Junk Mail Issue
So I'm having a problem where Thunderbird is filtering certain non-junk emails into the junk folder and I cannot work out how to get it to stop.
First of all, I always mark the items as "Not Junk" whenever they turn up. Its usually only a matter of minutes before they filter back into the Junk folder.
I have reset all training data for Junk learning. This has not corrected the issues.
I do have the 'from' addresses saved in my address book, and I have ticked the box under "Do not automatically mark mail as junk if sender is in".
I have tried having "Trust junk mail headers set by" both on and off, made no difference.
I have tried turning "Enable adaptive junk mail controls for this account" off and on, made no difference.
Emails from two addresses continuously get moved to junk, and I have no idea why and what to do about it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
All Replies (16)
Hello there Claire meeste. We haverveld your message We try to help you.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Junk_Mail_Controls
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The button 'Global Junk Preferences' is a shortcut to: 'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Security' > 'Junk' tab This is where you set your default junk mail settings. What to do when you manually mark messages as junk. You can also enable the junk filter log which I have found to be very useful especially when trying to work out what is being filtered.
If you want to clear the data collected and used for Junk Mail controls and reset the training data, click on button 'Reset Training Data'. Click on OK to close and save Options
Click on OK to close and save Account Settings.
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You followed these instructions that I have now sent you?
And then it was unsuccessful?
And do you also have a logbook registration? that's what you can tick to keep track of what's happening at the moment. If you have can you sent me a copy of it!
Greetings Firefox Volunteer.
As my original message states, I have already done all your suggestions. I already reset my training data. It's already doing what I want it to do when I mark something as junk. It's marking things as junk automatically that I don't want it to.
Looking through the log, all it says is "Detected junk message from..." it does not give you any reasons why or any way to stop it filtering message I don't want filtering. It is successfully filtering plenty of legitimate junk mail. I just want it to stop filtering mail I have continuously said isn't junk and have added to my address book as a known and safe sender.
I have had the same problem. I found that it was not eliminated, but greatly reduced, if you change the sequence of filtering to "Filter after Junk classification." I think "Filter before" is the default. There are still some baffling errors in Junk filtering (the Thunderbird algorithm must not be very effective), but the bounce-back-into-Junk problem seems to have gone away. [Note: the private mail server I use applies Spam Assassin to incoming mail, so I'm actually getting 2-stage filtering; most of the end-result errors are false positives, I get very few false negatives.]
Also, you can whitelist the e-mail in question by adding an appropriate filter category. Again, not 100% effective. Both of my suggestions are done for individual Message Filters under the Tools menu, not in Preferences. [running Thunderbird 68.12.0 under Mac OS 10.14.6]
Sorry think I've used confusing language. I'm not filtering these emails myself, the only filtering that occurs is the junk filter. It's moving email in my Inbox to the Junk folder, I send it back to Inbox (by marking as not junk) and it just gets filtered back into Junk.
I've just tried setting up a new filter though, that moves any of these emails, after junk classification, back to inbox. Not sure if this will work though, because as I say, if I manually move them back to Inbox, they just get re-filtered back into Junk. So I feel like it'll move them back the first time, but not the subsequent times, unless I run the filter periodically, and just have these emails bouncing back and forth until I do something with them. It's not exactly ideal.
Will have to wait for more of them to come in now anyway, so we shall see what happens.
Hello there Claire.meese
I found a article. You can read this.
There are TWO places you need to have things set for junk mail.
Overall Settings, menu path: [If running on Windows]: Tools | Options, or [If running on OSX]: Thunderbird | Preferences, or [If running on Linux]: Edit | Preferences .. then Security | Junk
.. and ..
Account-by-account Settings, menu path: [If running on Windows or OSX]: Tools | Account Settings, or [If running on Linux]: Edit | Account Settings .. then, under *each account* in the left pane, Junk Settings.
Your IMAP account is a different account than your old POP account, so be sure things are set correctly in the new account as well as the old (sounds like you've done this, but just to be sure...).
Much junk comes in with spoofed (i.e. fake) sender addresses, so the junk filtering is more influenced by message content and headers than by the name/address of the sender (if the sender is considered at all -- ??).
To exempt messages from a particular sender from the junk controls, make sure that email address is in your address book, then in the settings the receiving account, under "Junk settings", in the "Do not automatically mark mail as junk if the sender is in" area, check the appropriate box (most likely Personal Address Book). Note that this is an account-specific setting, so if you have multiple accounts defined, be sure you do it in the correct account (or just do it in ALL accounts).
Things classified as junk, when you click the "Not junk" button SHOULD go back to the Inbox from which it was moved when first classified as junk.
(I haven't looked into this in detail in quite a long time, so take this with a grain of salt ...) I THINK it does this by adding an additional header to the message that tells it where the message came from, when the system classifies the message as junk. A ramification of this is if the message was placed into the junk folder by some other means (manual move or filter action) it may not have that header and so can't be moved back. If moved there by a filter, make sure the filter first does a [Set Junk Status To][Junk] operation before it does the [Move Message To][Destination folder] operation.
