Set-Up a Spam Filter for Apple Mail (MacOS X)

for Rice University

Create a mailbox to hold your SPAM with Mailbox, New Mailbox. Enter a descriptive name, such as Spam, and press the OK button.
Go the Mail menu, select Preferences. Click the Rules icon, then Add Rule. Apple Mail will already have some rules on this panel (they are created automatically when you first start using Apple Mail); simply leave them untouched.
In the new rule box, enter a descriptive name in the Description field, such as Spam Filter. Open the first pull-down menu in the list of conditions and select Subject. In the contains field, enter ***SPAM***. In the Perform the following actions section, specify Transfer Message in the first menu and the name of your Spam mailbox in the other. Check your filter against the following example:
If your filter checks out against the example given above, click OK to close the new rules box, then close the Preferences window by clicking the small X button on the upper left.

Periodically check your Spam folder for unsolicited bulk mail, and empty it as needed.

Rick Russell, rickr@rice.edu
2003-06-12