[Spambayes] Spambayes and Outlook Rules Wizard

[Tim Peters]

[Burkhard Schrage]
> I have been using the Outlook rules wizard in order to move spam
> directly to the "deleted mail" folder.  I was wondering whether
> Spambayes has a "look" at my inbox before or after Outlook applies
> the rules.

Unfortunately, there isn't a comprehensible answer to that reasonable
question.  Outlook tells spambayes about a message when Outlook feels like
telling spambayes about it, which may be before, or after, or in the middle
of Outlook applying its own rules to the message -- or, sometimes, and
especially when your machine is busy doing other things too, Outlook doesn't
tell spambayes about a message at all.  "The rules" (if there are any ...)
aren't documented by Microsoft, and it seems to vary based on CPU speed,
available RAM, Outlook version, and service pack level too.

> If it were true that Spambayes looks at my inbox after
> Outlook applies the rules, it might be better to switch the rules
> off, or?

If it were reliably true or false, yes, something interesting would follow
from that <wink>.

The Outlook addin has grown a couple of options to insert delays of various
durations into the addin's processing steps, in the hopes of making the
addin's timing with respect to Outlook rules more predictable.  This is
poke-and-hope tuning, so may or may not improve predictability for you.