[Spambayes] RE: Outlook Plugin Questions

[Tim Peters]

[Brad Morgan]
> Where should future questions about the Outlook 2000 plugin be directed?

I think right here for now.  Some people will probably want that to go to a
different mailing list, but while people are still in the early stages of
integrating this code, *I* think it's valuable to get the chance to read
about everyone's tribulations and triumphs.  There are lots of UI issues
that are going to be puzzles for everyone.

> I've got a fairly large set of Rules Wizard rules that separate
> my incoming mail into folders.  Where does the Spambayes plugin fit into
> this?

At the wrong end at the moment, and possibly forever.

> I think I'd like it to be "first" so that the rules wizard rules just
> operate on what should be ham only.

It may not be technically feasible to go first.  Mark is hooking "item
appears in folder" events, and those appear to trigger after the Rules
Wizard is done.  Outlook doesn't have a full object model, and the Rules
Wizard appears to be unhookable.

You can get much the same effect in the end, though:  In the Outlook addin's
Define Filters dialog, select *every one* of your destination folders in the
"Filter the following folders as msgs arrive" folder selector.  It's a
multi-selection tree view, so this is easy.  The Rules Wizard runs first
regardless, but each folder you selected alerts the addin whenever a msg
ends up there.  The addin can then move or copy (your choice) the msg to an
Unsure or Spam folder (as appropriate).

> I've used SpamWeasel and SpamAssassin Pro to help me build my initial spam
> corpus.  Both of these products have added header fields with their
> "conclusions".  Will the presence of these fields have any adverse effect
> on this code?

By default, we ignore almost all header fields now.  So, no.

> After following the instructions in the About... text, I've added the Spam
> field to my inbox display but it contains #ERROR for all  messages.  Is
> there something else I need to do?

I don't know; it's a new one on me; Mark may have a better clue, but I
wouldn't count on it at once -- the Outlook API for setting custom fields is
a mess, and doesn't appear to work as documented.  We've both spent hours
today trying to make better sense of it, and this subsystem is likely to
change.  In the meantime, just get rid of the Spam column if the #ERROR
things bother you.  The score is probably <wink> still there.  If you're
puzzled by any particular msg, select and click Anti-Spam -> Show spam clues
for current msg.

> Is there a "remove" or "uninstall" procedure?  If not, is one needed?

For what?  If just the Outlook addin, cd to the Outlook2000 directory and
run

    python addin.py --unregister

for now.  I suppose something fancier may get added later.


> Thanks for your continued efforts.  I'll be happy to help with whatever I
> can.

You're helping already!  Trying to use a thing is the best test we can get
now, and thanks.