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Some of my "To" filters are not working

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  • Last reply by MozzieBob

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I have a lot of filters that move mail to specific folders. Most of them work. However, sometimes they don't and no matter how I do them they continue to fail. I'm starting with "Create Filter from Message" in these instances. This has been happening through multiple generations of Tbird. I just installed 60.5.3 (32-bit) on Win7.

I used to believe that the problem was a timing issue i.e. the messages had been filtered by some other filter to another folder already and that was causing the issue. However, in this latest case, the message is still sitting in my Inbox. FWIW, I have lots of email accounts, folders, subfolders, and filters.

In the latest case, I have an email sitting in my Inbox. The sender has some new email sending facility so that the old filter (which worked off his "From" address) is no longer valid - his "From" is a somewhat random looking string crated by some auto-generation mailer. The filter that contains his From address is no longer working because of this change.

I used Create Filter from Message to create a filter that was "From" "contains" "@example.com", with example.com being the domain (only) from his sending server. (Actual address is "randomcharacters@example.com" and the "randome characters" portion will clearly be changing with each periodic send from his mail facility. The filter runs on "Inbox". I created the filter using Create Filter from Message, as usual.

After creating the filter I did "Run Now" in the prompted window to move the messages. Nothing happened. I went back and created the filter again using the entire/exact (long, random) From string. Ran it, still nothing. I checked the message source. I tried creating a filter on the "To" address (one of my several addresses). The message is actually an "Envelope To" message and I don't know if "To" works for that header in general, but it didn't help.

I've had this problem many times in the past. I'll limit this post to focusing on this one message for now for simplicity.

How can I correct this issue?

I have a lot of filters that move mail to specific folders. Most of them work. However, sometimes they don't and no matter how I do them they continue to fail. I'm starting with "Create Filter from Message" in these instances. This has been happening through multiple generations of Tbird. I just installed 60.5.3 (32-bit) on Win7. I used to believe that the problem was a timing issue i.e. the messages had been filtered by some other filter to another folder already and that was causing the issue. However, in this latest case, the message is still sitting in my Inbox. FWIW, I have lots of email accounts, folders, subfolders, and filters. In the latest case, I have an email sitting in my Inbox. The sender has some new email sending facility so that the old filter (which worked off his "From" address) is no longer valid - his "From" is a somewhat random looking string crated by some auto-generation mailer. The filter that contains his From address is no longer working because of this change. I used Create Filter from Message to create a filter that was "From" "contains" "@example.com", with example.com being the domain (only) from his sending server. (Actual address is "randomcharacters@example.com" and the "randome characters" portion will clearly be changing with each periodic send from his mail facility. The filter runs on "Inbox". I created the filter using Create Filter from Message, as usual. After creating the filter I did "Run Now" in the prompted window to move the messages. Nothing happened. I went back and created the filter again using the entire/exact (long, random) From string. Ran it, still nothing. I checked the message source. I tried creating a filter on the "To" address (one of my several addresses). The message is actually an "Envelope To" message and I don't know if "To" works for that header in general, but it didn't help. I've had this problem many times in the past. I'll limit this post to focusing on this one message for now for simplicity. How can I correct this issue?

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Edit: FYI - I created another filter just now using the Create Filter feature on another message in my Inbox. I had it filter on "no-reply@mozilla.org" which is the From address on some emails I have regarding an unrelated Firefox issue. Clicked Run Now and the filter worked perfectly, moving the messages to another folder.