I have a long list of ‘rules’ to handle junk mail. To avoid the rules, the senders constantly make changes so that I have to make new rules. Because of that, most of my rules probably is of no effect now.
Question: Is there a way to delete old rules without have having to delete one-by-one?.
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Jan E. Wille
Do you mean in the macOS Mail app? Or in the web-based iCloud email rules?
I'll assume you mean in macOS. In the Mail, Preferences, Rules section you can see a list of rules. You can select multiple items there just like anywhere else. Select the first rule and then hold shift and select the last rule and all in between are selected. Or, hold down the Command key to select them individually, or remove one from the selection. Then press Remove to remove the selected ones.
Those that send spam will use different random email addresses, often ones from their spam lists so they are real email addresses, but not sent from those people. They do this to fool the email servers, not email rules that individuals create.
The only good way to fight spam is to use a good email service provider. Both Gmail (Google) and iCloud (Apple) use a lot of anti-spam technology to identify spam before it ever reaches your computer. But ISP email, such as what you get from your ISP when you sign up for service, is usually very bad at this and other things. I recommend that everyone switch to a good email provider and not use their ISP email. See Five Reasons Not To Use Your ISP’s Email Service.
Thanks, but I can't quite follow you. The rules I refer to are in the section 'Unwanted e-mail'; (as I guess it is named i English - my version is in Norwegian), but I can't find a way to Select a rule. Wherever I click inside a rule, it works like editing that rule?.
Jan: In the Mail app, go to the menu named Mail, Preferences. Then click Rules. Then click on the rule -- a single click, not a double-click. Use Command or Shift to select multiple ones.
Sorry - doesn't work. There is a minus and a plus icon to use for deleting or adding a rule, but then I have to delete one-by-one.
Jan: So you are in the Junk Mail section, and have "Perform Custom Actions" selected, and then you click Advanced and have a set of rules there. I thought you were adding these in the regular Rules section.
You can simply turn off Junk Mail filtering entirely, or there should be a Reset button at the bottom of the main Junk Mail screen (before you press the Advanced button).
Or, just delete them all with the minus buttons. It may take 5 or 10 minutes, if you have hundreds, but it will get it done.