Sweep.

Mail Shepherd 3.0 for the Mac App Store (build 535) · Updated October 24, 2026

Click Sweep to clean up your iCloud Mail. It starts right away, without asking, and works on every account, or just the one chosen in the account menu beside the button (the same menu as on Contacts, Review Blocked and Review Junk). Mail Shepherd talks to iCloud directly, so Mail doesn’t need to be open, and it reads only each message’s headers, never its contents.

Before each Sweep, Mail Shepherd brings your Contacts up to date and reads Mail’s Blocked Sender List again (if it’s linked in Settings). If your contacts can’t be read, the Sweep doesn’t run, so a contact’s mail is never treated as junk.

What it does

Each account is swept in this order: Trash, then Junk, then the Inbox.

Trash: every unread message is marked read, so Trash shows no unread count. Nothing is moved.
Junk from blocked senders (Mail Shepherd’s Blocked Senders or Mail’s Blocked Sender List): marked read and junk, and moved to Trash. A blocked sender always wins.
Junk from your contacts or an Allowed Domain: marked not junk and moved to the Inbox, left unread, but only when iCloud authenticated it and it passes all four spoof checks, whether or not they’re turned on. Otherwise it stays in Junk, is counted as Kept in Junk, and is listed on Review Junk, so a fake “contact” can’t sneak into your Inbox.
Junk from a Blocked Domain, and all other junk: marked read and junk, and moved to Trash, where Review Blocked or Review Junk lists it.
Inbox: only mail from your Blocked Domains is touched: it’s marked read and junk, and moved to Trash. Mail from your contacts is never caught by a Blocked Domain.
Spoofed mail: when a spoof check is turned on in Settings → Spoof Detection, a message that fails it is junk, whoever it claims to be from. In Junk it goes to Trash; in the Inbox it’s marked junk and moved to Junk, left unread, so Review Junk lists it. Blocked senders and Blocked Domains still come first.

Mail Shepherd never deletes anything during a Sweep and never changes a message’s flag. Every change is recorded in the Action Log. A change iCloud doesn’t confirm is logged as “Unconfirmed” and isn’t counted.

While it runs

Sweep turns into Stop (⌘.), with what it’s doing beside it, and the table fills in as each mailbox is handled. Stop ends it after the current batch; what it did before then stays done. A Sweep also stops if the Mac goes to sleep or you switch users (the display sleeping doesn’t stop it).

The results

The table shows the last Sweep (or the one running), with when it ran, for the account chosen in the menu, in columns for Inbox, Junk, Trash and Total. A dash means a row doesn’t apply to that mailbox.

What it found: Checked, Unread, From Contacts, From Blocked Senders, From Blocked Domains, From Allowed Domains, Other Junk, Spoofed, Kept in Junk and Conflicts (a sender your lists disagree about, such as a contact whose domain is blocked; the Sweep Log says which rule won).
What it did: Moved to Inbox, Moved to Junk, Marked Read and Moved to Trash.

The results stay until the next Sweep, including one that Auto-Sweep runs.

The Sweep Log

Below the table, the Sweep Log lists each step of the current or last Sweep, any conflicts, and every message kept in Junk. Its buttons copy the log, clear it, and make it fill the page (with a search box). To list every message a Sweep leaves as it is, turn on Verbose in Settings → Configuration.

Sweep Logs

The Sweep Logs page, at the bottom of the sidebar, keeps a log for every Sweep and Auto-Sweep, newest first (the latest 500). Each row shows the Date & Time, whether the Sweep was Manual or an Auto-Sweep, the Account, the Result (Succeeded, Finished with Problems, Stopped or Failed), whether its Log is Concise or Verbose, and its Changes. Click a row to see that Sweep’s log, with a search box; ↑ and ↓ show newer and older Sweeps, and Done (Esc) goes back. Clear removes every Sweep Log after asking on the page; the Action Log keeps every change.

When it can’t run

Sweep is dimmed until you add an account in Settings, and while Mail Shepherd is busy with something else.
When an account needs fixing, the page says “An account needs attention” with Open Settings. An account whose app-specific password is missing is skipped, and the Sweep Log says so.
When a Sweep finishes with problems or stops with an error, an orange warning icon appears beside the account menu. Point at it to read the problem, or click it to open the Action Log.

Afterwards, look over what’s left on Review Blocked and Review Junk. To sweep on a schedule, see Automate.

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