SpamSieve
SpamSieve overview
SpamSieve is a robust spam filter for major email clients that uses powerful Bayesian spam filtering.
SpamSieve understands what your spam looks like in order to block it all, but also learns what your legitimate messages look like to avoid confusion. SpamSieve only marks spam in your email client so you never lose any mail.
The following is a partial list of SpamSieve’s features, so that you can quickly see what it can do and how it’s unique:
- Powerful Bayesian spam filtering results in high accuracy and almost no false positives. It adapts to the mail that you receive to get even better with time. Some other e-mail programs include Bayesian filters, but SpamSieve is more accurate.
- Integrates with your e-mail program for a superior user experience. Plus, you get the same great filtering if you ever switch e-mail programs or use more than one at a time.
- SpamSieve works with any mail provider/host. It filters all your mail accounts. There is no extra charge for additional addresses or devices.
- SpamSieve running on your Mac can keep the spam off your iPhone/iPad, and you can even train SpamSieve from afar.
- Colors show how spammy each message is, so you can quickly focus on the borderline ones if you want to check SpamSieve’s work.
- Integrates with the macOS Contacts app (and also Eudora’s and Entourage’s address books) so that messages from friends and colleagues are never marked as spam.
- Automatically maintains a blocklist so that it can instantly adapt to spam messages sent from particular addresses, and catch 100% of them.
- Automatically maintains a whitelist to guarantee that messages from particular senders or mailing lists are never marked as spam, without cluttering your address book with these addresses.
- You can customize the whitelist and blocklist, adding sophisticated rules that match various message headers, or the message body. The rules can match text in a variety of ways, including using regular expressions.
- Can use the Habeas Safelist, which indicates messages that are not spam, as well as the "ADV" subject tag indicating that a message is spam.
- Many spammers encode the contents of their messages so that filters cannot see the incriminating words they contain. SpamSieve can decode and look inside these messages. Optionally it can mark them all as spam, on the theory that legitimate senders do not try to obscure their messages.
- SpamSieve keeps track of how accurate it is, how many good and spam messages you receive, and how these numbers change over time.
- Turn off new-mail notification in your e-mail program, and let SpamSieve notify you only when you receive non-spam messages.
- The corpus window and log let you see how each spam message was caught.
- Unlike server-based spam filtering services, your mail data stays on your own Mac, so your privacy is preserved.
- SpamSieve supports AppleScript, so you can connect it to additional apps and fully integrate it into a custom workflow.
What’s new in version 3.0.2
Updated on Nov 17 2023
SpamSieve 3.0.2 is a free update for those who have already purchased the SpamSieve 3.0 upgrade. If you’re using SpamSieve 2 and haven’t upgraded yet, the easiest way is to first let SpamSieve install the new version. At launch, it will show the Purchase window, and you can click the Check Upgrade Options button to get the upgrade discount without having to enter your old serial number.
Apple Mail
- Apple Mail filtering when using the Mail extension is much faster and is no longer limited by the number of messages in a mailbox.
- This applies to the Check inboxes for new messages not sent to Mail extension, Filter spam messages in other mailboxes, and Add green flag to unread good messages features.
- To enable fast filtering, make sure that you’ve granted SpamSieve Full Disk Access. SpamSieve will still work without it, but in some cases it will be slower or report an error if a mailbox contains too many messages. If you were previously using SpamSieve 2 with Apple Mail, it most likely still has Full Disk Access. Otherwise, or if it seems like filtering is slow, check System Settings ‣ Privacy & Security ‣ Full Disk Access to make sure SpamSieve is enabled there.
- If you haven’t granted Full Disk Access, but SpamSieve thinks you would benefit from doing so, it will show a warning help link in the Settings ‣ Apple Mail ‣ Setup window.
- Fast filtering currently requires macOS 13 Ventura or later. (On macOS 13 and earlier, it’s not really needed because the Mail plug-in is available.)
- When fast filtering is available, SpamSieve now defaults to checking for new messages every 30 seconds instead of every minute. If you want, you can go to the Settings ‣ Apple Mail ‣ Filtering window and set it to check even more frequently, e.g. every 5 seconds, to minimize the time that spam messages spend in the inbox. In most cases, this doesn’t add much CPU overhead, however it might make Mail less responsive if you have a slow network connection or if Mail on your Mac takes a long time to fully download new messages for some other reason.
- The Select Mailboxes to Filter… sheet will no longer show large mailboxes in orange or red when fast filtering is available, because it’s now fine to select them.
- The Mail extension no longer sets the background color at all on spam messages if coloring is off. This lets you set colors yourself for other purposes.
