Sync Apple Mail across devices

Question

Level 1

12 points

Sync Apple Mail across devices

I have Mac Mini with OS 15.1 Sequoia and 2 iOS devices with iOS 18.0.1.

I've recently come back to Apple Mail after using Airmail for several years. SpamSieve seems to function better with Mail.

I have 4 email accounts plus an unused iCloud email account. When I want to delete all of the spam and junk that Spam Sieve has filtered out I have to go to the Spam and Junk folders in Apple Mail on each device to do it. For example, if I delete the items on the Mac, they remain on the iPhone and iPad. So I'm doing this 3 times.

If I were to forward all the other emails to the iCloud mail account, would deleting the offending emails on any device also remove it from the other devices?

Mac mini, macOS 15.1

Posted on Nov 6, 2024 2:14 PM

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Answer 1

AlWeir

Level 4

3,266 points

Nov 7, 2024 5:32 AM in response to goldensx2

If you had SpamSieve delete the spam on your Mac and it was completely deleted, it would take a while to filter through the system and a show on all your other devices, so give it time.

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Answer 2

AlWeir

Level 4

3,266 points

Nov 7, 2024 8:10 AM in response to goldensx2

They set Mail up that way so you can't blame Apple if you delete something.

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Answer 3

goldensx2 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 7, 2024 7:56 AM in response to AlWeir

SpamSieve only sends the offending mail to Spam or Junk folders. From there I have to delete them myself, it doesn't auto delete.

When I delete the emails that SpamSieve has caught on any of my devices, those emails remain on the other 2 devices and I have to visit each device to delete them yet again.

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Answer 4

Nov 8, 2024 8:09 AM in response to goldensx2

The standard setup is to have Mail store your Junk mailbox on the IMAP or Exchange server. Then when SpamSieve moves a message to Junk, Mail will move it on the server, and so it will get moved on all your devices. It sounds like this part is working for you.

Likewise, if you empty the Junk mailbox on the Mac (either manually or automatically), it should sync the deletions automatically to the other devices. This part is not related to SpamSieve, as it would work the same way for messages caught by Mail’s or junk filter or messages that you moved or deleted yourself. This should happen pretty quickly. If not, there could be a problem with the Mac, the server, or the other devices. It may be that Mail’s database needs to be rebuilt on one or more devices. One way to investigate this is to log into Webmail and see whether that matches the Mac or the other devices. There’s more troubleshooting information here.

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Answer 5

goldensx2 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 7, 2024 11:00 AM in response to AlWeir

I have read that on previous discussions of this issue. But those were older threads and I was hoping that things had changed to speed up the process.

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