Plus addressing vs Rules

[apl]

Hi All,

I'm a bit confused over the way Fastmail handles inbound email when it comes to virtual aliases, plus addressing and rules.

At the moment I have an email address for my son as a virtual alias that uses a plus address syntax in the table to target a folder that contains his email:

myson@mydomain.com > me+Family.myson@mydomain.com

The +Family part is a top level folder and his folder 'myson' is contained within it.

It has been working just fine, any email for him turns up in his folder. Just recently my brother sent him an email, I have a rule for my brother that puts his email in a folder. The problem is that the email that my brother sent to my son ended up in my brother's folder and not my son's.

I'm assuming that the email is arriving in my son's folder via the virtual alias but the rule is then being applied which moves it into a different folder.

Is there any way around this? It happens with a similar setup where a form on another server sends the email using plus addressing, no virtual alias. There is a rule that checks whether the email address is in an address group and moves it to a folder. This is overriding the plus addressing so all the emails are turning up in the wrong folder.

Regards Alan

[n5bb]

Here is how this works, Alan:

• When a message arrives at your account, a default delivery folder is assigned before your Sieve rules script is executed.
• The default delivery folder is normally INBOX. However, this can be a different folder if an alias (or virtual alias for Enhanced accounts) targets another folder. And a subdomain address is normally translated to a plus+address which targets a folder.
• All messages whose alias targets your account (but not those targeting only an external account) cause your Sieve script to be executed. When your Sieve rules script starts execution, the delivery folder is initially set as described above. But the Sieve script can change where a message is delivered. This is done when you create a rule as shown in this example:

  if header :contains "from" "brother@domain" {
    fileinto "INBOX.brotherfolder";
  }

  This code causes the message to be filed in the brotherfolder. The default behavior (delivery to INBOX or the alias target) is disabled when a fileinto command is executed. A :copy tag can be added to cause the message to be filed in both folders, but I don't thing that's what you wish.
• If the only portion of your rules you want to override is the filing into folders, you can do this as follows:
  • In the Options>Define Rules>File into folders screen, you can add a rule to file messages sent To/Cc/Bcc your son at myson @ mydomain.com into your son's folder.
  • Then you must force this new son filing rule to have a higher priority than the brother filing rule. This is done using the Order field in the File into folders screen. The lower the number, the higher the priority, and only one of the filing rules is executed (since an elseif structure is used).
  • So you need to set the order of the son filing rule to a lower number than any other filing rule. For example, set the son filing rule to order 0, and be sure that all other rules have a higher order number.
  • If you do what I just described, the alias folder target for your son is extraneous, and the alias can just target your normal account. Messages sent to your son's alias will be filed into his folder using the new File into folders rule, no matter who they are sent from. Messages sent to any other alias at your account by your brother will still be filed into your brother's folder.

Bill

[apl]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your very detailed reply, I'll give your suggestions a go and feed back how I get on.

Regards Alan