Usermin mail filters (Procmail) for user created filters

This applies to user created filters (not system default)

I would like to be able to run filters on existing mail and I see that there appears to be an option to do that after you have created a filter. I have tried a few test runs by first creating a filter (based on an existing email in a specific folder to ensure that I haven’t made any mistake when creating the actual filter) and then trying to run the filter on the folder where the email exists.
I get this message: Searching for messages matching the filter in 1 …
… none found!
I assume this process is possible as the button on the bottom of the Filter Form appears to indicate this (Apply to Email in Folder:)

There are also 2 fields that allow you to select a specific folder at the bottom of the filter form (where I am selecting the “Apply to Email in Folder” button.) Why are there 2 fields which appear to do the same thing? I have tried using both of these to select the folder I want to run the process on but neither appear to work. I get the same error selecting the folder in either field as well as if I specify the same folder in both fields at the same time.

Thanks for any assistance or clarification.

EDIT: For some reason the manual filtering apears to be working now. I think I had regular expression checked when I shouldn’t have. I am wrong again see next post

I am still not sure what the second dropdown field is for. The first dropdown appears to be the one that works for selecting the folders to run the filter on. The second dropdown does not work with the filter. Still not sure what its for.

I did some more testing of the mail filter and found that the manual filtering only works when I select Header: From Starts with: email address

Regular expressions can be checked or unchecked


If I use Contains or Ends with and I run command manually or use the Search it is unable to find any matches.

It would also be nice to not have to Save the filter and then go back into it each time I want to make a change. Either allow the user to test the filter without first applying the Save or if you have to save, in order to apply the change, don’t refresh the page and return to the filter list. Instead refresh and leave the current filter in view in order to test it.

This would make testing filters much easier.

This still appears to be an issue, at least for me. I use the filters to organize my email at the server level and then automatically delete specific mail after a period of time. It works great for keeping the email folders from getting too big, especially for people who never delete anything or rarely cleanup their accounts.

As well as the issues regarding running the filters manually and the unclear use of the 2 fields (not a big issue but something that should be cleaned up) I find that positioning (moving up and down) of the filters is slow and cumbersome. Is there an easier way to access this information in order to clean up all my filters and adjust some that are doing multiple tasks? Is there a file where this information is stored that I can alter directly so I am not waiting for the screen to refresh after each change?