iCloud Mail "Rules" VS Mail Client "Rules"

[marker227]

Hey all!

For years I've been the rules on my Mac Mail client to sort and organize my mail. I know similar rules can be set up using the iCloud website. I'm wondering, what are the advantages or disadvantages of doing this? The main advantage I see is that if my Mac Mini is not running or isn't connected to the internet, the rules wouldn't activate thus not sorting my mail, etc. I keep all of my mail on the iCloud server to make it easier to access my mail across multiple devices. I can't see why the rules options on the iCloud website is so much more limited then on the Mac Mail application.

 

[Weaselboy]

The advantage is basically what you mentioned... if the rules run on icloud.com the rules will be applied to all messages no matter what device you access them from. I try to run all the rules I can from the server for that reason.

 

[Brookzy]

The other benefit of applying the rules at iCloud.com is that the rules are applied immediately. Example: you set a spam email address to delete immediately. If this is run in the Mail app then all your devices will probably have pinged with a new email notification before it is then deleted, which is annoying.

 

[Tech198]

The advantage is basically what you mentioned... if the rules run on icloud.com the rules will be applied to all messages no matter what device you access them from. I try to run all the rules I can from the server for that reason.

That sounds convenient, but when you doing 'rules' isn't the whole idea to be selective which what rule applies to what ?

The only reason would be if you had two or more mail clients you didn't wanna bother sticking in the same rules over and over..

That's really all

 

[marker227]

Why is the iCloud.com rules page more limited then the one on the Mac Mail client? It's so watered down...

It sounds like from the replies I've received so far I should start migrating the rules from my Mac Mail client to the iCloud website to make it easier for me.

Is there an easier way to do this? I have 30 rules on my Mail Client with multiple "senders" in each rule. iCloud.com can't accommodate these types of parameters very easily.

 

[Weaselboy]

Why is the iCloud.com rules page more limited then the one on the Mac Mail client? It's so watered down...

It sounds like from the replies I've received so far I should start migrating the rules from my Mac Mail client to the iCloud website to make it easier for me.

Is there an easier way to do this? I have 30 rules on my Mail Client with multiple "senders" in each rule. iCloud.com can't accommodate these types of parameters very easily.

I have no idea why the icloud.com rules are so limited. Maybe this is harder to implement from a web page than in an app?

I know of no easy way to move a bunch of rules to icloud.com. You will just have to enter them one by one.

 

[marker227]

I have no idea why the icloud.com rules are so limited. Maybe this is harder to implement from a web page than in an app?

I know of no easy way to move a bunch of rules to icloud.com. You will just have to enter them one by one.

That's a huge bummer. After glancing through some of the rules, it looks like I have over 200 email addresses I'll have to enter in manually.

I appreciate everyone's help!

 

[marker227]

I moved over all the rules I could to the iCloud server. It seems to be working for me better than having them locally on my Mac. I got all of them in with the exception of 2 rules. Apparently iCloud doesn't allow you to make 2 different rules for the same "condition". For example: If I get an email from my wireless provider, I want the email to be moved AND marked as read... iCloud can't do that, but the Mail Client can.

 

[nicho]

I want the email to be moved AND marked as read... iCloud can't do that

Yes it can. The 5th option is for both moving to a folder *and* marking as read together.

 

[marker227]

Yes it can. The 5th option is for both moving to a folder *and* marking as read together.

Thank you for spotting that! I didn't see it.

 

[nicho]

Thank you for spotting that! I didn't see it.

no problem. I only have one rule set up, to move any messages send to me@icloud.com to junk and mark them as read, so I know it works.

 

[marker227]

no problem. I only have one rule set up, to move any messages send to me@icloud.com to junk and mark them as read, so I know it works.

I saw it on my end after you mentioned it. Good to know it's there. I wish there was a way to urge Apple to add more conditions to the rules. I would personally like "Move to folder & forward message".

 

[jagooch]

I saw it on my end after you mentioned it. Good to know it's there. I wish there was a way to urge Apple to add more conditions to the rules. I would personally like "Move to folder & forward message".

Same here. I converted from gmail to icloud yesterday, and the rules won't transfer to iCloud as most rules have an AND condition and there are 2 or more actions per runs.

ie if email is from Adidas and subject contains "we shipped your order" , move email to "Shipments" folder and the forward email to Deliveries app forwarding address to start tracking the shipment.
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I'm deciding if I want to let iCloud rules handle half of the work and I manually do the other half, or if I run the rules from my Macbook Pro ( if it's turned on ) .

Hopefully Apple will get serious about iCloud mail one day an give us more complex rules like Gmail has.

edit:
I migrated my gmail rules to Apple Mail and backed them up by copying the ~/Library/Mail/ Synced and Unsynced Rules .plist files.

I enabled Cloud Desktop which copies Rules to the cloud to share with multiple Macs
Enabled Mail sync during laptop nap - so Macbook Pro will process rules hourly.

Some neat things about Mail Rules that I didn't know - Forwarding rules let you modify the message. Nice for forwarding to Evernote or Omnifocus and inserting tags. Gmail doesn't do that.

There was something else but I forgot what it was, will update when I remember.