This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Filter on body does nothing

  • 2 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by drkaden

more options

I have tried many times to create a filter that triggers if a message body contains a word. I have never gotten any of them to work. I've already read issues on this forum that seemed relevant, but nothing I've done has worked.

I'm using Thunderbird version 102.6.1 (64-bit) running on Windows 7.

These are my filter settings:

  Manually Run
  Getting New Mail: Filter before junk classification
  Match all of the following/Match any of the following (tried both)
    Body   Contains   unsubscribe
  Run selected filter(s) on <the folder where I have test messages>
  Perform these actions:
     I've tried:
        Move to another folder
        Star
        Delete

I'm not trying the filters on my Inbox yet. I'm using some test folders instead. They are set to download to my system. I did that as follows:

  Account Settings | Synchronization & Storage | Message Synchronizing | Advanced | Items for Offline Use | "download" enabled for my test folders.  I did not enable "Keep messages..." because that will affect all the folders.  I enabled downloading only for my test folders.

and

  Folder Properties | Synchronization | 'Select this folder for offline use' enabled, 'Download now' clicked.

My test folder contains messages that have the word that the filter is searching for, "unsubscribe", in both the plain text part of the message, and the html part.

Every time I run the filter, it does nothing. The filter is enabled. The filter log is enabled. The Filter Log is empty.

I've done these things: -- Run it from the Message Filters dialog box by clicking the "Run Now" button. -- Selected my test folder and run Tools | Run Filters On Folder -- Selected a message that has the matching word, and run Tools | Run Filters On Message. -- Looked in my profile folder, found the file corresponding to my test folder, looked in that file, and verified that the message is there, and that the word "unsubscribe" is there. -- Forced rebuilding of the global database by deleting global-messages-db.sqlite. -- Run the filter while online, and while offline. -- Changed the filter to match From Is In my address book, and Star or Move the message, and verified that the filter works with these other settings.

If I run Edit | Find | Search Messages, and search for the word in the body, the messages are found, but only if "Run search on server" is enabled. If it is not enabled, no messages are found. As I stated above, I've already verified that the messages are in a file in my profiles folder.

No matter what I try, filtering on body contents never does anything.

What else should I try?

I have tried many times to create a filter that triggers if a message body contains a word. I have never gotten any of them to work. I've already read issues on this forum that seemed relevant, but nothing I've done has worked. I'm using Thunderbird version 102.6.1 (64-bit) running on Windows 7. These are my filter settings: Manually Run Getting New Mail: Filter before junk classification Match all of the following/Match any of the following (tried both) Body Contains unsubscribe Run selected filter(s) on <the folder where I have test messages> Perform these actions: I've tried: Move to another folder Star Delete I'm not trying the filters on my Inbox yet. I'm using some test folders instead. They are set to download to my system. I did that as follows: Account Settings | Synchronization & Storage | Message Synchronizing | Advanced | Items for Offline Use | "download" enabled for my test folders. I did not enable "Keep messages..." because that will affect all the folders. I enabled downloading only for my test folders. and Folder Properties | Synchronization | 'Select this folder for offline use' enabled, 'Download now' clicked. My test folder contains messages that have the word that the filter is searching for, "unsubscribe", in both the plain text part of the message, and the html part. Every time I run the filter, it does nothing. The filter is enabled. The filter log is enabled. The Filter Log is empty. I've done these things: -- Run it from the Message Filters dialog box by clicking the "Run Now" button. -- Selected my test folder and run Tools | Run Filters On Folder -- Selected a message that has the matching word, and run Tools | Run Filters On Message. -- Looked in my profile folder, found the file corresponding to my test folder, looked in that file, and verified that the message is there, and that the word "unsubscribe" is there. -- Forced rebuilding of the global database by deleting global-messages-db.sqlite. -- Run the filter while online, and while offline. -- Changed the filter to match From Is In my address book, and Star or Move the message, and verified that the filter works with these other settings. If I run Edit | Find | Search Messages, and search for the word in the body, the messages are found, but '''only''' if "Run search on server" is enabled. If it is not enabled, no messages are found. As I stated above, I've already verified that the messages are in a file in my profiles folder. No matter what I try, filtering on body contents never does anything. What else should I try?

All Replies (2)

more options

Try filtering after junk classification. For IMAP accounts filter generally run before the body is even downloaded. After classification makes that run somewhat later, like when there is a body to scan for junk tokens.

more options

That makes no difference, for two reasons: 1. I'm manually running the filter, which certainly is long after junk classification has completed. 2. As I said in the first post, I've already looked in my profile folder, found the file corresponding to my test folder, looked in that file, and verified that the message is there, and that the word "unsubscribe" is there. So the body has been downloaded, but still nothing happens.