@hector7g: not you, Hector, I was referring to Clarient. :D

phoenix

I have to check my spam box daily because I get legitimate e-mail in my spam box all the time. Sometimes its even e-mails from people responding to an e-mail I wrote (gmail is smart enough to thread it, why can't it tell its not spam). Is there a way to make gmail's spam filter less aggressive?

I also wonder if the messages I write ever end up in someone else's spam box. Is adding everyone to my address book (and making sure I am in theirs) the only way to stop legitimate mail from going into someone's unchecked spam box?

9house

The problem is if you do not include your name like Gina | Lifehacker, every single spam that has come in since is addressed to my email address which has my name in it. So, they all stay unread. Tips?

thelouisguy

The best part of this workaround is that it's much less likely to be broken by the next code update. And, I don't have to install it on multiple computers.

timepiece

@phoenix: "without the unnecessary snark"

??

hector7g

I was going to point out that the newest version of CustomizeGoogle (literally what, yesterday or the day before) does this neatly now, but I was going to say it without the unnecessary snark. :(

Anyway - seems to work nicely, can't wait for the next Better Gmail! :D

phoenix

Awesome tip, Gina. Even though I only get about 4 spam emails a week, it still annoys me to no end to see the number piling up in that folder. You rock!

JonnyD

I've found enough legitimate messages in the spam box that I always at least skim through the content before I delete everything in it.

Since I check Gmail at least once a day, it doesn't take long to browse and delete.

infmom

@clarient: I tried the update, it doesn't work for me consistently (or others, based on the comments.) I'll test again though.... because I do plan to include this in Better Gmail 2 once it's working all the time.

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor

But I don't want to mark them read! I just don't want to see the count.

@CLARIENT: userscripts.org vs. userstyles.org

avantreese

Personally, I am happy to see this tip, as I am not interested in the plugin at this point. Thanks for passing it along.

DasLife

For some reason I always missed the "read" feature! Thanks for pointing this out!

ajskhan

Having the spam count always bothered me. This is a great tip. To clarify, just add "in:spam" in the "Has the words:" field.

TechNTools

Seriously, Lifehacker? You couldn't do a simple google search to find out if it's been updated or not?

[userstyles.org]

I noticed it a while back and found it had already been updated to work with the new gmail. Come on, guys, you're not that dense.

clarient

O ya, by the way, the newly updated "CustomizeGoogle" FF extension does give you the option to hide spam-counter. And the latest version does work with the "new" Gmail.

hector7g

I'd like to get rid of the Spam folder entirely on Gmail. Just delete that sh*t as soon as it comes in.

The filters are good enough to keep real messages out of the spam box, and I sure as hell don't want to go searching through it in the event something legit does go there. I don't know about your spam folder, but there's some nasty stuff in my spam folder.

hector7g

thank god you posted this, for some reason since the new gmail came out and the greasemonkey script stopped working, I was obsessed with the spam showing.

honestly, I love this freaking site. god bless you gina!

-SPK

i always thought reading a spam message validated it. i'm probably wrong though.

twins8791

@twins8791: I think that only applies to spam received in "desktop clients" (or crappy web interfaces...? lol) that actually "download"/view the gifs, animations or other "embedded" content spammers often include with their spam...

But really I don't like this idea....I think all spam should be reported. It's a HUGE problem; the majority of spam nowadays is actually sent by hijacked computers (like, your parents or grandparents computer...?)...by reporting the spam to SpamCop.net, CastleCops.com/Sirt and KnujOn.Com (that's no Junk backwards, clever eh?) - these three services can make contact with proper authorities that those IP addresses are being used to send spam, or host even host these spamvertized domains in a fast-flux or "round robin" environment...

ahoier

This seems useful, but I never have any spam in the first place. But some of my friends with 3000 unread spam mails really need to do this...

Dooga

I don't understand why someone would worry whether or not their spam shows. I get about 2000 spam messages a day on average. If I think that a sites mail that I subscribed to is going to be sent to spam I make sure I allow mail from that site before I logout for the night, otherwise I just "delete all spam" which makes all 2000+ spam messages vanish. I'm afraid that if I did do this to my account I might miss out on some message That I missed Authenticating, besides it doesn't take that long to skim the the email addresses, especially when most of my spam is in Chinese.

Ninehand

Gmail needs to make this a optional setting you can turn on and off. Very much appreciate whom ever thought of this. Seeing the unread spam count has always bothered me.

Whitehead

Strangely the new gmail does not show up in my Opera browser. But works fine with firefox.

Lifehackers: is there a way to set a gmail filter to reply to spam with a message like "Your message has been marked SPAM, if this is in error please resend the message to my other email address at...etc"? This way automated spam will be marked spam, while others will be sent to your other inbox. Would this work?

Mykol225

@Mykol225: You never want to reply to a spam email. If you reply, they know your email address exists and is monitored. They will bombard you with spam because they know your email address is active.

thelouisguy

I like the idea of this tip, but I have a problem. Most of my spam comes from an account that has my name in the email address. I have yet to find a way to get Gmail (or Google in general) to match an exact word WITHOUT matching common variations on it. (e.g. I want to mark spam as read if it contains donald@notmyrealdomain.com but not if it contains "Donald".)

Any suggestions for me? Thanks!

MonkeymanDon

HECTOR7G, thanks for the extension. It works great at at hiding the spam count. It must be a psychological thing but every time I see unread numbers, I have to go there to delete it instead of just letting gmail automatically delete it for me. Thanks again!

b-dawg

Remixing this with another of this week's LH posts, here's a way to add this filter using Gmail's new permalinks. Now you just have to tell the filter to "Mark as read"—oh, and change "my name" to your name.

(note this won't yet work for Google Apps)

earth2marsh