Apple Mail Rules Question

[BasilFawlty]

In Mail Preferences, I have several email addresses listed in the "blocked" tab in the Junk Mail section. I have "Enable blocked mail filtering" checked and also "When email from blocked address arrives, "Move it to the Trash" is selected.
The idea is, I want mail that I know if from senders I don't want to deal with to simply go to the trash.

However, I also have a rule set up called "Maybe Junk" that says if the sender is not in my contacts "Move Message to Mailbox Maybe Junk".

The problem is, the email addresses that are blocked are not getting sent to trash - they are getting sent to the "Maybe Junk" folder, but they have a red circle with a line that says "this email is from a blocked sender."

Question: Is there a way to force specific addresses to the trash without having the rules applied? It seems the messages I have blocked are still being filtered by my rule set, which is NOT the behavior I want.

 

[chown33]

This sounds a lot like a problem with the order in which rules are evaluated, or that multiple rules are being applied to the same set of emails, and only the last one has a lasting effect.

According to this page:

Use rules to manage emails you receive in Mail on Mac

In Mail on your Mac, create and use rules that automatically move, delete, or otherwise handle incoming emails for you.

support.apple.com

Rules are evaluated in the same order they appear in the list of rules.

There's also this:

Mail stops applying rules to a message when it encounters the Stop Evaluating Rules action, or ...

I'm not sure exactly when Mail evaluates the Junk Mail criteria. Nor am I sure how that fits into the overall Rules evaluation. I.e. is Junk Mail evaluated before or after Rules? Do Rules apply to msgs filtered out by Junk Mail, or are they mutually exclusive?

I suggest writing a new Rule to do everything currently in your Junk Mail section, and see if it changes anything. I also suggest unchecking everything in the Junk Mail section other than blocking the addresses. The goal is to remove as much as possible from Junk Mail, because we're unsure when it happens relative to Rules evaluation, and replace it with a new Rule that does everything previously in the Junk Mail processing.

And be sure to put a Stop Evaluating Rules at the end of this new "mail-trashing" rule. That way you can be sure that no other rules after it will ever be applied to the msgs it matches.

 

[chown33]

Referring to this page:

Change Junk Mail preferences in Mail on Mac

In Mail on your Mac, change options for managing junk mail and blocked senders.

support.apple.com

The Junk Mail preference should have an option to:

Filter junk mail before applying my rules​

That page doesn't say whether that option also applies to the Blocked list, but it's worth trying.

I found that reference using the following search keywords:
apple mac mail user guide

I then clicked Table of Contents and started reading the Junk Mail sub-heading.

 

[BasilFawlty]

I've read most of the Apple Mac User Guide stuff before I posted my question, but thanks. I was hoping there was a way to not have to create a bunch more rules. I just want blocked addresses to behave the way I have chose in Preferences in the Junk Mail "Blocked" tab. I just got off the phone with Apple Support and learned that what I want to doing apparently can't be done. It seems that you can't force messages from blocked addressed to be sent to trash if there are other "rules" that apply. I am sending Apple feedback (for all the good it will do) suggesting that the blocked address preference at least have an option that will send any emails from blocked addresses straight to trash - regardless of any other rules. That's how I feel it should work.