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Email Filters: Workbook

Problem:

(Obsolete) Want to get rid of the SPAM messages in my email.

Solution:

CONTENTS

Welcome and Introduction
Scope and Objectives
What are Server Side Filters and how do they work?
Where to create and edit filters
Creating email filters
Adding filters
Editing Filters
Deleting Filters
Changing Filter Order
Filter Phrases
Using the methodology developed here at ISU
Help

Welcome and Introduction

Welcome to Email Server Side Filters Workbook

What You Will Learn

What You Will Need to Use These Materials

Scope and Objectives

The objective of this workshop is to guide you through the process of creating Server Side Filters using webmail and to introduce ISU's Spam capture methodology. Initially there will be some general information on Server Side Filters, then information on the creation, editing, and how to delete your filters. The final step will be to work through the process for capturing Spam for deletion.

What are Server Side Filters and how do they work?

The ability to set Server Side Filters is a new function available on our upgraded webmail server. Those of you who use webmail or have your email program set for IMAP, your emails are stored on our server. The filter is created through webmail and applied to incoming email on any computer through any email program you use.

You choose what to do with email through the criteria you select. You may select messages based on:

The selected messages may then be:

For example, you can place emails with "Staff Bulletin Board Notices" in the subject line into a separate folder by using the filter File To Folder. This allows you to organize your weekly bulletin board notices into one folder.

Where to create and edit filters

To create and edit filters you need to log into Delegated Administrator. There are two ways to get to this feature through your web browser. The first is to log into webmail (webmail.isu.edu) and select options in the webmail menu.

Click on Delegated Administrator on the bottom left hand side of your window.

This will open a new window and ask you to log into Delegated Administrator. Your username and password is the same as your email username and password.

The second way to access Delegated Administrator is to go to the web page: http://ux9.isu.edu:8080/nda/default/en/login.htm This will take you directly to the login for Delegated Administrator. Your username and password is the same as your regular username and password.
The option for creating filters is Set Mail Filters and is located on the bottom left hand side of your window.

Creating email filters

If you have more than one filter defined, filters will be applied in the order you have specified. Filters are applied in the order they are listed in the Custom Email Filters section of Spam Filtering (i.e., every incoming message is first checked against Filter 1, then against Filter 2, and so on). A message may match more than one filter, but it will be handled according to the first filter it matches.

Spammers have techniques that make it difficult to catch all spam emails. Spammers change sender's addresses frequently and have inoffensive subject lines. At ISU our technique for overcoming these problems is to first catch all email you do want or may want and then to assume the rest is unwanted emails. ISU has a process that can automatically delete these unwanted emails after 15 or 30 days. We will cover this process later in the workshop. During the 15 or 30 day period you have a chance to review these emails to determine if there are any you want. You can then move the email and set up a new filter for future use. The order of filters is very important in this process.

Adding filters

It may take up to ten minutes after creation or modification before the filter takes effect.

  1. Login to Delegated Administrator
  2. Click on Set Mail Filter
  3. Click ADD
  4. Click on the arrow head next to Filter Templates this will display the Select A Mail Filter Type pull down menu. You have many options here to choose from. Notice every option has a specific set of information. Select the type of filter you would like to create, and fill in the information for that filter type. Use the Tab key to move between fields.

    1. The Discard Large Messages filter allows you to discard messages based on size. You will be asked to specify a maximum message size. Any message larger than you specify will be discarded.

    2. The Reject Large Messages filter allows you to reject messages based on size. Rejected messages will be sent back to sender with the reject message specified in the filter. You will be asked to specify a maximum message size. Any message larger than specified will be sent back to sender. Note: It is probably best to avoid using this filter. If the rejected email is not a valid email the email will bounce and be returned to you so defeats the purpose of the filter.

    3. The File to folder allows you to move emails from the inbox to a selected folder based on the criteria you set.

    4. The Spam Messages filter allows you to discard messages that contain a header line known to be spam.

    5. The Redirect Messages filter allows you to redirect messages to a specified address based on a specified condition.

    6. The Accept filter allows you to file messages into the INBOX folder. It is useful as part of the spam capture procedure recommended by ISU.

    7. The Reject filter allows you to reject messages based upon criteria you provide.
    8. Warning: Do NOT reject junk mail! Filter it to the ISUBulk15 folder. Most junk mail has a false return address that will just bounce back to ISU, which bounces back to the false address, which bounces back to us, etc. Multiply this by 100 junk mails per person per day by 20,000 users per day and the mail server will be swamped, if not die altogether. If this happens to your account, we will disable your email until you've resolved the problem.

  5. Click OK
  6. Select Clear Status to close window.
  7. Click Save to save the filter details

Note: If a message is discarded there is NO WAY to get it back again.

Editing Filters

If you find that your filter is not doing exactly what you expect, you can change it and re-save and try again.

  1. Login to Delegated Administrator
  2. Click on the name of the filter to be edited
  3. Select Edit
  4. Enter your changes
  5. Click OK
  6. Select Clear Status to close window
  7. Click Save to save the change.

Note: Filters may take up to ten minutes after creation, modification, or deletion before the filter takes effect.

