Convert smart mailboxes to rules

I've used smart mailboxes to organise my Inbox and Sent mail. Having converted to an IMAP mail account, I now want to copy messages to a folder or mailbox structure on my local drive. Is there an easy way to convert each smart mailbox into a rule?
Jan-Peter

I heard that the smart playlists chew more memory and make iTunes harder to open. I still actually have 512MB of memory; I know, hard to believe.
I was just looking for an easy way to convert. I "know" how to make a playlist I just didn't want to take the time to convert over 100 smart playlists to reg. playlists.
But thanks for the quick (and accurate) response(s).

Similar Messages

What's the difference between Smart Mailboxes and Rules?

I want to segrate all the spam I get from Apple and others from my real email. I can do this with Smart Mailboxes or Rules (move to mailbox). What is the difference as far as results? Is there any? Advantages and disadvantages?
Thanks!

Smart Mailboxes don't have actions attatched. Basicly, a search feature showing results. You attatch certain criteria to them for what you want to see. They are useful if you have a lot of mail and want to quickly view certain criteria like a certain sender, over a certain age, etc. The messages remain in their original mailbox.
Example: message recieved greater that 365 days. Shows all messages in this criteria for the mailboxes included in the criteria. Messages can be selected and for instance, deleted from there.
Rules are applied to messages downloaded to your inbox. Rules are made for specific criteria you choose, and then you create an action for those messages in that rule.
Example: Criteria-Message from people in my address book ** Action- Set font color to blue. Any message downloaded to your inbox from people in your address book will have a blue font color.
If you choose a move action, then the message will be actually moved from the inbox to whatever you specify.
You can create a rule and look at the criteria you can set and the actions you can perform.

Mail: ANY doesn't work in smart mailboxes or rules?

I want to create a smart mailbox that will copy and archive all messages to/from a particular recipient and e-mails to/from others about the subject of most of the conversation with that recipient. I want the archiving to happen as they arrive in my inboxes and not automatically remove them from the servers--some I still need on the servers to access from multiple locations/machines.
But I can't even get to the archiving issue: the smart mailbox that says 'contains ANY message' meeting these rules:
contains recipient1
contains subject2
always has fewer messages than one that simply 'contains recipient1' so the ANY condition, that in boolean terms should be an OR combination, appears to functionally act as an AND.
When I tried to create a smart mailbox folder to contain two mailboxes, one for contains name1 and one for contains subject2, each of which separately works fine, clicking the smart mailbox folder containing both leaves the window empty, so I can't see the messages name1 and subject2 interlaced in the date sent order or any other. I just get one group or the other by clicking the submailboxes.
And trying to bypass the problem using rules doesn't work either--the 'any' command is as dysfunctional there as it is in the smart mailbox dialog. I can manually search for the relevant terms (recipient1 and subject2) and option+drag them to a mailbox for archiving, but this results in many duplications, especially if repeated over time, not a happy result.
Some searching here and googling suggests that the ANY command is problematic in this OS for a lot of people, but is there a known fix? Or a better way to create a 'smart' archive to do what I want?

Okay, I think I understand better now. So I just ran a test, by creating the following rule:
I specifically chose an address (obviously not the one shown) that I had a message from in my Inbox, and a word that was present in the subject line of several messages in my Inbox. When I ran this rule on my Inbox, it copied exactly the messages I would have expected into the test mailbox. Are you seeing different behavior with the same rule, or is your rule constructed differently?
If the difficulty is with running the rule, note that (as I said earlier) rules only run automatically on unread incoming messages. It won't run automatically on existing messages or on messages on an IMAP mail server that you have read on another device using (in which case they will have been marked as read). If you need to run this in such conditions, you'll have to either run the rule manually or run it via an AppleScript or something similar that is somehow (via something other than Mail) made to execute at certain times/intervals or under certain conditions.
And you're correct, a smart mailbox would be totally inappropriate for what you're trying to do! It would behave exactly as you guessed.

Why are complex Smart Mailbox rules not available?

