Mail.app rules!

sometimes, my rules overlap and i want one rule to take priority - how can i control this?

What peeves me is that mail rules should be server based for mobileme, not local like now.
I want the rules to be performed on the mobileme server, instead of on the computer. Shouldn't be too hard to do, right apple?

I imported a ton of rules when I migrated from Eudora and immediately discovered some surprising oversights.

1. If you have more than a few dozen, have fun finding them. The best Mail offers is the highlight as-you-type method, which floods you with error sounds if you type too fast. I've been requesting iTunes-like filter/search for a couple of years.

2. To make finding Rules even more fun, when you select that tab in Preferences, the window shrinks down to show only nine of 'em. I don't know what legacy reason is behind it, but it's not great.

3. Unlike Eudora, the Rules UI offers little assistance. It doesn't automatically name your rule based on conditions, nor does it let you create new folders on the fly. It often requires copying, pasting and window swapping to make a new rule.

4. There is nothing to indicate when a Rule was last used, if ever. That can be very handy to weed out old junk. Unlike their useless "mood" icons for email, the little dinosaur icon on Eudora rules was instantly understood and convenient.

5. Emails in a Smart Folder don't have that handy "Show in Mailbox" link in the top-right corner, like a live search will show. Aren't Smart Folders just a pre-set search? (I use a Smart Folder to display unread/flagged emails as my Inbox after routing via Rules.)

That said, I use a combination of Rules and Smart Folders and don't miss Eudora much at all. I just wish Apple would put more "Apple" into it.

Whenever I get an email from my uncle, Mail.app points Safari to ImOscar(dot com).

GRR. I accidentally created a rule that highlighted every single email. I deleted it, and it still didn't remove the highlight.
How do I remove this rule?

thanks for the Tip!
you guys should have a rate this article button so that i can like articles

Apple Mail continues to fail me in one major respect that should not be a problem. I want to create a log of all messages filtered by my rules. I have set my various spam-deleting Mail rules to run an applescript which writes info to a log file, and then delete the offending message. What happens is that Mail changes the action order to delete the message first, and then NEVER RUNS the applescript. I even changed it to run a basic script that just pops up a dialog to say that the script has indeed run, but no dice.

I don't know if this will work, but here's a link to a screenshot of an example rule: http://imgur.com/dhPQ7.png
The script it calls is at:
~/Library/Scripts/Mail Scripts/Rule Actions/Log.scpt

I'm not including the script because it doesn't matter. Mail never runs it.
Anyone with an idea why this doesn't work? (I'm running 10.5.8, and upgrading to 10.6 is not a useful suggestion for me at present.)

Something must be messed up with your Mail.app installation:

-I have configured to only show To:-column in my Sent-box, and it is always remembered across restarts. No From:-column, since as you say it is not very informative.
- When double-clicking / pressing Enter on an already opened mail message, it automatically pops to the front.
- Not sure what you mean with a "rule" here, but you can always go to the Window-menu and select the main window there -> it will be above all message windows.

Are you running some kind of third-party plugin for Mail.app? As far as I can tell, Mail.app has worked exactly like this for quite some time. If not I fear you'll have to do some bug hunting :-(

How about a rule that says that if you specify that your Sent mailbox should show a To: column and not a From: column, which (duh!) always lists the sender (me), that this will remain in effect should I close mail.app?

How about a rule that says that if I attempt to open an already-open message, that there is sufficient program that it brings the open message to the front?

And how about a set of rules that allows me to send messages to the back of the stack of windows, so I can manage the mess that mail presents me with?

I DO realize these are not programmed rules, but they oughta be in place before we even talk about user initiated rules.

This is not rule related, but here's hoping someone can point me in the right direction:

Is there a way to have ALL attachments automatically zipped? I have a lot of clients who only see non-zipped attachments as inline files that they can't access. Very annoying. Would an Applescript do it, perhaps or am I missing something very obvious?