I'll start by saying that I am fairly illiterate when it comes to settings, configuring, etc., so I hope that any help that is offered will explain things in a simple way. But I'll be grateful for whatever help comes my way.
I've used POPFile for over a year, with incredibly great success, usually around a 99% success rate. However, I recently had some unrelated problems with internet access, and my provider's teckie walked me through a re-setting of Server Name, etc., which solved my access problem but cut out my POPFile (although the bucket categories I had chosen remained). I downloaded (or *thought* I downloaded) a new POPFile, v.1.0.0 for Windows (I've got Windows XP), but the only result was that everything I receive goes into my Spam bucket only. So far I can't correct this because nothing was being recorded on POPFile's History of my incoming email. I downloaded the same version a second time, with the same result. When I look at Server Settings I see no sign of POPFile in the Server Name. It reads <mail.interlog.com> .
I don't know if I've given enough information for a knowledgeable person to help, so please tell me if more info is needed. As I said earlier, I will be extremely thankful for any kind of assistance with this.
Paul Pascal
Toronto
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>> When I look at Server Settings I see no sign of POPFile in the Server Name. It reads <mail.interlog.com> <<
This means that your email program is getting your mail direct from the mail server instead of via POPFile. (Normally the server will be set to 127.0.0.1 when a POP3 email account is configured to work with POPFile.)
Although POPFile is installed and running on your computer no new messages are appearing in POPFile's HISTORY list because your email program is not talking to POPFile. At the moment I think your setup is like this:
email program -- internet -- mail server
To use POPFile you need to change things so they work like this:
email program -- POPFile -- internet -- mail server
>> However, I recently had some unrelated problems with internet access, and my provider's teckie walked me through a re-setting of Server Name, etc., which solved my access problem but cut out my POPFile (although the bucket categories I had chosen remained). <<
I think your diagnosis is correct. Those changes you made broke the connection between your email program and POPFile.
This should be an easy thing to fix. Some changes need to be made to some of the settings in your email program and then POPFile should start working like it did before.
>> so I hope that any help that is offered will explain things in a simple way. <<
OK, I'll try to do that. First I need some more information. Which email program are you using? How many different email accounts do you want to use POPFile with? Are you using an anti-virus package to scan your email?
If you are using Outlook Express then you may be able to use a small POPFile utility to make the changes automatically.
If you have to make the changes manually, we have some detailed step-by-step instructions on the wiki for several different email programs and these instructions often include screenshots showing what needs to be changed.
It should not take too long to get POPFile scanning your email again.
Brian
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Thank you, Brian, for responding to my S.O.S. In answer to your questions, my email program is Thunderbird (although I still have Outlook Express available, but I prefer not to use it). Secondly, I just have the one email account to use POPFile with. As far as anti-virus goes, I have AVG Free Edition (from Grisoft). If this has any relevance, my Thunderbird comes with a Junk filter, which never worked that effectively for me, but it has never interfered with POPFile operations, only supplemented it in a weak way.
How do I find the wiki you mentioned?
With many thanks,
Paul
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That last link might be all you need to get POPFile working with Thunderbird again (see the section called "Configuring Mozilla / Netscape / Thunderbird for POPFile").
I suggest you read that section through before making any changes, to see if it makes sense to you. If you are still unsure about things, ask for help again before you start.
That page assumes that you do not need to use SSL to connect to the mail server. You can find out if you need to use SSL for your email account by looking at the "Security Settings" section on the "Server Settings" page in Thunderbird. If you need SSL you'll need to do something different to make Thunderbird work with POPFile so ask again.
I recommend that you make a note of the Thunderbird settings before you make any changes to them so you can undo your changes if things go wrong.
>> As far as anti-virus goes, I have AVG Free Edition (from Grisoft). <<
That is what I use. I have my system set up so that AVG scans my email before it gets to POPFile:
Thunderbird -- POPFile -- AVG email scanner -- internet -- mail server
Brian
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I think that my problem is solved, thanks to you! I've followed the directions on the web site you suggested (getpopfile...mozilla...etc.) as best I could, and email messages are being recorded on my History, and showing up in my inbox (so far as "Unclassified", but I know the drill for training the program, so I'm pretty sure I'm on the road to recovery).
To tell you the truth, some of the instructions are not clear to me,but not following the ones I don't understand hasn't obstructed the work of the program. I hope I'm not missing something critical. Here's an example, in point 8 of "Making Mozilla [etc.] filter mail based on POPFile's categorization,": "You will set up a filter for each bucket you don't want to be in your inbox." But I want all my buckets to be in my inbox; it's just that I want them sorted out into groups or buckets, including a Spam bucket of course, but WITHIN my inbox. So what is this instruction getting at? Actually, I can't say I understand ANY of the instructions after that, from 9 through 13. I've done everything up to that point, but I have not done 9 through 13. Still, the thing seems to be working.
Anyway, I wanted to thank you--profusely. Ya done good!