I wonder if this is a technical limitation in OSX Mail, or simply that Apple can't find a good way to present the UI.
Here are some rules I can create in OSX Mail for filtering or for smart mailboxes:
ALL rule: Find mails which are **in the last 31 days** AND **from [email protected]**
ANY rule: Find mails in the last month **from [email protected]** OR **from [email protected]**
Here's the rule I'd like to create, but can't:
COMPLEX rule: Find mails which are **in the last 31 days** AND ( **from [email protected]** OR **from [email protected]** )
The third rule there combines both ALL and ANY rules. I have yet to see a mail application which supports this form of query in smart mailboxes, yet it seems like a perfectly normal use case (eg, find emails from team members A, B, or C, and which also have quality X).
Smart mailboxes would be much more helpful if they were that little bit smarter.

if you are not into editing smart mailbox plists by hand you can esily accomplish this by creating multiple smart mailboxes and combining them into further smart mailboxes. say, make smart mailboxes 1 and 2 using a bunch of AND conditions and a smart mailbox 3 with the condition that a message is in smart mailbox 1 OR in smart mailbox 2. that said, it's really not clear why this has not been implemented into GUI directly. it's been like this for a very long time. that mac os x hint you found is 4 years old.

Why are Smart Mailboxes and Email Rules on other computers, mail iCloud is off

I have iCloud turned OFF for mail.
Creating/adding Smart Mailboxes or Rules on a iMac show in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.
How do I disable this?

Hi Mark,
It's my understanding rules MAY be beging pushed because iCloud -> Document and Data is checked.
Possibly this something that on the radar to be fixed in a upcomming update, but I have no information on that.
I'm told a good way to get Apple's attention about issues is for as many people as possible to goto http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html and submit feed back.
The more feedback they get on an issue the more likely they will take action.

How do I include sub-folders in a Smart Mailbox?

I've set up a Smart Mailbox using the following rules (ALL) :
1. Message is in Mailbox XXXX
2. Subject contains YYYY
3. Contains attachments
But only 3 messages were found! I then realised that although I carefully selected a high-level mailbox (XXXX), it hasn't looked in the large and very complex set of sub-folders.
Obviously, I don't want a smart mailbox for every sub-folder below XXXX. How do I force a Mail Smart Mailbox to look not only in a selected mailbox, but all its sub-folders too?

Never mind. I worked it out for myself.
Step 1. I created a new Smart Mailbox for any messages in mailbox XXXX, and all its lower level sub-folders, using the Match ANY rule.
Message is in Mailbox XXXX
Message is in Mailbox XXXX-AA
Message is in Mailbox XXXX-BB
Message is in Mailbox XXXX-BB-1
(etc)
Step 2. I then recreated the original Smart Mailbox (OP), but this time I stipulated
1. Message is in Mailbox (new Smart Mailbox). Rules 2 and 3 were unchanged.
It meant I had to create two Smart Mailboxes instead of one, and cost me ten minutes extra work, but it works. That's the main thing.

How can I convert Mail rules into smart mailboxes

I recently posted a report about faults in mail rules that move messages to mailboxes automatically. In light of this, I thought about converting my rules into smart mailboxes. I started, but looked at the number of rules that I have and thought 'there must be an easier way!'
What I'm after is a script, or hints as to how to write a script, that will iterate over all my mailbox rules and add new smart mailboxes. I expect that the Mail program might provide some programatic interface for this, but don't know where to start looking.
Hoping that someone can help me.
Regards, Andy

Well, if coding help is what you want then this isn't the place to ask. The Applescript and Unix forums are here. These are better places to ask about programming.
If you do a Google search on "applescript" you should find the two or three major sites for finding prepared Applescripts or Automator actions, although I don't recall ever seeing one for your intended use. But it can't hurt to look. You'll also find the link to the Applescript language documentation site, but you will also need to examine Mail's provided Applescript programming facilities.
Bash programming manuals abound although nothing necessarily specific to the Mac. OS X implements a reasonably standard Unix implementation of the various supported shell environments. Google searching for "bash tutorial" or programming guides will yield lots of resources.

