POPFile
Current Version: 1.1.1 (September 28, 2009)
From the POPFile home page: "POPFile is a free, automatic mail classification tool. Once properly set up and trained, it will scan all email as it arrives and classify it based on your training. You can give it a simple job, like separating out junk e-mail, or a complicated one, like filing mail into a dozen folders. Think of it as a personal assistant for your inbox." (The technical scoop: essentially, POPFile is a local proxy server for pre-processing mail between your "real" email server and your email client.) POPFile is written in Perl and runs on Mac OS X; the online Quick Start Guide explains what's involved in setting it up. Note: the author is looking for assistance in making the software easier to run on the Macintosh.
Version 1.1.1 adds/changes the following since version 1.1.0:
- You can now customize Subject Header modification placement (head or tail) by changing the new option 'bayes_subject_mod_pos'.
- NNTP module now caches articles received with the message number specified.
- You can now jump to message header/message body/quick magnets/scores in the single message view by clicking links on the head of the page.
- You can now filter messages shown in the history using 'reclassified' option.
The online roadmap has more information on various releases, including all past, present and future.
User Reviews
[0.22.4] "POPfile wasn't terribly easy to install (you'll need some basic knowledge of the command line), but the setup and web based interface are very simple. You create at least two 'buckets', e.g. Personal and Spam. When email is processed by the POPfile proxy it analyses the email and determines which bucket the email should be in. At first everything is marked as unclassified, but as you teach POPfile and correct it's mistakes it builds a filter that grows quickly in accuracy. You can even have other buckets like Work or Mailing Lists and teach POPfile which email goes into which bucket. In your email client you filter based on a header POPfile adds and thus sort the SPAM from the legitimate email (or personal from work, or whatever). In short, POPfile was an excellent solution to add SPAM filtering to email clients without a built in SPAM filter. I recommend it, if you can get past the user-unfriendly installation."
—Jamie Kahn Genet, August 12, 2006
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the Mac OS X 10.3+ - 10.5.x (Perl) version.Also See . . .
Can't find what you're looking for? Try a search:
Also, if you have an older Mac, be sure to check out the "Classic" applications page for more options.
Finally, take a look at ALEMIA if you think you know that name of an application, but aren't quite sure.
Related Links
Andrew Starr has a marvelous page of Eudora plug-ins and enhancements that Eudora users must check out. His entire site (known as eMailman) is worthwhile for every email junkie out there.
Graham Orndorff has written a superb collection of articles on setting up email servers and secure email clients on Mac OS X.
Adam Engst has put together a comprehensive overview of email attachment formats that is invaluable for anyone who wants or needs to understand the complexities behind them.
Also Consider . . .
These are applications that are newer and of potential interest, but which I haven't yet selected for permanent inclusion. Have a look, and let me know if you think they deserve to be part of the permanent collection!