Paul
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The filters you create in Mozilla are for moving the messages for certain buckets out of your inbox. If you know you aren't interested in reading them, they might be better off in a folder. I put newsletters in a folder since I rarely get around to reading them and they just clutter up my inbox. And normally people don't want to see their spam except to check for errors occasionally so that could go to a spam folder. You don't have to create filters to move them if you like everything in your inbox, but then you aren't getting much use out of POPFile's filtering.
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Here's where my internet illiteracy shows up in spades. I do want my spam to go directly into a spam folder--that was the point of this whole operation for me--but I was under the impression that this folder is a branch of the inbox, a sub-category of the inbox. Am I misunderstanding something?
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It just depends on how you set it up. You can have a Spam folder at the same level as the inbox, send, and trash folders, or you can have it as a subfolder of the inbox. It just depends on how you set it up. I don't think Mozilla has a junk folder for spam so you can create it wherever you want.
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I understand. But in that case, I may have created a spam folder that I can't find. I do have a spam folder, pre-existing from the time before all my difficulties with POPFile, which is a subfolder of my inbox. But the spam which is getting so nicely spotted now by POPFile, and recorded as spam in my History, is nowhere else to be seen; it is certainly not in the abovementioned spam subfolder. I do not see any other folder labeled "Spam" in the window that shows all the folders (left side of screen), so now my concern is that all this garbage is being syphoned off somewhere else under another name. To summarize: my History bucket is no longer empty and is succeeding in targeting spam, but my spam folder is empty!
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What happens with your email after POPFile classified and marked them is up to your email client. Select 'Tools -> Message Filters' in Thunderbird and examine the filters that are enabled for the account in question.
Manni
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I don't use Thunderbird, but as I was explaining to another person last night, most programs are similar, so try to follow the directions I gave in the thread 'RE: newbie need help still getting spam!' or here at https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1935275&forum_id=213100 and just follow the Message Rules AND set up a folder for your spam or any other folder you care to create within Thunderbird. If your History is now working correctly AND your messages are arriving to your Inbox labeled '[spam]', '[unclassified]', etc., then all you do need are folders back in Thunderbird. POPFile is working as it should. Also, you might want to 'Reclassify' messages marked 'unclassified' in your History on the POPFile User Interface to however you want POPFile to classify them in the future. In other words, if it classified a message as 'unclassified' that you consider 'spam', then click on the drop-down list on the right of that message and choose 'spam' and the next time a message like that comes through POPFile, it will classify it as 'spam', OK? It will learn as it goes, but it needs help from us humans every now and again. It's a quick learner though, so not to worry!
The only other thing I can think of (and as silly as it may seem, I've made sillier mistakes) is that you have to 'open' your Inbox folder? Mine have an 'arrow' next to the folder's name -- if it has subfolders. It would look something like '>Inbox'. By clicking on the arrow, your subfolders will appear under the parent folder's name. Could it be like this or maybe you'll have to right-click on it and re-create the subfolder 'Spam' all over again? Once it's where you had it before, it should stay 'open' and not hide itself under the '>Inbox' parent again.
>> Here's where my internet illiteracy shows up in spades. <<
Don't apologize for your Internet literacy (or illiteracy, as the case may be). While good to know your knowledge level so things can be explained this way or that, we were ALL newbies at some point or another! LOL I'm self-taught myself and if it wasn't for people like the ones here in this forum, I don't know WHERE I'd be today!!! LOL LOL I don't mind asking for help when I need it and thank GOD for the forums. I don't want to jinx myself, but I think my problems with the latest upgrade were fixed earlier this evening and I'm still up waiting for it to crash, but so far, so good! I hope you're able to get your POPFile back to normal, too. Good luck!
SBernheart [;}]
PS: Manni -- I stopped the Message Capture because it had been running for 5 and a half hours and would have been quite lengthy, but I started POPFile right back up using the regular shortcut and it's still working grea...I don't want to say the word yet! LOL Thanks for your help. If I have any new problems, I'll post back in the other thread. I missed my POPFile sooo much, so it really means a lot that you guys were on the ball.
Tex -- tonight I refreshed this thread BEFORE I replied. Last night I didn't and found your reply to henrysmom's thread posted by the time I wrote mine and hit 'Post Comment'. Don't you just HATE when that happens? LOL LOL Good night guys.....
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The moral support is worth at least as much as the technical help. I thought I had the problem licked, but I still have the following glitch: I can see now that the Spam, which is being nicely spotted and labeled, is still showing up in my general Inbox. I went back to the instructions and followed all the steps, clicking on the Subject dropdown box, selecting X-Text-Classification, changing "Contains" to "Is", but the next step is the tricky one: the instructions say, "Put a check mark in the box next to 'Move to folder', then click on the dropdown box to the right and select the folder you created for this bucket and click OK." Trouble is, that's not what it shows on MY screen. Instead, it shows 'Move message to' (which I chose from a dropbox of various choices, this being the closest to the instructions), and to the right of that it shows 'Spam on Local Folders' (which I chose from a dropbox of various choices, this also being the closest to the instructions), after which I was able to click OK. It seems to me that the SENSE of the instructions are observed by doing what I did, given that I didn't have the exact wording of the instructions showing where it should have been showing, so why doesn't the Spam flow into the Spam bucket "on Local Folders", i.e., in a subfolder of my Inbox? Or maybe I should be asking, Why don't I have the exact wording in my program that the instructions spell out?
