Mail.app rules - how to write the following requirement

Question

I cannot seem to get the following rule working.

Requirement: I want to run a mail filter which says:

If the mail is in Account X, and has subject Y, was received less than 10 days ago, and has no MailTags, I want to move it to the Trash folder.

It seems to work partially - it moves some mail to trash and not some other.

Can anyone suggest assistance? The rule is located at the top of the rules list, so it should be applied first?

thanks.

Answer 1

Please be aware that mail only applies rules to new messages. So deleting old messages may not work as expected, since the rule is checked once when the message is new the "date received" test fails. From the doc:

Rules are automatically applied to incoming messages, but you can apply a new or modified rule to selected messages you’ve already received.

You may apply rules to selected messages by:

Select the messages and then choose Message > Apply Rules.

You may be able to write an applescript to automate the last step.

Answer 2

Try changing the Subject beings with to Subject contains and see what happens.

Answer 3

Try adding the Stop Evaluating Rules action at the very end. When you apply rules, there may be another rule that overrules this one.