Messages

To manually ask SpamSieve to label or move messages that it thinks are spam, select the messages and choose SpamSieve - Label If Spam or SpamSieve - Move If Spam from PowerMail’s Scripts menu.

3.10.4   IMAP Accounts

PowerMail does not support moving IMAP messages via AppleScript. Thus, if you use IMAP the SpamSieve - Move If Spam script will not move spam messages into your Spam folder. IMAP users should create the rule that uses the labeling script.

3.11.1   Installing

1. Choose Install Thunderbird Plug-In from SpamSieve’s SpamSieve menu.

2. Launch Thunderbird. Choose Add-ons (or Extensions if you have Thunderbird 1.5) from the Tools menu.

3. Click the Install button in the window that just opened. Thunderbird will ask you to select a file.

4. Click on Desktop, select the SpamSieve Thunderbird Plug-In.xpi file, and click Open.

5. Click the Install now button.

6. Quit Thunderbird and re-launch it. If you now go to the Tools menu and choose Add-ons (Extensions if you have Thunderbird 1.5) you should see the SpamSieve Thunderbird Plug-In listed there. Next to it will be the version of the plug-in. The current plug-in version is always listed at the bottom of SpamSieve’s about box. You can now delete the SpamSieve Thunderbird Plug-In.xpi file from your desktop.

7. Do this step only if you have Thunderbird 1.5. Choose Junk Mail Controls from the Tools menu. You can now configure the junk filtering settings for your different accounts. On the Settings tab, make sure that:

   • Trust junk mail headers set by is unchecked.
   • Move incoming messages determined to be junk mail to is checked.
   • When I manually mark messages as junk is checked.
   • When displaying HTML messages marked as junk, sanitize the HTML is checked.

   On the Adaptive Filter tab, make sure that Enable adaptive junk mail detection is checked.

8. Do this step only if you have Thunderbird 2.x. Choose Account Settings from the Tools menu. For each of your accounts in the list at the left (plus “Local Folders”), click on Junk Settings and make sure that:

   • Enable adaptive junk mail controls for this account is checked.
   • Trust junk mail headers set by is unchecked.
   • Move new junk messages to is checked.

SpamSieve will now automatically filter your incoming mail.

3.11.2   Training SpamSieve

To train SpamSieve with spam messages, select one or more of them and then choose Message ‣ Mark ‣ As Junk or click the Junk button in the toolbar. To train SpamSieve with good messages, select one or more of them and then choose Message ‣ Mark ‣ As Not Junk or click the Not Junk button in the toolbar.

3.11.3   Manually Processing Messages

To manually ask SpamSieve to determine whether some messages are spam, select the messages and choose Message ‣ Mark ‣ Run Junk Mail Controls.

4.2.1   Whitelisting Previous Recipients

For added safety, you can tell Mail that people who you’ve sent mail to will never send you spam. To do this, open the Rules section of Mail’s Preferences window and edit the SpamSieve rule. Change the condition that says Every Message to Sender is not in my Previous Recipients. Mail will then assume that such messages are good, without showing them to SpamSieve. You might not want to do this, however, if you regularly receive spam messages that are forged so as to appear as though they were sent from one of your previous correspondents.

4.2.2   Automatically Deleting Old Spam Messages

Mail has a feature, accessible from the Mailbox Behaviors (or Special Mailboxes) tab of the Accounts preferences, that can automatically delete old spam messages from the Junk mailbox. You can use this feature if you tell SpamSieve to put spam messages in the Junk mailbox instead of the Spam mailbox.

(Note: If you do this, be careful not to use the Junk and Not Junk buttons that will appear in Mail when the Junk mailbox is active; you should always use the SpamSieve - Train as Good and SpamSieve - Train as Spam commands instead. You can use the Customize Toolbar… command in Mail’s View menu to remove the Junk button from the toolbar. Also, if you select a message that SpamSieve has classified as spam, Mail will show a banner saying that you marked it as junk. Ignore this.)