Paul
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>> I still have the following glitch: I can see now that the Spam, which is being nicely spotted and labeled [by POPFile], is still showing up in my general Inbox ... [I have set up an "X-Text-Classification is spam" filter in Thunderbird] ... so why doesn't the Spam flow into the Spam bucket "on Local Folders" <<
Have you double-checked that POPFile is configured to insert the X-Text-Classification header into messages which it thinks belong to the spam bucket? The BUCKETS page in POPFile's UI shows the current Bucket Configuration settings.
If POPFile is not inserting this header then your filter will not work therefore the spam message will stay in your "Inbox" instead of being moved to the "spam" folder in Thunderbird.
>> Why don't I have the exact wording in my program that the instructions spell out? <<
The simplest explanation is that Thunderbird has been updated since those instructions were written, so they no longer describe the exact procedure to be used for your version of Thunderbird.
One of the reasons we use a wiki is to allow users to update the documentation from a user's point of view. The developers sometimes find it hard to document things in terms that a new user can understand - what is obvious to someone who wrote the code may be a complete mystery to someone who has just installed the software :)
Another reason is that the developers cannot test POPFile with every email program on every operating system so we rely upon users updating the wiki, e.g. by adding details of how to configure a new email program or by correcting details which have become out of date. So although many pages in the wiki were created by the developers, they have been extended and revised by users.
Brian
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>> Click the next drop-down box and change it from 'Contains' to 'Is'.
In the third box, type in the name of the bucket you are setting this filter up for EXACTLY like you created it in POPFile.
Now, in the input area at the bottom half of the window, put a check mark in the box next to 'Move to folder:'. Then click on the drop-down box to the right and select the folder you created for this bucket. Click OK. <<
I think what might be confusing you is that, before you can set up your filters, the folder you're trying to set the filter for MUST ALREADY BE THERE. In other words, if you have a folder that YOU created called 'Spam', then and only then can you set up a filter for your bucket's '[spam]' messages to go to that folder. You said there IS one in your 'Local Folders', so it should also be included in the drop-down list referred to in the last sentence in the steps I quoted above (before 'Click OK'). If it isn't, then you do have a problem. Wouldn't it be easier to make a new folder called 'Spam' that isn't a sub-folder of your Inbox?
I know sometimes it's confusing to read one thing while you're seeing something else. The instructions I was referring to on my first reply are probably nothing like what you're seeing either, as I know now from the Thunderbird screen pics I saw. They were nothing like my Incredimail, but I always try to let the person I'm helping know that the instructions are a generalization. Sometimes it'll take someone, who has exactly what you have, to read a thread and reply before you find what you need, but be patient, OK? This is a forum for POPFile after all, not Thunderbird. What I've done in the past, that works for me anyway, is to take a break from the problem and come back at it with fresh eyes, do you know what I mean? I don't want to sound dumb, but when I come back to my task and re-read everything I thought seemed like Japanese previously, it made more sense the next time around.
I hope I didn't sound rude or anything, I just want you to get your email back the way you liked it before your other problems began. What works for one, might not always work for another, but it's worth a shot if nothing else is working either, right? LOL Take a look at the URL's I gave you directing you to more Thunderbird help and let us know if that worked, OK? Also, there's another forum here at http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=39 where you might find someone who knows exactly what you're going through, not to mention the fact that it's all about Thunderbird, so surely you may find more answers there, too. I hate to send you off to yet another forum, but like I said, it may take someone who does have the same stuff you do, you know?
Good luck, Paul. I just spent a month and a half searching for the right answers to my headaches -- so I know EXACTLY how you feel! LOL Mine's fixed now, thanks to this forum. I hope you're able to fix yours soon, too. Sorry this was sooo long, but I hope it helped....
SBernheart [;}]
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Well, again many thank you's to you all who offered advice and moral support. I've got the problem solved, at long last. It took a very simple move: to ignore one of the steps we are instructed to do in "Making Mozilla [etc.] filter mail based on POPFile's categorization". The step was No. 11, in which we are told to change the dropdown box in the second column (the column after Subject) from "Contains" to "Is". That was fatal for me. The program ADDS the word "[Spam]" to the Subject line; it never replaces the Subject line with that single labeling word, and as a result the program never finds a Subject line in which the word Spam IS the subject--it's always in combination with the original Subject line, i.e., the Subject line now "contains" the word Spam. (I hope this isn't confusing to follow.) So, after seeing the lack of logic in following that piece of the instructions, I simply overrode that point, and went back to "Contains" from "Is". I tested it out a couple of minutes ago, by sending myself two messages with the Subject line "Penis Enlargement". Like magic, my Spam bucket finally registered two new entries! I feel like I've been let out of jail! Thank you again, all.
