Re: [Evolution] Schedule a filter?

[Brad Doty <bdoty eqtc com>]

Reid and Martin,

Thanks for your prompt replies.  

I have a new question at the bottom.  Where are Search Folders created?
It doesn't show up under the Search Folders section.

Yes, I am asking for a scheduler for Evolution.  Are you sure none of
the other email apps provide such a thing?  I sure thought I've been
able to do that on GroupWise long ago and Outlook in the past.  Perhaps
I am asking for too much.

I suppose my problem is my email space is very limited at my new company
compared to the amount of automated mail coming in.  That's why I'd like
to purge mail after a couple of days.  But your tools require me to do
that MANUALLY.

Yes, Reid,the filters seem to work fine when applied manually.  That's
not what I'm asking for.  At first I assumed that filters would work on
incoming mail by default once I set them up.  When they didn't, I looked
at Preferences and did not see anything about filters or incoming mail.
Later someone told me they were placed under Mail Accounts.  That seems
a very odd place to me.  Why not bring Filter Settings out to the main
Preferences menu?

So now I have filters that work on incoming mail.  The problem is, that
you correctly enable nifty features to delete mail that is of some age.
But these are useless on incoming mail by definition.  And they cannot
be scheduled to occur, and they do not work AUTOMATICALLY by themselves.
Therefore, they have to be APPLIED MANUALLY, one folder at a time.

That is the frustration.

I create a Search Folder to show me everything so that I can select all
just once and Message->Apply Filters (followed by a manual empty trash,
since the filter can delete but not empty -- another shortcoming).  But
it does not show up under Search Folders nor my other two areas.  It
exists because I cannot create a new one by the same name.  

So where do I find a new Search Folder I just created?

  
Thanks,

Brad


-----Original Message-----
From: Reid Thompson <reid thompson ateb com>
Reply-to: reid thompson ateb com
To: bdoty eqtc com
Cc: reid thompson ateb com, evolution-list gnome org
Subject: Re: [Evolution] Schedule a filter?
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:06:18 -0500

On Wed, 2010-03-10 at 09:46 -0600, Brad Doty wrote:
> Evolution has all these cool filters.  But how do I use them???
>
> Do I really have MANUALLY go to EVERY single folder that I have,
> highlight all and click on Message->Apply Filters?
>
> That is INSANE!
>
> And there is NO Empty Trash filter?
>
> Evolution should have a scheduling facility.  I'm not talking about
> calendars for meetings and people.  I'm talking about running filters
> and empty trash and other jobs automatically.  You use the word
> "automatic" in the Help text about filters, but they are NOT REALLY
> automatic if I have to stand on my head and hold my breath to use them. 
>
> Filters are disappointing if you cannot schedule them.  And they are
> TEDIOUS if I have to go to every folder (including Trash) and apply the
> filters (and Empty Trash)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brad Doty

No, you should not have to manually apply all filters.

When you create a filter, you note whether it is to be applied to
incoming messages or outgoing messages.  If it's declared for incoming
messages, then it is applied to all incoming messages upon arrival.  I
believe that there is an order in which filters are applied based on the
order in which they appear in the message filters dialog. I believe
messages should have all filters applied to them *unless* you declare as
part of some filter's rule to STOP PROCESSING -- I believe that if you
hit a STOP PROCESSING, then any filters further down the path would not
get applied.

What is an empty trash filter?
You can configure evo to empty trash on exit. or you can do File/Empty
Trash. or you can select a particular folder and <CTRL-e>