Mac · macOS 14 or later Works inside Apple Mail Coming to the Mac App Store

Mail Spam Rules

Mail rules that actually work. Spam that comes from a different address every time is still from the same sender name. Make one rule for that name, and every message goes straight to Junk or Trash.

Price: $9.99 once, Family Sharing
Runs: On your Mac
Data collected: None

How it works

Match what doesn't change. The sender's name, a keyword anywhere in the address or domain, a phrase in the subject or body, or any header.
Act on it. Mark as read, move to Trash or Junk, archive, flag or highlight, in any combination.
See through disguises. Look-alike letters from other alphabets, invisible characters and fancy Unicode fonts still match your rule.
Clean up what's already there. Run your rules on messages already in your Inbox or watched folders. You see every match first and choose which to apply.
Test first. Paste a message and see which rules match before anything changes.
Any folder. Your rules cover the Inbox, plus any folders you choose to watch, like the ones Gmail or iCloud file messages into.
Safe senders. Addresses and domains that no rule will ever touch.
Activity. A record of every action your rules took, so nothing goes missing without a trace.
Private. Everything runs on your Mac. Nothing is sent to us.

The Mail Spam Rules window. The sidebar lists five rules with checkboxes. The Daily Deals rule is open: if the From name contains Daily Deals, mark the message as read and move it to Trash. — Each rule says what to look for and what to do with it.

Test a Message, with the sender name Daily Deals written in bold look-alike lettering. The plain Daily Deals rule still matches it: mark as read, move to Trash. — Fancy lettering doesn't fool it. Test any message before real mail arrives.

Clean Up Inbox after checking 250 messages: six matches, each with its sender, subject, the rule that matched and what will happen, all ticked, and an Apply to 6 Messages button. — Clean up what's already there. You choose what changes.

The Activity log: ten recent actions, each with the date, sender, subject, rule, action taken, and whether it came from new mail, a folder check or a manual run. — Activity shows every action your rules took.

Screenshots taken on macOS 27.

What a rule can check

Look at

From name, address or domain
Subject
To, Cc, Reply-To or any recipient
Any header, such as List-Unsubscribe
The message body

Compare with

contains, does not contain
is, is not, begins with, ends with
contains any of a list of words
is present, is missing
regular expressions, for advanced users

A rule can require all of its conditions or just one of them. Rules run top to bottom, and any rule can stop the ones below it. Templates for throwaway domains, prize scams, fake brand senders and newsletters get you started.

Good to know

Rules act on new messages in your Inbox as they arrive. Watched folders are checked every few minutes while Mail is open.
Messages already in your Inbox or folders are only changed when you run Clean Up Inbox or Recheck Folders, and only the ones you choose.
Move to Trash keeps messages recoverable. Apple doesn't let Mail extensions erase messages.
Moves go to Trash, Junk or Archive. Apple doesn't let Mail extensions move messages to other mailboxes.
Works with every email account you've added to Mail on your Mac, such as iCloud, Gmail or Yahoo.
Mac only.

Setup

Open Mail Spam Rules and add a rule, or pick a template from the + menu.
In Mail, choose Mail → Settings → Extensions.
Check Mail Spam Rules.
Optional: to cover other folders, add them under Watched Folders, then click OK when macOS asks to let Mail Spam Rules control Mail.

Mail's Extensions settings with Mail Spam Rules checked, showing its Email Contents and Email Modifications permissions. — Mail's Extensions settings when it's done, on macOS 27.

That's it. You can quit Mail Spam Rules, and Mail will keep using your rules.

Pricing

$9.99, once. No subscription, no in-app purchases. Family Sharing included, so everyone in your family group, up to six people, can use it on their own Macs at no extra cost.

Support

Nothing is happening? Check Setup: Mail Spam Rules must be checked in Mail's Extensions settings.
A message you wanted was moved? Open Activity in the app to see which rule caught it, then add the sender to Safe Senders. Deleted messages are in Trash.
Not sure a rule is right? Use Test a Message in the app before real mail arrives.

Anything else: support@voussoirsoftware.com