--Paul
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The instructions for Thunderbird's filtering are correct. When using a decent mail client like Thunderbird, you don't have to set POPFile to change subjects. That's only a cludge that is available for mail clients of the stupid sort (Outlook Express, e.g.). When using Thunderbird, you can rely on the X-Text-Classification Header. And this one can be matched using "IS".
Regards,
Manni
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Duh! Double DUH!! Seems so simple AFTER you get it working again, huh? I never caught that wording 'IS' vs. 'CONTAINS', although in my explanation to henrysmom in her thread 'RE: newbie need help still getting spam!', I did suggest the message rule "If Subject line CONTAINS '[spam]', move message to 'Spam' folder." -- NOT "If Subject line IS '[spam]'...". Sometimes that kind of thing will just fly right on by, you know? Now you know why I suggested as silly a thing as opening your parent folder to reveal the sub-folders! You just never know if it's as simple as that or as difficult as a new bug!!
I don't use Thunderbird, like I said, so I'm not comfortable changing the wording in the wiki to reflect the error you found for the rest of us, but I'm confident that one of the guys who ARE comfortable doing so will make that change. It's common sense (I hope) that the 'Subject' line would nearly ALWAYS include different content in the 'Subject' line, therefore it would 'CONTAIN' the additional wording '[spam]' (or whatever bucket you want your folder to collect from), that is, unless ALL your spam messages specified "Penis Enlargement"! LOL LOL I very much doubt that to be the case. I receive those types of spam messages as well and I don't even require the services offered (I'm afraid my 'parts' are of the female variety LOL), but they are not alone in MY Spam folder!
Knowing what I typed out in the other thread AND what I read on the pages you were directed to in this one, I'm sorry I missed that wording, too. That's why I come BACK to a problem with fresh eyes -- there's ALWAYS something I manage not to catch the first -- or second, or third -- time around, you know? LOL If you can picture that V-8 commercial where someone is smacking the side of their head, well, that's what I'm doing to mine right now -- if that's any consolation. LOL LOL Sorry, it's not that this was at all any fun for you, but if nothing else, it's taught me yet another lesson AND you've proven not be as illiterate as you thought! >> wink, wink << Pat yourself on the back, Paul. Good job....
SBernheart [;}]
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See? That's why I never update the wiki based on what I think, but rather on what I know -- and I don't 'know' Thunderbird. Thanks for the correction. To learn another lesson though, do I understand you to mean that by switching the 'X-Text-Classification Header' on, your messages will be received with '[spam]' included as a portion of the Subject line and that that alone should be enough for a good client like Thunderbird to recognize and sort to the appropriate folder? I wonder what happened in Paul's case? Did he just get lucky? I beleive my Incredimail is one of the 'stupid sorts', so I filter my messages like he did and that's why it made perfect sense to me when Paul pointed out that the Subject line would include the header 'in addition to' the original subject. At least that's what I thought he was saying.
I came back to this thread to re-post to let him know that he could actually see more Thunderbird screen pics on the subject of "Filters, sorting your emails to different folders" here at http://opensourcearticles.com/introduction_to_thunderbird_7 and an even more recent version here at http://opensourcearticles.com/thunderbird_15/english/part_07, if that would help explain things better, but maybe a picture isn't worth a thousand words in this case, huh? LOL I don't know the site, so maybe I'm doing more harm than good in sharing, considering that POPFile's exact instruction turned out to be completely accurate in the end. I might not know Thunderbird, or this site I'm speaking of, but knowing POPFile, I should have figured as much. Sorry I doubted :(
BTW, Manni -- mine hasn't stopped running since you fixed it for me. Again, thanks so much! You guys are GREAT....
SBernheart [;}]
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POPFile can be set to add a new header in classified emails. That's the X-Text-Classification header: http://getpopfile.org/docs/glossary:xtextclass
When your email client is able to filter on arbitrary headerlines, you can turn off the subject line modification and use the X-Text-Classification header instead. It's easier to filter on that header and your email subjects remain untouched.
Manni
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I stand corrected. The second URL I posted isn't working from that link directly, but only from the page it was posted on here at http://opensourcearticles.com/introduction_to_thunderbird_7/articles/thunderbird_15/english/part_01 and scrolling down to the bottom of that page and choosing the link 'Introduction to Thunderbird, part 07 (message filters)' from the list. For some reason, the page's URL itself resulted in an error. I didn't mean to cause more confusion.
Hope the pics help, Paul....
SBernheart [;}]
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I'll start by saying that I am fairly illiterate when it comes to settings, configuring, etc., so I hope that any help that is offered will explain things in a simple way. But I'll be grateful for whatever help comes my way.
