Message filters run and behave unpredictably
Several of my message filters do not run automatically. The "Filter Log" shows only one of the 49 active filters running. That one filter does not run with predictable results.
I am receiving 10-20 inbound messages per day that may well contain malware or spam. These each have a "ReturnPath" of "<>" and an "AuthenticationResults" that contains the string "dkim=none".
I am attempting to somehow identify and discard inbound messages whose "ReturnPath" is "<>" and whose "AuthenticationResults" contains the string "dkim=none".
I've made several different attempts using several different filter instances. Each works as expected when run manually from the pane that appears in response to tools->"Message Filters". Each of these invocations appears in the "Filter Log" when run manually
I see no evidence that any run automatically, even though I have clicked the checkbox to turn them on. I've tried setting the "Getting New Mail" dropdown to both "Filter before Junk Classification" and "Filter after Junk Classification" with no apparent difference in behavior.
I've tried turning on the "Periodically, every 10 minutes" option with no visible impact.
Many or most of my rules apparently work fine, because each moves a specific message from my inbox to a designated folder. Those moves all happen -- and yet the "Filter Log" shows no record of any of them.
I am running Thunderbird 115.9.0 (32-bit) on a Windows 10 Pro system. I'm a senior developer with more than four decades of professional development experience. I'm very familiar with rule systems.
My email provider is Rackspace, and their technical support is not responsive. This volume of spam/malware is making my email client unusable.
I am eager to pay a monthly support fee -- either directly or through any of the many online payment options such as "buy me a coffee" and such -- in exchange for effective technical support. I have been unable to find any such providers for Thunderbird.
I understand that this is a community of volunteers and I appreciate your attention. I invite any suggestions for workarounds or fixes.
All Replies (1)
Filters that operate in headers that have more than a single entry will act on the first instance of the header they encounter, not all of them, so they may appear to have issues because the last header may not be the one you are actually trying to test.
Thunderbird's filters really only act on messages that arrive in the inbox, so if you have server side filtering moving mail, or a provider like google deciding what is important filtering suffers.
If a message is moved by a filter it is not available for subsequent filters so if earlier filters are likely to move some of the messages again activity will appear random.
Filtering is triggered by the get mail cycle, not the mail push notifications, so they can mess with filtering if enabled.
I find less issues with filtering after junk classification as doing so appears to cover over some timing issues with the download of imap mail and when filters execute. Sometimes they appear to execute before the entire message is actually downloaded. This becomes most apparent with filters on message bodies are involved.
The length of time between mail checks comes into this. Is it set to something like the default 10 or 15 minutes? Increasing checking frequency can see mail never actually completing as the next check over runs the last still incomplete.
Check the physical filter log file. Mine is some 85mb when I checked it today and it loads like molasses on a cold morning. Even after the view text box finally appeared (that took about a minute) it was still not fully loaded viewing today's filtered items took another couple of minutes. You might want to clear it and start again, just to make sure the field is level for this exercise
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