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Using Mail Rules On Mail@umd To Manage Incoming E-Mail

The Mail@umd e-mail system allows you to establish mail filters which allow you to relocate, carbon copy, forward, or delete messages when they arrive in your mailbox. A filter is a set of conditions or rules associated with an action. These rules are applied to incoming e-mail messages, and the messages are processed accordingly. For instance, let's say you created a folder for mail sent to you by your supervisor entitled "Boss." You can create a set of rules that will automatically filter any e-mail you receive with the supervisor's name in the subject, sender or message body fields directly into the "Boss" folder. The message will not take up space in your Inbox, but you will need to remember to look at your Folder list to see if you have new messages in the "Boss" folder.

E-mail clients like Mozilla Thunderbird or Outlook Express can also be configured with mail filters. The filters you set up in Webmail will work no matter how you check your e-mail. (Information about using mail rules in various e-mail clients is available in the e-mail applications section of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) Help Desk website.)

You can configure mail filters for your Mail@umd account through Webmail as follows:

1. Connect to Mail@umd via a web browser at mail.umd.edu.
2. Login using your University Directory ID and password.
3. From the Links menu on the left margin, select the Options link.
4. In the resulting Options: Message Filters section of the window, click on the Message Filters link at the top of the window. Existing filters will appear at the top of the window so you may have to scroll down to reach the Filter Conditions - Add New Filter area.

   

5. In the Filter Conditions - Add New Filter area specify the following:
   1. The first radio button sets an initial parameter for the conditions you must specify, from the drop down menu choose:
      1. If all of these conditions are met: Filter action is done only if all of the specified conditions are true.
      2. If any of these conditions are met: Filter action is done if at least one of the specified conditions is true.
6. Or you can select the other radio button:
   1. Apply to all incoming messages: Filter action is done on all messages regardless of conditions. This option is deselected (disabled) by default.
7. Choose a filter condition (below are the most frequently used filtering criteria):
   1. From: Filters on the e-mail address of the person who sent the message.
   2. To/CC: Filters on the e-mail address(es) of the recipient's (does not include BCC recipients).
   3. Subject: Filters on text in the subject line.
   4. Body: Filters on the text of the message and text attachments including Plain text, HTML text, and Rich Text.
   5. Return-path: Filters on the message return-path address.
   6. .X-Junkmail: You can use this parameter to have all system-identified junkmail filtered.
   7. Attachment MIME Type: Filters on the attachment media type. Choices include text, multipart, message, application, image, audio, video, and model; use the matches rather than the contains content condition (next bullet item) and search for something specific like application/vbs or image/jpeg, and so on.
   8. Attachment file name: Filters on the attachment name. You can use the asterisk wildcard (only with the matches and does not match options); for example, *.vbs. 
8. Choose a content condition for the "filter object" (below are the most frequently used filtering conditions):
   1. Contains: The specified parameter must contain the text you enter. Wildcards are not honored; for example, the filter condition: " contains " " doc " would be met with any of these words: "doc", "document", "undocumented", "doctor", and so forth.
   2. Does not contain: The specified parameter must not contain the text you enter. Wildcards are not honored.
   3. Matches: The specified parameter must match the text you enter. Wildcards may be useful; for example, the condition " matches " " Dr. Spock " would only be met by "Dr. Spock," but the condition " matches " " Dr. Sp* " would be met by "Dr. Spock", "Dr. Spark", "Dr. Sproul", and so forth.
   4. Does not match: The specified parameter must not match the text you enter. Wildcards may be useful.
9. Your final filter condition option is a value for the filter object. Enter the text, integers, MIME type, or file name you want searched for and acted on in the appropriate box. You can use the following wildcard characters with the matches or does not match options only:
   1. Asterisk ( * ): Matches any sequence of zero or more characters. Example: to find all attachments with filenames ending in ".vbs", use these filter conditions: Attachment file name: matches " *.vbs "
   2. Question mark ( ? ): Matches any single character. Example: to find all messages from "Maria" or "Marie", use these filter conditions: From: matches " Mari? "

      

10. In the Filter Action area specify a response by selecting one of the following:
    1. Move to <folder> (default): Matching messages are moved to the specified folder.
    2. Forward to: Matching messages are forwarded as specified.
    3. Forward excerpt to: The first several lines of matching messages are forwarded as specified. This option is useful in conjunction with wireless devices.
    4. Discard (message is irrevocably lost): Matching messages are deleted.

    Additionally, you may specify:

11. Remove attachments that meet attachment conditions: Attachments that meet the specified attachment conditions are removed and a message is appended to the body indicating that the attachment was removed. This option is deselected (disabled) by default. To enable this feature, select the checkbox.
12. Do not apply any more filters to this message if action is taken: If the message qualified for action by the filter, any filters listed below the newly created filter are not applied. This option is selected (enabled) by default. To disable this feature, clear the checkbox.
13. Once you have created your filter, click the OK button. (Webmail accepts the settings and a description of the filter appears above the Filter Conditions box. Incoming messages and attachments are filtered and acted on as directed.)