I've used POPFile for over a year, with incredibly great success, usually around a 99% success rate. However, I recently had some unrelated problems with internet access, and my provider's teckie walked me through a re-setting of Server Name, etc., which solved my access problem but cut out my POPFile (although the bucket categories I had chosen remained). I downloaded (or *thought* I downloaded) a new POPFile, v.1.0.0 for Windows (I've got Windows XP), but the only result was that everything I receive goes into my Spam bucket only. So far I can't correct this because nothing was being recorded on POPFile's History of my incoming email. I downloaded the same version a second time, with the same result. When I look at Server Settings I see no sign of POPFile in the Server Name. It reads <mail.interlog.com> .
I don't know if I've given enough information for a knowledgeable person to help, so please tell me if more info is needed. As I said earlier, I will be extremely thankful for any kind of assistance with this.
Paul Pascal
Toronto
>> When I look at Server Settings I see no sign of POPFile in the Server Name. It reads <mail.interlog.com> <<
This means that your email program is getting your mail direct from the mail server instead of via POPFile. (Normally the server will be set to 127.0.0.1 when a POP3 email account is configured to work with POPFile.)
Although POPFile is installed and running on your computer no new messages are appearing in POPFile's HISTORY list because your email program is not talking to POPFile. At the moment I think your setup is like this:
email program -- internet -- mail server
To use POPFile you need to change things so they work like this:
email program -- POPFile -- internet -- mail server
>> However, I recently had some unrelated problems with internet access, and my provider's teckie walked me through a re-setting of Server Name, etc., which solved my access problem but cut out my POPFile (although the bucket categories I had chosen remained). <<
I think your diagnosis is correct. Those changes you made broke the connection between your email program and POPFile.
This should be an easy thing to fix. Some changes need to be made to some of the settings in your email program and then POPFile should start working like it did before.
>> so I hope that any help that is offered will explain things in a simple way. <<
OK, I'll try to do that. First I need some more information. Which email program are you using? How many different email accounts do you want to use POPFile with? Are you using an anti-virus package to scan your email?
If you are using Outlook Express then you may be able to use a small POPFile utility to make the changes automatically.
If you have to make the changes manually, we have some detailed step-by-step instructions on the wiki for several different email programs and these instructions often include screenshots showing what needs to be changed.
It should not take too long to get POPFile scanning your email again.
Brian
Thank you, Brian, for responding to my S.O.S. In answer to your questions, my email program is Thunderbird (although I still have Outlook Express available, but I prefer not to use it). Secondly, I just have the one email account to use POPFile with. As far as anti-virus goes, I have AVG Free Edition (from Grisoft). If this has any relevance, my Thunderbird comes with a Junk filter, which never worked that effectively for me, but it has never interfered with POPFile operations, only supplemented it in a weak way.
How do I find the wiki you mentioned?
With many thanks,
Paul
>> How do I find the wiki you mentioned? <<
The POPFile wiki can be found at http://getpopfile.org/docs/
There is a "Quick Start Guide: Setting Up Your Email Program" at http://getpopfile.org/docs/quickstart:clients
and there is a page about Thunderbird at http://getpopfile.org/docs/howtos:mozilla_netscape
That last link might be all you need to get POPFile working with Thunderbird again (see the section called "Configuring Mozilla / Netscape / Thunderbird for POPFile").
I suggest you read that section through before making any changes, to see if it makes sense to you. If you are still unsure about things, ask for help again before you start.
That page assumes that you do not need to use SSL to connect to the mail server. You can find out if you need to use SSL for your email account by looking at the "Security Settings" section on the "Server Settings" page in Thunderbird. If you need SSL you'll need to do something different to make Thunderbird work with POPFile so ask again.
I recommend that you make a note of the Thunderbird settings before you make any changes to them so you can undo your changes if things go wrong.
>> As far as anti-virus goes, I have AVG Free Edition (from Grisoft). <<
That is what I use. I have my system set up so that AVG scans my email before it gets to POPFile:
Thunderbird -- POPFile -- AVG email scanner -- internet -- mail server
Brian
Brian,
I think that my problem is solved, thanks to you! I've followed the directions on the web site you suggested (getpopfile...mozilla...etc.) as best I could, and email messages are being recorded on my History, and showing up in my inbox (so far as "Unclassified", but I know the drill for training the program, so I'm pretty sure I'm on the road to recovery).
To tell you the truth, some of the instructions are not clear to me,but not following the ones I don't understand hasn't obstructed the work of the program. I hope I'm not missing something critical. Here's an example, in point 8 of "Making Mozilla [etc.] filter mail based on POPFile's categorization,": "You will set up a filter for each bucket you don't want to be in your inbox." But I want all my buckets to be in my inbox; it's just that I want them sorted out into groups or buckets, including a Spam bucket of course, but WITHIN my inbox. So what is this instruction getting at? Actually, I can't say I understand ANY of the instructions after that, from 9 through 13. I've done everything up to that point, but I have not done 9 through 13. Still, the thing seems to be working.
Anyway, I wanted to thank you--profusely. Ya done good!