- Improved the reporting of duplicate accounts when training from Apple Mail.
- Clicking the Filter Now button will now filter the inboxes, too, not just the selected mailboxes.
- SpamSieve will now log if Apple Mail is stuck reading a certain message.
- Improved the error logging when listing Apple Mail mailboxes.
- Added AppleMailMailboxListerExtraMailboxes to the esoteric preferences, which makes it possible to select mailboxes for filtering that Apple Mail failed to include in its mailbox listing.
Microsoft Outlook
- Training an Outlook message as spam now removes the Good category.
- Fixed a bug where SpamSieve would auto-launch when Outlook launched if Apple Mail filtering was enabled but Outlook filtering was disabled (and vice-versa).
Log
- You can now click on the Date column header to reverse the sort order in the Log window so that the most recent log entries are at the top. (For memory and performance reasons, Date is the only sortable column in the log.)
- When opening the Log window, if no log entries are selected, it now auto-scrolls to show the most recent ones.
- SpamSieve is better at reporting whether a server junk filter thought that a message was spam.
- Improved the error log entry when SpamSieve lacks privacy access for the Use macOS Contacts feature.
General
- Improved the auto-creation of From (name) blocklist and allowlist rules so that SpamSieve learns more quickly when you train a message.
- The Uncertain spam messages notification is now disabled by default, as most people only want to be notified about good messages.
- Fixed a bug where the training keyboard shortcuts didn’t work in Apple Mail or Outlook when using a Greek keyboard layout.
- Work around a Core Data bug that could cause a crash when saving the corpus.
- Updated the Danish, Dutch, French, Japanese, and Spanish localizations.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when processing an e-mail message with an improperly encoded ZIP file attachment.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when updating the Dock icon during a software update.
Information
App requirements
- Intel 64
- Apple Silicon
- macOS 10.13 or later
- Works with: Apple Mail, Airmail, Entourage, Outlook 2011 and 2016/365, MailForge, MailMate, Mailsmith, GyazMail, Postbox 5, PowerMail
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What needs improvements
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User Ratings
Oct 20 2023
Version: 3.0.1
Thanks for version 3.01. Version 3.0 failed to filter a lot of spam from an old email address. Version 3.01 fixed it straight away. Brilliant!
Oct 7 2023
Version: 3.0
This app has tremendous value especially when we get inundated with spam. To date it has trapped all mail not based on my whitelist. It easily lets you identify what it might have considered spam by telling the system that particular mail was "Good". And the most important thing was when I had a learning issue, the support was fast and phenomenal. The developer was johnny on the spot helping me learn what I did to cause the issue. I highly recommend this app for those of you sick of being spammed and phished.
Sep 25 2023
Version: 3.0
Whenever I open Apple Mail, 2 (two) SpamSieve dialogue boxes appear, which terrorized me ! Obviously, I'll kindly put Spamsieve in the trash...
Sep 24 2023
Version: 3.0
If you have old email addresses that are literally bombed with spam, SpamSieve is a godsend. But the trouble with spam is that it will never end and that you can't avoid checking false positives or negatives. I've tried to stick for years to the typical jefferson.smith@senat.com (sample ;)) but in the end I reluctantly had to change my address. Spammers mostly use the same old databases, so if your address was created more than ten years ago, you're very lucky if it's not in those databases (same for your old password if you never changed it). Sometimes it's better to cut a leg than to try and cure it...
Mar 11 2023
Version: 2.9.52
For me, it didn't work. I even copied into the Blacklist of the application about 90 addresses that send me SPAM. Well, it's stayed just the same as before. I complied point by point with the fairly complicated instructions, and... nothing.
Nov 27 2022
Version: 2.9.50
This just flat-out works. I have had the same email address since there was email, so I get a ton of junk. It would take several minutes a week to sort through it all and it was very frustrating. Now, SpamSieve just handles it all. While not perfect, my guess is that the accuracy is at least 95%. In the past, I had to look at my Inbox and sort through all the junk. Now, I will check the SpamSieve junk folder, and see if anything that is not spam was inadvertently classified as spam. It happens rarely, but this is so much of a faster process, that it typically only takes me 15-20 seconds a day. Worth every penny!
Dec 29 2020
Version: 2.9.41
As so many of these reviews have cited, SpamSieve is the best spam filter on the market. My experience with the software not only confirms that of other users but adds another dimension. When I had difficulties with Mail on my iMac, multiple senior advisors from Apple were unable to solve the problem. Desperate for help (I did not want to follow the latest senior advisor’s recommendation to reinstall the OS and all of my third-party apps), I turned to SpamSieve’s support for help. By far, this has been my best support experience with my computer. The expert who responded to my many emails did so with abundant patience and skill—during a holiday weekend, no less. For the first time in months, my Mail client is running smoothly.
