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I want to take email messages and sort them in to subfolders in my IMAP account using my MUA, Mozilla Thunderbird.
I set a filter "move bob@example.com" to match and it moves the emails to subfolder "bob".
Then I set a filter "move subject:'IT helpdesk answer'" to match and move to a different subfolder "helpdesk".
The mails get shuttled between the two subfolders perpetually if the two filters match.
I can hack it by adding an AND with "is not tagged as 'moved'" then add an action to each message filter that adds a tag 'moved'. However this means a new filter is needed for every filtering characteristic (like I want to filter 50 different partial email addresses in to a 'shopping' folder; I'd need to make 50 filters), I can no longer do "move bob@example.com or ted@example.com to 'friends' subfolder" - it would instead take two filters because Thunderbird can't do compound logic (it can't do 'NOT tag AND (A OR B)'; it can do 'NOT tag AND A').
There's a "stop filter execution" but it doesn't seem to do anything.
How am I supposed to do this in Thunderbird (on Kubuntu 18.04.1), I just want to presort emails in to different folders as they arrive. Thanks.
pbhj
Posted 2019-04-08T14:57:20.977
Reputation: 76
If the filter is working on incoming mail, it should only act on the inbox. It shouldn't move it to subfolder bob, and then move it from there to subfolder helpdesk, and go into an endless loop of moves. It also can't move it in two directions at once. It should either freeze because there are conflicting rules, or process it based on the first matching rule it encounters. Can you describe the symptom you're actually seeing (or are you just anticipating that it won't work)? (cont'd) – fixer1234 – 2019-04-13T09:48:33.513
In a situation like bob + helpdesk, you need to define where it is supposed to go in that case (it can go only one place). BTW, Thunderbird filters support multiple conditions right in the window where you define it. So it isn't clear exactly what the problem is. – fixer1234 – 2019-04-13T09:48:39.140
No, it moves it from Inbox to subfolder based on recipient, then to tertiary subfolder based on subject, then back to subfolder (up the hierarchy from current location), then when the filters run again it does it all again. I have had "infinite looping" but adding a "moved" tag seemed to stop that. I can't get the messages to stay in the tertiary subfolder Inbox > recipient > subject > senders, no matter what I've tried. – pbhj – 2019-04-13T11:17:54.030
It would help if you add examples of the actual filters, the specs for what folders they're applied to, and the folder structure. It isn't clear how they're moving back to where they came from. You generally tell filters where to look and where to move to, so it isn't clear how this action could happen unless the filters are creating a loop (solution: don't do that). – fixer1234 – 2019-04-13T16:22:27.323
You've already invested 100 pts in a bounty and received 1 answer. Does that solve your problem? If not, you're limiting the ability of others to provide solutions by not providing the detail for people to understand what's happening. – fixer1234 – 2019-04-15T19:06:38.370