Paul
The filters you create in Mozilla are for moving the messages for certain buckets out of your inbox. If you know you aren't interested in reading them, they might be better off in a folder. I put newsletters in a folder since I rarely get around to reading them and they just clutter up my inbox. And normally people don't want to see their spam except to check for errors occasionally so that could go to a spam folder. You don't have to create filters to move them if you like everything in your inbox, but then you aren't getting much use out of POPFile's filtering.
Here's where my internet illiteracy shows up in spades. I do want my spam to go directly into a spam folder--that was the point of this whole operation for me--but I was under the impression that this folder is a branch of the inbox, a sub-category of the inbox. Am I misunderstanding something?
It just depends on how you set it up. You can have a Spam folder at the same level as the inbox, send, and trash folders, or you can have it as a subfolder of the inbox. It just depends on how you set it up. I don't think Mozilla has a junk folder for spam so you can create it wherever you want.
I understand. But in that case, I may have created a spam folder that I can't find. I do have a spam folder, pre-existing from the time before all my difficulties with POPFile, which is a subfolder of my inbox. But the spam which is getting so nicely spotted now by POPFile, and recorded as spam in my History, is nowhere else to be seen; it is certainly not in the abovementioned spam subfolder. I do not see any other folder labeled "Spam" in the window that shows all the folders (left side of screen), so now my concern is that all this garbage is being syphoned off somewhere else under another name. To summarize: my History bucket is no longer empty and is succeeding in targeting spam, but my spam folder is empty!
I guess that means that POPFile is working.
What happens with your email after POPFile classified and marked them is up to your email client. Select 'Tools -> Message Filters' in Thunderbird and examine the filters that are enabled for the account in question.
Manni
I don't use Thunderbird, but as I was explaining to another person last night, most programs are similar, so try to follow the directions I gave in the thread 'RE: newbie need help still getting spam!' or here at https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1935275&forum_id=213100 and just follow the Message Rules AND set up a folder for your spam or any other folder you care to create within Thunderbird. If your History is now working correctly AND your messages are arriving to your Inbox labeled '[spam]', '[unclassified]', etc., then all you do need are folders back in Thunderbird. POPFile is working as it should. Also, you might want to 'Reclassify' messages marked 'unclassified' in your History on the POPFile User Interface to however you want POPFile to classify them in the future. In other words, if it classified a message as 'unclassified' that you consider 'spam', then click on the drop-down list on the right of that message and choose 'spam' and the next time a message like that comes through POPFile, it will classify it as 'spam', OK? It will learn as it goes, but it needs help from us humans every now and again. It's a quick learner though, so not to worry!
The only other thing I can think of (and as silly as it may seem, I've made sillier mistakes) is that you have to 'open' your Inbox folder? Mine have an 'arrow' next to the folder's name -- if it has subfolders. It would look something like '>Inbox'. By clicking on the arrow, your subfolders will appear under the parent folder's name. Could it be like this or maybe you'll have to right-click on it and re-create the subfolder 'Spam' all over again? Once it's where you had it before, it should stay 'open' and not hide itself under the '>Inbox' parent again.
>> Here's where my internet illiteracy shows up in spades. <<
Don't apologize for your Internet literacy (or illiteracy, as the case may be). While good to know your knowledge level so things can be explained this way or that, we were ALL newbies at some point or another! LOL I'm self-taught myself and if it wasn't for people like the ones here in this forum, I don't know WHERE I'd be today!!! LOL LOL I don't mind asking for help when I need it and thank GOD for the forums. I don't want to jinx myself, but I think my problems with the latest upgrade were fixed earlier this evening and I'm still up waiting for it to crash, but so far, so good! I hope you're able to get your POPFile back to normal, too. Good luck!
SBernheart [;}]
PS: Manni -- I stopped the Message Capture because it had been running for 5 and a half hours and would have been quite lengthy, but I started POPFile right back up using the regular shortcut and it's still working grea...I don't want to say the word yet! LOL Thanks for your help. If I have any new problems, I'll post back in the other thread. I missed my POPFile sooo much, so it really means a lot that you guys were on the ball.
Tex -- tonight I refreshed this thread BEFORE I replied. Last night I didn't and found your reply to henrysmom's thread posted by the time I wrote mine and hit 'Post Comment'. Don't you just HATE when that happens? LOL LOL Good night guys.....
Thank you to all you guys.
The moral support is worth at least as much as the technical help. I thought I had the problem licked, but I still have the following glitch: I can see now that the Spam, which is being nicely spotted and labeled, is still showing up in my general Inbox. I went back to the instructions and followed all the steps, clicking on the Subject dropdown box, selecting X-Text-Classification, changing "Contains" to "Is", but the next step is the tricky one: the instructions say, "Put a check mark in the box next to 'Move to folder', then click on the dropdown box to the right and select the folder you created for this bucket and click OK." Trouble is, that's not what it shows on MY screen. Instead, it shows 'Move message to' (which I chose from a dropbox of various choices, this being the closest to the instructions), and to the right of that it shows 'Spam on Local Folders' (which I chose from a dropbox of various choices, this also being the closest to the instructions), after which I was able to click OK. It seems to me that the SENSE of the instructions are observed by doing what I did, given that I didn't have the exact wording of the instructions showing where it should have been showing, so why doesn't the Spam flow into the Spam bucket "on Local Folders", i.e., in a subfolder of my Inbox? Or maybe I should be asking, Why don't I have the exact wording in my program that the instructions spell out?
