Filtering Unsolicited Email - Mac Mail

Mac Mail can automatically identify messages that are likely to be junk mail and place them in a Junk folder so they're out of your way. Mail begins in Training mode. Messages that seem to be junk are colored, and you confirm which messages are junk by using the Mark As Junk / Not Junk commands.

When Mail is correctly identifying most of your junk messages, you can turn on Automatic mode by going to the Mail menu and selecting Junk Mail and Automatic. The messages will be moved to the Junk folder automatically.

If you would like to manually filter unsolicited email from specific addresses, you can create rules to do this for you.

1. From the Mail menu, select Preferences...
2. Select the Rules icon.
3. Click Add Rule.
4. Under Description, give your rule a name (such as "Spam filter")
5. Click the second drop-down menu so it says From:
6. In the drop-down menu to the right of From, make sure the text says Contains.
7. In the box to the right, enter the offending email address.
8. Under Perform the following actions, change the drop-down menus to say Transfer Message to Trash or any other folder you like.
9. Click OK.
10. Close the Rules menu.