To tell SpamSieve to use the Junk mailbox, open Mail’s Preferences window and click on Junk Mail. Make sure that Enable junk mail filtering is checked. Select Move it to the Junk mailbox. If Mail asks whether you want to move all the messages to the Junk mailbox, say No. Select Perform custom actions. Then click the Advanced… button and edit the rule such that the conditions don’t match any messages. For example, use these two conditions:

• Message is addressed to my Full Name
• Message is not addressed to my Full Name

Click OK to close the sheet. Do not make any further changes to the Junk Mail preferences.

Go to the Rules section of Mail’s preferences and change the SpamSieve rule to move the messages to the Junk mailbox instead of the Spam mailbox. Finally, choose SpamSieve - Change Settings from Mail’s Message menu and, when prompted, say that the name of your spam mailbox is Junk.

4.2.3   Changing the Name of the Spam Mailbox

You can change the name of the mailbox where incoming spam messages are stored. For example, you might put a space in front of the name to make it sort to the top of your mailbox list. To do this, simply rename the Spam mailbox in Mail by selecting it and choosing Rename… from the Mailbox menu. The SpamSieve rule in Mail’s preferences should automatically update to reflect the new mailbox name. (To change the spam mailbox to a different mailbox that already exists, open the SpamSieve rule in Mail’s preferences and select that mailbox from the pop-up menu.)

Then choose SpamSieve - Change Settings from Mail’s Message menu and, when prompted, enter the new mailbox name. This will tell SpamSieve where to put the messages when you use the SpamSieve - Train as Spam command. You can also enter the name of a different mailbox; some people like to enter Deleted Messages so that messages trained as spam are moved directly to the trash.

4.2.4   Marking Incoming Spam Messages

Normally, SpamSieve puts incoming spam messages in the Spam mailbox, and it colors them according to how spammy they are. You can customize this behavior by editing the actions of the SpamSieve rule in Mail’s preferences. For example, to mark the spam messages as read, click the + button at the bottom of the rule sheet, and choose Mark as Read from the pop-up menu.

4.2.5   Redirecting Good Messages to Another Account

When traveling, especially if you have a Palm or BlackBerry, you might want to avoid downloading spam messages from the server. You can do this by letting your Mac at home filter the messages from your main mail account and redirect the non-spam messages to the account that you access when traveling. The spam messages will stay in the Spam mailbox on your Mac.

Open Mail’s Preferences window and click the Add Rule button. Enter a description, such as “Redirect good messages to handheld.” Change the condition from From to Every message. Then change the action from Move Message to Redirect Message and enter the e-mail address of the account that you check when traveling. Click OK. Finally, drag your newly created rule so that it is just below the SpamSieve rule.

4.2.6   Separate Spam Mailboxes for Each Account

Normally, SpamSieve puts the spam messages from all your Apple Mail accounts into a single mailbox called Spam. If you want to have a separate spam mailbox for each account, first create the requisite empty mailboxes. Then, create one rule in Mail for each account. The description for the rule should be SpamSieve - [AccountName] where [AccountName] is any text that helps you identify the account. The rule’s condition should be that the account is [AccountName], and the action should be to move the message to the spam mailbox for that account.

As this example demonstrates, you can have multiple SpamSieve rules in Apple Mail, with arbitrary conditions, so long as all of their descriptions start with SpamSieve. It is recommended that you arrange the conditions such that only one SpamSieve rule will be applied to any given message.

4.2.7   Setting up a Spam Filtering Drone

This tutorial from MacMerc shows how to set up a spare Mac as a spam filtering drone. The idea is that multiple computers check the same IMAP account. One Mac (the drone) downloads all the messages and filters them with SpamSieve. The others (your main Mac, your PC at work, your iPhone, etc.) get a spam-free inbox. If a spam message gets through to your main Mac, you can drag it to the AddToSpam mailbox to train the drone. For any given IMAP account, there should be only only copy of SpamSieve (drone or regular) filtering its mail.

5.1.1   About SpamSieve

The About SpamSieve window shows the credits, download and support information, and the current version numbers of SpamSieve’s plug-ins.

