Poco Filter FAQ - Creating a new mailbox/folder when filtering mail

Poco Filter FAQ - Creating a new mailbox/folder when filtering mail

Q: As far as I can see, in 2.5, you must first define a folder/mailbox before creating a filter to direct email to it. No big deal, but in Outlook 2000 you can create a new folder during the filter creatioon process, which is an added convenience.
 
A: You can create a new mailbox with a filter, just type the new mailbox name in the drop down box under the action to perform. The trick is that when a new message arrives and is filtered into that mailbox it doesn't appear in the mailbox pane. To fix this use the "Refresh List of Mailboxes" command from the "Mailbox" menu to display them. Note: Doing this will cause all highlighting of new messages to be lost. To get around this see note 3 below:

Notes:

  1. It doesn't appear that you can create both a new folder and a new mailbox from a filter. Also, the test I did created a new mailbox at the highest level rather than nested within a folder.
  2. I create new mailboxes all the time at work but I do it from within scripts. They possess much more power than filters (although the power of filters has grown remarkably with Poco 2.5). You can refresh the list of mailboxes from within a script.
  3. It is possible to execute scripts from within filters and the solution to the mailbox not being displayed lies with this capability. To refresh the list of mailboxes you need to create a "RefreshMailboxes" script. It only needs a single command: 
    RefreshMailboxes
    Once you have created this script open the filters window and edit the filter that moves the message to the new mailbox. Click the "and" box at the end of the filter action section, a second filter action section will open up. Select "Run Script" as the action and choose the "RefreshMailboxes" script in the drop down box below the action field.

    Using this technique the highlighting of folders with new messages will be lost, however the "Check last mail status" window still provides information on where those messages were filtered.