Smart Mailbox rules broken in 10.9

Ever since installing Mavericks, one of my Smart mailbox which shows emails in the last week with a Rule:
Date received, is this week
shows an empty mailbox.
Is this a known bug? There's lots of discussion around the GMail bugs, but this is a different issue.
Adam

Same problem here and this was working great with other versions.

Smart mailboxes: How to create a rule with an OR statement?

I have three different accounts in Apple Mail.app. I'd like to create a smart mailbox that shows just the sent messages from all three accounts in the past seven days. The rule begins with +Contains messages that match all of the following conditions+
1. The first part of the rule is +Date received is in last 7 days+
2. I hit the plus button to add another part, which is my first account email address +From is equal to [email protected]+ This works fine and displays all outgoing messages from that account for last seven days.
3. I again hit the plus button to add another part, which is my second account email address +From is equal to [email protected]+ Now nothing appears, which is because none of my messages have both addresses in the From field. If I change the match parameter to Any, then all messages, incoming and outgoing from the last seven days, appears.
So I'd like somehow to display all messages from all three accounts that have arrived in the last seven days. How can this be done? As an experiment I entered [email protected] OR [email protected]+ in the From is equal to field. That got me nowhere as well.
Any tips or advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Mail version is 4.4

I compiled and runned this code on my machine and it works fine.
How did you did to compile and run this code ?
Did you put each code on its own file or all codes in the same file ?
I did like this:
I put each code in its own file and put all in the same dir, after I did:
javac -classpath . MainClass.java
After that, I did:
java -classpath . MainClass
I hope this help you
Lucas

How to use Flagged mailbox in rules for smart mailbox?

Since I installted ML I have a new mailbox called Flagged. In Lion I had a smart mailbox called Flagged which did the same.
I used this smart mailbox in Lion in rules of other smart mailboxes. The new mailbox Flagged in ML however can't be selected in a rule for a smart mailbox. It is in fact the only one I can't select.
Am I the only one facing this problem? If so, is there a solution for it?

The only use I've found so far for the Flagged messages is to be able to set different colours for different things and then use the preset mailbox to isolate and concentrate on them:
And, as I'm using iCloud, I also get to see them on my laptop.

A specific bug in Smart Mailbox Rules in Apple Mail on OS X Yosemite

Steps to reproduce:
- Define a Smart Mail Box rule as shown below in screenshot.
- Change the value 7 to 2. So it will be 2 months.
- Close the dialog box.
- Right click on Smart Mailbox and select Edit Smart Mailbox. The dialog still says 7. The 2 never Saves.
Looks like a bug in Apple Mail.

It's already a known bug.

Mail Rules vs Smart Mailbox

What is the difference between say making a rule in email that puts all your emails from a person in a mailbox called "Friend" vs creating a smart mailbox which puts all emails from that friend into a smart mailbox called "Friend"...
Thank you

Just as Barney said... A Smart Mailbox is just like having a permanent search going on. Say if you type in Johnny Appleseed in the search box of the Mail app in the upper right corner. Then all mail from JA will be visible. Make a Smart Mailbox to show all mails from JA, then that Smart Mailbox is doing that same search for you.
As for deleting, yes. If you delete a message from the Smart Mailbox, then you are deleting it from wherever it was. If it was in the Inbox, then it will be deleted. Again, simply because it's just a "Search box".
KOT

Follow-up Rule + smart mailbox

Hello,
I'm trying to set up a smart mailbox in which are all emails I sent but that need follow-up (they are not replied to, or I replied again and still was for reply). What I tried to do is create a rule in which every email 'from' '@my-simpatico.com' should be 'flagged'. Then I set up a smart mailbox that collects 'flagged' messages. Unfortunately it doesn't work - I don't get these messages flagged. I only get them flagged when I send to one of the email accounts which are setup in my Mac Mail. Anyone with a solution please?

ok, the following should do it (more or less).
paste the following into script editor and save it as a script.
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
tell application "Mail"
set flagged status of every message of sent mailbox whose date sent is greater than (current date) - 5* minutes to true
end tell</pre>
then download and install [cronnix|http://homepage.mac.com/aamann/Mail_Scripts.html] and set it to run this script every 5 minutes. The script is pretty self explanatory I hope. you can adjust the number 5 as you like. It will work ok so log as you don't unflag messages too quickly. If you do they might get reflagged when the script runs next time.
P.S. Actually, use [lingon|http://lingon.sourceforge.net> rather than cronnix to schedule it.
you can save the script either as an application (in this case simply drag it to line 2 in lingon) or as a script. in this case line 2 in should look like this:
osascript path/to/script
where path/to/script is the full path to your script.
Message was edited by: V.K.