You can always download the latest version of SpamSieve from the SpamSieve Web site.

Questions about SpamSieve may be sent to spamsieve@c-command.com. I’m always looking to improve SpamSieve, so please feel free to send any feature requests to that address.

To make sure that you have the latest version of SpamSieve, you can use the Software Update feature or subscribe to the SpamSieve News mailing list. The traffic on this list is very low, only one message per new version of SpamSieve.

The SpamSieve RSS feed contains update notices and other SpamSieve news.

The SpamSieve forum is the place to talk with other SpamSieve users, share tips and tricks, and ask questions.

5.1.2   Software Update

Click the Check Now button, and SpamSieve will tell you whether a newer version is available for download. By default, SpamSieve will automatically check for new versions each time it is launched and once per day. You can disable this feature by unchecking the checkbox.

If a new version is available, SpamSieve will tell you what’s new in that version. Click Download to have SpamSieve download the .dmg file for the new version to your Internet downloads folder. Click Download & Install to have it download the .dmg and then update the installed SpamSieve application to the new version.

To check for a new version, SpamSieve contacts a Web server at dreamhost.com. SpamSieve transmits the following information to the server: the name of the product (SpamSieve) and its version, the version of Mac OS X, whether SpamSieve is registered, the name of the current mail program, and the name of the current language. This information is used to guide future development. No personal information is transmitted.

5.1.3   Purchase

This window lets you buy SpamSieve. If you’ve already purchased SpamSieve but it’s running in demo mode, you can you enter your name and serial number to personalize your copy of SpamSieve and remove the demo limitations.

SpamSieve has a free trial period that lasts for 30 days or 7 launches, whichever is longer. To use SpamSieve beyond the demo period, you must purchase it. This entitles you to free updates and support.

To purchase, choose Purchase… from the SpamSieve menu. You can use the Purchase button to enter the online store.

Soon after paying, you’ll receive an e-mail with your serial number. Enter the name and serial number from the e-mail into the Purchase window and click Personalize. If you need to re-install SpamSieve, you can simply re-enter your name and serial number and click Personalize; there’s no need to purchase again.

If you purchased SpamSieve but cannot find your serial number, click the Lost Your Serial Number? button. This will open a form where you can enter your e-mail address and look up your order information.

A license for SpamSieve is good for one person or one computer. You can install it on one Mac, and everyone sharing that Mac can use it (on that Mac). Alternatively, you can install it on your desktop Mac and your laptop; you can then use it on either machine, provided that no one is using it on the other machine.

5.1.4   Install Apple Mail Plug-In

This command installs (or updates) the plug-in that SpamSieve uses to integrate with Apple Mail.

5.1.5   Install Entourage Scripts

This command installs (or updates) the AppleScript files that SpamSieve uses to integrate with Entourage. Occasionally, the script files can become damaged, causing Entourage to ask you to locate the SpamSieve application each time you receive mail or try to train SpamSieve. Using this command to install fresh copies of the scripts (and letting it replace the old ones, when it asks you) should fix that problem.

5.1.6   Install Eudora Plug-In

This command installs (or updates) the plug-in that Eudora 6 uses to communicate with SpamSieve. It also disables any other Eudora junk mail plug-ins, as they would conflict with SpamSieve. The SpamSieve Eudora plug-in is installed in the folder:

/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Eudora/PlugIns/

5.1.7   Show Other Scripts

This opens a folder containing AppleScript files for integrating SpamSieve with DragThing, Emailer, Eudora 5.2, Outlook Express, PowerMail 4, and Mailsmith. These can be installed by dragging them into the proper locations.

Opening the containing folder (using Command-Up-Arrow) reveals the scripts for Entourage, as well as SpamSieve’s plug-ins for Apple Mail and Eudora 6. Normally, there is no need to access these items directly, as SpamSieve can install them automatically (see above). They are accessible here in case you want to install them manually.

5.1.8   Update Address Book “Me” Card

When you use this command, SpamSieve looks at the account information for any e-mail programs that are currently running and adds any e-mail a