Deleting Filters

  1. Login to Delegated Administrator
  2. Click on the name of the filter to be removed.
  3. Select Remove
  4. Click OK, when asked "Are you sure you want to remove this filter?"
  5. Click Save to save the change.

Changing Filter Order

  1. Login to Delegated Administrator
  2. Click on the name of the filter to be moved
  3. Select Move Up or Move Down once
  4. Repeat process to move the filter further up or down

Note: You will need to select the filter name more than once to move it more than one position.

Filter Phrases

Phrases are used in many of the Filter Types. A phrase is a string of usually one or more words that may occur in the subject line or the From/To address. The phrase is compared to the incoming email, if it matches, the email will be managed according to the filter type. The phrase is not case sensitive so uppercase is the same as lowercase; for example, cat is the same as CAT. Similarly, the phrase "earn" will match "Earn big bucks!", "Increase your Earning Power", but will also match "LEARN the exam requirements." The phrase "mortgage info" will match "Mortgage Information", but will not match "Mortgage Rate Information."

The phrase "sex" will also match "Essex County", "non-sexist", "sexagenarian", "sextant", etc.

To thoroughly test your filters, we recommend you send test emails to yourself.

Using the methodology developed here at ISU

As mentioned earlier most Spam is difficult to filter out because the sender addresses constantly change and the subject line doesn't always represent the content of the email. To overcome this problem ISU recommends a different approach. Catch all the emails you do want and then catch all the emails that are from legitimate senders. The rest of the emails are probably Spam and after 15 or 30 days they can be automatically deleted by the system. During this period you can review the emails to see if there are any emails you missed that you may require (filters can then be created to catch these in the future).

The process required to use this strategy is:

  1. Create filters to catch email from family and friends.
  2. Create filters to catch emails from any subscribed mailing lists.
  3. Create filters for organizations with which you correspond.
  4. Create filters to catch emails from ISU senders.
  5. Create filters to catch everything else into ISUBulk15 or ISUBulk30.

The following process will step you through creating these filters.

Create Accept Filters - First Filter

Create an ACCEPT@isu.edu filter to handle all mail from @isu.edu. This will catch everything generated by ISU users and put it in your inbox.

  1. Login to Delegated Administrator
  2. Click on Set Mail Filter
  3. Click ADD

  4. Select Accept from the Select a mail filter pull down menu
  5. The Name box should read Accept@isu.edu.
  6. The If the header line box should read From.
  7. The Contains the phrase box should read, @isu.edu

  8. Click OK.
  9. Click the Clear Status button to close the window. 10. Click the Save button

Create Accept Filters - Second Filter

Create an ACCEPT.isu.edu filter to handle all mail from .isu.edu. This will accept all other ISU email; mm.isu.edu, COB.isu.edu, etc.

  1. Login to Delegated Administrator
  2. Click on Set Mail Filter
  3. Click ADD

  4. Select Accept from the Select a mail filter pull down menu
  5. The Name box should read Accept.isu.edu.
  6. The If the header line box should read From.
  7. The Contains the phrase box should read, .isu.edu
  8. Click OK.

  9. Click the Clear Status button to close the window.
  10. Click the Save button

Note: As filters are created they are added to the bottom of the Filters list. Remember you can always change the Filter Order.

Create an ISUBulk15 or ISUBulk30 Folder

  1. Go to: http://webmail.isu.edu
  2. Click on the Folders tab
  3. Click the New icon to create a new folder.
  4. The window Explorer User Prompt will appear.
  5. Type in either ISUBulk15 or ISUBulk30.
    1. ISUBulk15 will keep the mail for 15 days before automatically deleting it.
    2. ISUBulk30 will keep the mail for 30 days before automatically deleting it.

Create ISUBulk15 or ISUBulk30 Filter- Third Filter

Create the ISUBulk15 or ISUBulk30 mail filter to catch the remaining unwanted email.

  1. Login to Delegated Administrator
  2. Click on Set Mail Filter
  3. Click ADD

  4. In the Select a mail filter box, choose File to Folder.
  5. The Name box should be the same name as the ISUBulk folder that you created earlier. You can not have both an ISUBulk15 and a ISUBulk30!
  6. The If the header line box should say From.
  7. The Contains the phrase box should have just a period "." This will catch all other email since all email addresses contain a dot. This is also why you want this filter to be last.
  8. The Then file into the folder box should read, ISUBulk15 or ISUBulk30.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Click the Clear Status button to close the window.
  11. Click the Save button.

Note: The filter should be the last filter in the list and remain last.

Help

Click the Help icon found on the upper right corner of the light blue portion of the window. This help is context sensitive which is to say you will see help for the window that is currently open.

Copyright 2003 by Computer Center This document may be reproduced for individual or nonprofit use. Users acknowledge that the manual, and all copyright and other intellectual and proprietary rights therein, are and at all times shall remain the valuable property of the author. Users agree to respect and not to alter, remove or conceal any copyright, trademark, trade name or other proprietary marking that may appear in the manual. Please send comments to help@isu.edu .

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Platform: Not Applicable
Document #: 774     Author: Jared Young    
Last Modified by: Cynthia Senicka on 10/25/2006