Paul
>> I still have the following glitch: I can see now that the Spam, which is being nicely spotted and labeled [by POPFile], is still showing up in my general Inbox ... [I have set up an "X-Text-Classification is spam" filter in Thunderbird] ... so why doesn't the Spam flow into the Spam bucket "on Local Folders" <<
Have you double-checked that POPFile is configured to insert the X-Text-Classification header into messages which it thinks belong to the spam bucket? The BUCKETS page in POPFile's UI shows the current Bucket Configuration settings.
If POPFile is not inserting this header then your filter will not work therefore the spam message will stay in your "Inbox" instead of being moved to the "spam" folder in Thunderbird.
>> Why don't I have the exact wording in my program that the instructions spell out? <<
The simplest explanation is that Thunderbird has been updated since those instructions were written, so they no longer describe the exact procedure to be used for your version of Thunderbird.
One of the reasons we use a wiki is to allow users to update the documentation from a user's point of view. The developers sometimes find it hard to document things in terms that a new user can understand - what is obvious to someone who wrote the code may be a complete mystery to someone who has just installed the software :)
Another reason is that the developers cannot test POPFile with every email program on every operating system so we rely upon users updating the wiki, e.g. by adding details of how to configure a new email program or by correcting details which have become out of date. So although many pages in the wiki were created by the developers, they have been extended and revised by users.
Brian
You are so right, Brian. Paul, did you look at the Thunderbird instructions here at http://opensourcearticles.com/introduction_to_thunderbird_7 so you can see pages that should match what you are actually seeing as well? If you have a recent version, Thunderbird has even more instructions at the bottom of this page here at
http://opensourcearticles.com/articles/thunderbird_15/english/part_01 where you can choose the exact set of instructions for the task you're working on.
You mentioned these instructions in particular:
>> Click the next drop-down box and change it from 'Contains' to 'Is'.
In the third box, type in the name of the bucket you are setting this filter up for EXACTLY like you created it in POPFile.
Now, in the input area at the bottom half of the window, put a check mark in the box next to 'Move to folder:'. Then click on the drop-down box to the right and select the folder you created for this bucket. Click OK. <<
I think what might be confusing you is that, before you can set up your filters, the folder you're trying to set the filter for MUST ALREADY BE THERE. In other words, if you have a folder that YOU created called 'Spam', then and only then can you set up a filter for your bucket's '[spam]' messages to go to that folder. You said there IS one in your 'Local Folders', so it should also be included in the drop-down list referred to in the last sentence in the steps I quoted above (before 'Click OK'). If it isn't, then you do have a problem. Wouldn't it be easier to make a new folder called 'Spam' that isn't a sub-folder of your Inbox?
I know sometimes it's confusing to read one thing while you're seeing something else. The instructions I was referring to on my first reply are probably nothing like what you're seeing either, as I know now from the Thunderbird screen pics I saw. They were nothing like my Incredimail, but I always try to let the person I'm helping know that the instructions are a generalization. Sometimes it'll take someone, who has exactly what you have, to read a thread and reply before you find what you need, but be patient, OK? This is a forum for POPFile after all, not Thunderbird. What I've done in the past, that works for me anyway, is to take a break from the problem and come back at it with fresh eyes, do you know what I mean? I don't want to sound dumb, but when I come back to my task and re-read everything I thought seemed like Japanese previously, it made more sense the next time around.
I hope I didn't sound rude or anything, I just want you to get your email back the way you liked it before your other problems began. What works for one, might not always work for another, but it's worth a shot if nothing else is working either, right? LOL Take a look at the URL's I gave you directing you to more Thunderbird help and let us know if that worked, OK? Also, there's another forum here at http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=39 where you might find someone who knows exactly what you're going through, not to mention the fact that it's all about Thunderbird, so surely you may find more answers there, too. I hate to send you off to yet another forum, but like I said, it may take someone who does have the same stuff you do, you know?
Good luck, Paul. I just spent a month and a half searching for the right answers to my headaches -- so I know EXACTLY how you feel! LOL Mine's fixed now, thanks to this forum. I hope you're able to fix yours soon, too. Sorry this was sooo long, but I hope it helped....