Smart mailbox rules

I have some smart mailboxes set up within my mail - to divide work emails from personal emails.
I want to automatically forward work emails to a colleague when they arrive.
Is there a way I can set up a rule to apply only to messages within one of the smart mailboxes?
Thanks

No. Rules only apply to messages in the inbox, as they arrive.
You can set up a rule to autoreply to that person, and it won't affect the display in the Smart Mailbox.
Also not, nothing is "in" a Smart Mailbox. It is just a display mechanism that shows you the results of a search. Nothing is moved into that mailbox.

Rules - Smart Mailboxes?

I currently don't have any smart mailboxes, but I have rules to classify all of my in-coming Email into normal mailboxes. Since MobileMe is IMAP-based, I think I ought to create a set of remapping to smart mailboxes equivalent with what I currently have for regular mailboxes.
The trick is that I have a lot of rules involving a lot of addresses.
Is there any semi-automated way to change these rules into smart-mailbox definitions?

Hi Gary
Sorry that I did not reply earlier, I have been busy.
First of all, you are correct that I have set up the email rules on my Mac, using the Apple Mail program (Version 3.4); I used Mail, Preferences, then Rules on the dialog box that comes up. I am fairly new to using rules within that software and it took me a while to work-around the limitations that they have with that software, but I got there in the end and now it is all working great.
Before I talk about the limitations with my current method, let me explain a little more.
1. I connected to MobileMe using Safari, which after logging in ("keep me logged in for 2 weeks") takes you to the web Mail. Well I then clicked the + sign at the bottom of the left frame where the Inbox is at the top to get the "New Mail Folder" dialog box with Location: MobileMe, Name: <blank entry field>.
2. I then created a folder (e.g. Family).
3. Going back to Mail on the Mac, on the left I have an item named "[email protected]" with the names of folders I have previously created on MobileMe below it. A new folder I have just created may not appear immediately, so if that is the case, I select Sync Now from my menu bar MobileMe item (there is an option to show it under the System Preferences, MobileMe, Sync).
4. Once the new folder (e.g. Family) appears under Mail, then I can do a Rule to copy stuff from my Inbox matching certain parameters to that folder on MoblieMe.
As far as getting the folders to appear under the Mail App on my iPhone3G, it seems to happen automatically, as soon as it syncs via wireless with MobileMe.
Once thing to check though is that you have everything right in iTunes when the phone is plugged in to sync with it. In partticular, with iTunes, DEVICES, <phone name> selected on the left, then going to the Info tab, under Mail Accounts, I have "Sync selected Mail accounts" set to only sync with one of my accounts "[email protected]". I have other accounts on my Mac, but only wanted the one that could be pushed on my iPhone.
As far as the "limitation" of my method goes, the main problem is that for mail to be copied to the relevant MobileMe folder, my MacBook Pro needs to be up and running and connected to the Internet. If a new Family email arrives when my MacBook is switched off (e.g. in my backpack while I am walking down the street), then I will still get the email pushed to my iPhone and I will be notified that it has arrived, but I will have to read it in the Inbox. When I next power up my MacBook, with Mail running (I have it set to Open at Login), then (provided that I am on the Internet) it should pick up the email and immediately copy it to the MobileMe Family folder.
Yes, it would be nice if you could make Rules in the MobileMe web application, so that they always work regardless of what you have switched on or connected. We can hope for that later... but I am not holding my breath
Hope that helps...
Richard.

Convert smart mailboxes to rules

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