Dec 11 2020
Version: 2.9.41
I have been using SpamSieve on my Macs for over 15 years. Given its cost, that works out to about $2 per year. And it has certainly saved me more than that in time spent cleaning up my mailboxes! It works, like a Mac application should: seamlessly and unobtrusively. Out of the box it's a terrific helper, but if you spend time "training" it, it really shows its magic! I once went overboard and got too "deep into the weeds," but SpamSieve even has a way out of that (e.g., "rebuilding the corpus"). SpamSieve is one of those I-can't-do-without programs, and the one-time charge is well worth it!
Oct 19 2020
Version: 2.9.40
I’ve been using SpamSieve with “Airmail” since the developer made it compatible with this emailer. Something I’ve noticed and you probably know, is that the more you use it, the better it becomes in distinguishing “spam” from authentic mail. It does this by learning the pattern of junk mails you receive and not by simply identifying and blacklisting their senders. Therefore, after a week or two no spam passes through if you correctly blacklist spam in the first place. I still receive junk mail, but it’s limited to 10 mails a month and not 100 a day like before! The developer has done a great job by making it compatible all major emailers and not solely with Apple Mail. In this way, even if you change your emailer, your blacklists will also be transferred to the new one. I can’t remember the last time I paid for an upgrade but in the market of applications that work on a subscription basis it’s rare to find a developer that instead of seeking new strategies to increase his profits prefers to spend his time on enhancing his software and making it more efficient for all users alike. Thank you very much sir and please continue like this.
Fariborz AMIRSHAHI – Verona (Italy)
Oct 19 2020
Version: 2.9.40
I can't understand the bad reviews below! So easy to set up, so transparent to use... It's even easier with MailMate or Postbox than Apple Mail.
Sep 24 2020
Version: 2.9.39
Spent the good part of an hour in total futility do download and run S.S. What a joke
The have ZERO customer support. Some guy named Michael kept telling me to read the directions.
Thanks Michael.. have a 2-year old MacBook Air. I took it to a Mac "Guru". After 90-minutes, even he gave up. Good Luck!!
The have ZERO customer support. Some guy named Michael kept telling me to read the directions.
Thanks Michael.. have a 2-year old MacBook Air. I took it to a Mac "Guru". After 90-minutes, even he gave up. Good Luck!!
Sep 21 2020
Version: 2.9.39
It works well on Macbook but not on my Iphone, so sometimes I miss emails that spamseive thinks are junk, but are important. Not sure how to fix this as I always have my phone but often am away from Macbook
Mar 15 2020
Version: 2.9.39
very difficult to use. Doesnt catch persistent spam. use macs own Mail instead. Much better.
Dec 25 2019
Version: 2.9.38
Good app, but has been very broken since upgrading to Catalina. The latest update didn't fix it...
:(
Nov 26 2019
Version: 2.9.38
Just excellent. Effective and easy to tweak filters.
Sep 8 2019
Version: 2.9.37
Hate Spam? Distrust your servers decision as to what is spam? This app is your best alternative! Hugely accurate. Learns quicker than you do. Support excellent. Yes it works just great in Catalina!
Aug 19 2019
Version: 2.9.37
Apple mail without spamsieve is like being married with no wife.
Aug 19 2019
Version: 2.9.37
Great software, always up to date quickly for new MacOs
Outstanding support
Aug 13 2019
Version: 2.9.36
Changed my life. Suddenly no more SPAM mails (>80 per day). Email is usable again. Amazing that there was no solution from Apple!
Jun 9 2019
Version: 2.9.36
After linking to an insecure network overseas, I was getting a hundred or more spam messages every day, many of them offensive. With SpamsSieve, they're gone. You do need to follow the installation instructions precisely. And... do take the time to train the software to recognize your particular flow of spam. (It's all there is intro well-written but lengthy step-by-step instructions.) It's also important to monitor the Spam folder every day for the first couple of weeks or so to catch false positives and train SpanSieve to not delete a few specific email senders. (using version 2.9.36 - June 2019)
You may need to switch your iPhone/iPad email from "Push" to "Fetch every 15 minutes" for new mail. That way, your Mac will discard the spam before it gets to your mobile device. The downside is that there can be as much as a 15-minute delay on your mobile device unless you go to settings and fetch manually when you're expecting an urgent email.
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