FAQ: POP'ing GMAIL spam, for reporting Gmail spam en'masse Options

[Jank1887]

Because of Gmail's setup (Label's, not folders, no real inbox, messages almost never deleted, etc.) and the fact that it doesn't "forward as attachment", reporting spam received at a Gmail account can be a bit of a nuisance. You can easily get the full headers, but only one at a time. These forums have given some methods for doing this, but it is still one-at-a-time if you go through the gmail interface. Fine for small quantities, but if you get more, an en'masse method would be preferable.

Gmail has enabled forwarding and POP access to the accounts. However, it will not download anything in the Spam folder. So, here's how to POP download your spam, so that you can forward your spam en'masse to SpamCop using another more capable account.

1) Enable POP access in Gmail

• From within your Gmail account, click on Settings.
• Click on the "Forwarding and POP" heading.
• Under "POP Download:", select one of the "Enable POP for..." settings
  (which you select is up to you. Just remember that it will download everything not in Trash or Spam. That can be a lot the first time if you select the ALL option. After the first download, it always reverts to just downloading stuff since you're last download.
• Make sure you have the "keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox" set.
• Click the "Save Changes" button.

2) Set up POP access in your client

• Configure your preferred account to download your Gmail mail via POP (link given with typical instructions on the Settings page, or HERE for convenience.)
• I would recommend setting up a Gmailspam folder or something with appropriate filters.

3) Download your Spam, First time

• First, clear out your inbox. Move everything to Archive, Trash, Spam, etc.
• Download your gmail to your other account. Do with that mail whatever you want. (it could be a lot of mail if you selected the "All" setting above.
• In Gmail, select all the spam you want to report, and select the "Not Spam" button to move it back to the inbox.
• Download your gmail mail again to the other account. Depending on your Gmail setting, all of the spam from your inbox may or may not be downloaded.
• Select all of the spam in your inbox, and select the "Report Spam" button to get it back out of your Inbox.
• If you want, "Delete Forever" everything in Spam.
• Report at your leisure.

4) Future Spam downloads

• Clear out your inbox, as above.
• Download your new non-spam gmail. Move it 'out of the way'.
• Select everything in Spam that you want to report, click "Not Spam" to move it to the Inbox.
• Download the spam
• Move the spam back into Spam via the "Report Spam" button.
• Report at your leisure.

Until Gmail allows direct access to Spam via POP, or gives "multiple forward as attachment" capability, that's the convoluted process you'll need to POP your Gmail spam.

edit: typos/grammar

This post has been edited by Jank1887: Aug 5 2005, 09:07 AM

[choicefresh]

You can also:

1. Go to
http://www.freepops.org/en/
and install FreePOPs.
2. Make sure you put FreePOPs in your Startup folder so it is always running. It uses very little resources to leave it running.
3. Go to http://www.freepops.org/en/viewplugin.php?plugin=gmail and read about the Gmail.lua plugin.
4. Download this plugin and make sure it is in the FreePOPs Program Files directory with all the other ".lua" files. It may already be there.
5. Set up a separate "Gmail Spam" account in Thunderbird. Under "Server Settings", make sure that you:
A. Set the "Server Name" to "localhost" only.
B. Set the "Port" to "2000".
C. Set "User Name" to "your_acct[at]gmail.com?folder=spam" where "your_acct" is your Gmail account name. It is critical that you do NOT capitalize any of the letters in the "User Name" field.
D. For "Use secure connection", you MUST make sure the "Never" is selected.
6. You will be asked for your password the first time you connect and have the option to have Thunderbird save the password for future connections.

Taken from http://www.castlecops.com/postx159435-0-15.html, SB06794's post.

[edit - plugin link fixed]

This post has been edited by Farelf: Aug 11 2007, 01:52 AM