If the junk filtering just isn't doing a good job, sometimes you need to just clean out the old junk database and let it start anew. You can do this by clicking the "Reset Training Data" button under your Global junk settings. As you further train it by marking things "Junk" and "Not Junk" its accuracy should improve.
And this article.
My observations on this appear to be that the junk filter continuously check the entire contents of the inbox. About the only way I have seen that stops it over riding what the user defines is to use POP instead of IMAP. But that defeats the use of folders other than the inbox.
I have seen filters suggested online for placing in the account that effectively are supposed to tell not to mark any mail junk. But I have seen no one that has actually made them work on a consistent basis.
My suggestion is create an account with a mail provider that is not sure they know better than you and redirect all mail to ther account to the new provider.
Greetings Firefox volunteer.
Hello there Claire.meese.
I hope this will help you. There is not much topic feed for this topic, the information remains the same or there is a bug.
Greetings Firefox volunteer.
Gewysig op
As I've already said, twice now, I've followed all the recommended options of resetting training data and marking items not as junk.
I know for a fact that the provider isn't filtering the junk before it gets to Thunderbird.
So I'm still nowhere.
Hello there again. Claire.meese.
Yes I know I did ask you. Is Thunderbird the only mail program that you guys use?
Greetings Firefox volunteer.
Gewysig op
Hello there again Clare.meese.
It could be you have a spammers attack.
One of the methods that spammers use to obtain e-mail addresses is to launch directory attacks on e-mail servers that support the SMTP VRFY command. The VRFY command permits a spammer to ask the mail server whether a par- ticular e-mail address exists without having to actually send a mail message to that address. To find out whether your mail server still supports VRFY, and what to do if it does, please turn to Chapter 12.
https://doc.lagout.org/Others/Blocking%20Spam%20%26%20Spyware%20for%20Dummies.pdf
(Scanned).
Greetings Firefox volunteer.
Hello there Claire.meese
Please read the pdf file.
If a set filter does what it should do and an email arrives, it will go through the set unwanted email of automatic filtering. to implement these functions, you will have to perform these controls manually.
The rest of the filtering will be done manually and will have to be filled in I suppose?
To solve this in one go is indeed a way of filling in continuously. Until it's done right.
Greetings Firefox volunteer
Gewysig op
Blank document.
Gewysig op
Thunderbird and the default email apps on Android and iPhone.
These emails are legitimate emails, they are ones I want to keep. They are not spam. There is literally only two email addresses that are filtered incorrectly (and only one of them that happens consistently). Thunderbird is very good at filtering the legit spam, it's just doing these as well and not learning from it.
We would notice if we were getting brute force attacked, and I'm not sure how that would cause this particular issue?
Also I am not filtering these emails. This is not a message filter issue. This is just an issue with the thunderbird junk filter. I'm just talking about the Inbox and the Junk folders. I have tried to use filters to get around it, to see if I can stop it moving things to junk that aren't junk, but this has nothing to do with the original issue.
Hello there Clair.meese.
When an unwanted mail arrives, it goes to the place or folder where it is placed as junk. In that process, it goes through the option junk mails function. If the mail has arrived in that folder or place, it can be edited. This is done manually and the function can be edited by yourself so that the relevant situations can no longer occur. In this case emails from people you know.
Yes, I have clearly received your mail that probably these options that I have now presented do not work.
Greetings Firefox Volunteer
Hello there Claire.meese.
PRIVACY AND SECURITY OPTIONS.
hunderbird provides security measures to protect you from junkmail, identity theft, viruses (with the help of your anti-virus software,of course), intellectual property theft, and malicious web sites.THUNDERBIRD'S SECURITY FEATURES T hunderbird has a number of security features, including:Adaptive junk mail controlsIntegration with anti-virus softwareConnection securityDigital signaturesEncryptionMaster passwordRestrictions on cookiesLet's take a closer look at these features. Adaptive junk mail controlsAdaptive junk mail controls allow you to train T hunderbird to identifyjunk email (SPAM) and remove it from your inbox. You can also markmessages as junk mail manually if your email provider's system missesthe junk mail and lets it go through.
There are two ways of doing this.
The first way is to click the message in the Message pane and thenclick the Junk button in the Preview pane. If you accidentally mark alegitimate message as junk, you can quickly change the message back.After you click the Junk button, a bar appears in the Preview pane thatsays Junk Mail. Click the Not Junk button.T he second way of marking mail as junk mail manually is by using theMessage menu bar.
Here's how to do it:
1. Click the message that you want mark as junk. 2. Go to the Message menu, point to Mark, and click
This is how to use that.
Here I have a more detailed information form on this topic.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Junk_messages_not_moved
Greetings Firefox volunteer.
Hello there Claire.Reese.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Junk_Mail_Controls#Training_the_Junk_Mail_Controls
you might try disabling junk processing, restart, delete the junk folder, re-enable junk. processing, start thunderbird again if necessary to let the account manager create a new junk folder.
Greetings Firefox Volunteer.
Gewysig op