SBernheart [;}]
Well, again many thank you's to you all who offered advice and moral support. I've got the problem solved, at long last. It took a very simple move: to ignore one of the steps we are instructed to do in "Making Mozilla [etc.] filter mail based on POPFile's categorization". The step was No. 11, in which we are told to change the dropdown box in the second column (the column after Subject) from "Contains" to "Is". That was fatal for me. The program ADDS the word "[Spam]" to the Subject line; it never replaces the Subject line with that single labeling word, and as a result the program never finds a Subject line in which the word Spam IS the subject--it's always in combination with the original Subject line, i.e., the Subject line now "contains" the word Spam. (I hope this isn't confusing to follow.) So, after seeing the lack of logic in following that piece of the instructions, I simply overrode that point, and went back to "Contains" from "Is". I tested it out a couple of minutes ago, by sending myself two messages with the Subject line "Penis Enlargement". Like magic, my Spam bucket finally registered two new entries! I feel like I've been let out of jail! Thank you again, all.
--Paul
The instructions for Thunderbird's filtering are correct. When using a decent mail client like Thunderbird, you don't have to set POPFile to change subjects. That's only a cludge that is available for mail clients of the stupid sort (Outlook Express, e.g.). When using Thunderbird, you can rely on the X-Text-Classification Header. And this one can be matched using "IS".
Regards,
Manni
Duh! Double DUH!! Seems so simple AFTER you get it working again, huh? I never caught that wording 'IS' vs. 'CONTAINS', although in my explanation to henrysmom in her thread 'RE: newbie need help still getting spam!', I did suggest the message rule "If Subject line CONTAINS '[spam]', move message to 'Spam' folder." -- NOT "If Subject line IS '[spam]'...". Sometimes that kind of thing will just fly right on by, you know? Now you know why I suggested as silly a thing as opening your parent folder to reveal the sub-folders! You just never know if it's as simple as that or as difficult as a new bug!!
I don't use Thunderbird, like I said, so I'm not comfortable changing the wording in the wiki to reflect the error you found for the rest of us, but I'm confident that one of the guys who ARE comfortable doing so will make that change. It's common sense (I hope) that the 'Subject' line would nearly ALWAYS include different content in the 'Subject' line, therefore it would 'CONTAIN' the additional wording '[spam]' (or whatever bucket you want your folder to collect from), that is, unless ALL your spam messages specified "Penis Enlargement"! LOL LOL I very much doubt that to be the case. I receive those types of spam messages as well and I don't even require the services offered (I'm afraid my 'parts' are of the female variety LOL), but they are not alone in MY Spam folder!
Knowing what I typed out in the other thread AND what I read on the pages you were directed to in this one, I'm sorry I missed that wording, too. That's why I come BACK to a problem with fresh eyes -- there's ALWAYS something I manage not to catch the first -- or second, or third -- time around, you know? LOL If you can picture that V-8 commercial where someone is smacking the side of their head, well, that's what I'm doing to mine right now -- if that's any consolation. LOL LOL Sorry, it's not that this was at all any fun for you, but if nothing else, it's taught me yet another lesson AND you've proven not be as illiterate as you thought! >> wink, wink << Pat yourself on the back, Paul. Good job....
SBernheart [;}]
See? That's why I never update the wiki based on what I think, but rather on what I know -- and I don't 'know' Thunderbird. Thanks for the correction. To learn another lesson though, do I understand you to mean that by switching the 'X-Text-Classification Header' on, your messages will be received with '[spam]' included as a portion of the Subject line and that that alone should be enough for a good client like Thunderbird to recognize and sort to the appropriate folder? I wonder what happened in Paul's case? Did he just get lucky? I beleive my Incredimail is one of the 'stupid sorts', so I filter my messages like he did and that's why it made perfect sense to me when Paul pointed out that the Subject line would include the header 'in addition to' the original subject. At least that's what I thought he was saying.
I came back to this thread to re-post to let him know that he could actually see more Thunderbird screen pics on the subject of "Filters, sorting your emails to different folders" here at http://opensourcearticles.com/introduction_to_thunderbird_7 and an even more recent version here at http://opensourcearticles.com/thunderbird_15/english/part_07, if that would help explain things better, but maybe a picture isn't worth a thousand words in this case, huh? LOL I don't know the site, so maybe I'm doing more harm than good in sharing, considering that POPFile's exact instruction turned out to be completely accurate in the end. I might not know Thunderbird, or this site I'm speaking of, but knowing POPFile, I should have figured as much. Sorry I doubted :(
BTW, Manni -- mine hasn't stopped running since you fixed it for me. Again, thanks so much! You guys are GREAT....
SBernheart [;}]
POPFile can be set to add a new header in classified emails. That's the X-Text-Classification header: http://getpopfile.org/docs/glossary:xtextclass
When your email client is able to filter on arbitrary headerlines, you can turn off the subject line modification and use the X-Text-Classification header instead. It's easier to filter on that header and your email subjects remain untouched.
Manni
I stand corrected. The second URL I posted isn't working from that link directly, but only from the page it was posted on here at http://opensourcearticles.com/introduction_to_thunderbird_7/articles/thunderbird_15/english/part_01 and scrolling down to the bottom of that page and choosing the link 'Introduction to Thunderbird, part 07 (message filters)' from the list. For some reason, the page's URL itself resulted in an error. I didn't mean to cause more confusion.
Hope the pics help, Paul....
SBernheart [;}]