spamfoo training

Question asked by Sabatino - 9/2/2026 at 12:47 AM

Answered

As I understand it, Spamfoo trains itself based on the messages added to or removed from the Junk Email folder.

However, I have a major question. I currently have the weight set very low, so it is actually Cryen/Message Sniffer and the other SM filters that are doing the work.

Do the messages identified as spam by these current filters—and subsequently moved to the Junk Email folder—contribute to Spamfoo's training?

Sabatino Traini
Chief Information Officer

Genial s.r.l.
Martinsicuro - Italy

5 Replies

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Sabatino Replied

9/2/2026 at 3:33 AM

I'll answer my own question: No.

But I still don't understand how the training works.

I’ve verified that these users are using IMAP rather than webmail, so I assume they have moved messages to or from the Junk folder.

So, I ran a test on a couple of my own accounts—both by moving messages to Junk and by using eM Client’s "Move to Junk" function.

However, even after several hours, I can't find those messages among the "learned" items.

I don't understand.

Sabatino Traini
Chief Information Officer

Genial s.r.l.
Martinsicuro - Italy

Zach Sylvester Replied

9/2/2026 at 7:21 AM

Employee Post Marked As Answer

Hey Sabatino,

“Learned Spam” is a decision label. What I mean by that is it will appear on new mail that SpamFoo determines is similar to messages you previously marked as spam. The original messages you moved to Junk will not themselves show the “Learned Spam” label.

If you go to the SpamFoo user dashboard for that user, you should see learned rules based on the From addresses of messages that were manually moved to Junk. Those are some of the learned parameters SpamFoo uses when evaluating future messages.

Messages that are automatically moved to Junk by Cryen, Message Sniffer, or other SmarterMail spam filters do not contribute to SpamFoo’s training. The learning comes from user actions, such as manually moving messages into or out of the Junk Email folder.

So for your test, rather than looking for the original messages under “Learned Spam,” I would check the learned rules for that user in the SpamFoo dashboard. Future messages that are similar to mail you marked as spam may then receive the “Learned Spam” decision.

Let me know if this helps clear things up.

Kind Regards,

Zach Sylvester

Software Developer
SmarterTools Inc.

www.smartertools.com