Can't stop Apple Mail misclassifying my desktop Apple Mail messages as Junk

Tried the webmail approach. My ISP isn’t classifying it as junk before it gets to me. So, it must be Apple Mail.

Some responses I’ve seen refer to invoking a ‘not junk’ button. I can’t seem to do that with my system and I have formed the view that the ‘not junk’ button has disappeared.

Apple Help does not seem to have caught up with the latest update, so may not be telling the whole story.

The "bin & x" icon is visible while in Inbox. It changes to "bin and up arrow" when the item is moved to the Junk file.

However, when I move correctly classified messages to the Junk file, it does not learn that it's junk. When I move legitimate messages that have been misclassified as junk from Inbox to Junk file, the back to Inbox (using the icons), it remains classified as Junk.

I have now used "The Nuclear Option" and deleted all junk rules, disabled all junk settings, restarted the iMac, then re-enabling the junk settings.

So far, so good. It may take a few days of viewing incoming mail to see if the system is still confused.

Thanks

Thanks Steve,

That's what I do now too.

Yes, it is long -winded. Also, it's not consistent. On about half the mis-identifying occasions, the message sources that I have "vaccinated" with this method, continue to appear as Junk.

I have now added a "Not Junk" rule in MAIL/SETTINGS/RULES and add any newly misidentified "From" user to the rule. That's even more long winded, but it seems to work!

My system does NOT display what your screen grab shows. There has been no button labelled "Not Junk" on my system, since upgrading to Sonoma 14.0.

However, the "bin and up arrow" symbol you showed, is still shown on my system. But, on hover, it says "return to inbox". When I select it, that's exactly what happens - the incorrectly labelled mail is returned from the Junk file to the inbox, still incorrectly classified as junk! It does NOT reclassify it as legitimate mail. Nor does it seem to learn on future mail from the same source.

I will now try The Nuclear Option as suggested above - Delete all my junk mail rules, disable Junk Mail, then re-enable it and start creating rules again.

Surely, there's a better way?

Thank you. Yes, that's what I see also.

My problem is the intermittent behaviour of the system to the previously classified message sources.

Sometimes, the system advises that it's probably "Junk", but, even when I declare that it's junk, new junk messages from that user continue to go to the inbox unfiltered. Sometimes, they are again recommended as Junk; sometimes not!

I now use MAIL/SETTINGS/RULES to push previously identified non-junk mail sources into the correct classification by creating a "NOT JUNK" rule and editing it for newly arrived misidentifications.

That's slow and annoying, but effective.