Computing Topics --> Electronic Mail (E-Mail) --> E-mail Client Applications by Operating System --> Mac OS X E-mail Clients --> Entourage --> Filtering Messages With The E-mail Client -->

Filtering Messages With The E-mail Client

• modifying the subject line to begin with a configurable subject-line prefix, which is set by default to [Junk Mail]
• setting a custom tag in the message headers to read X-Spam-Flag: YES .

Here are instructions for configuring some commonly used e-mail clients:

The Mail@UMD Web Client

The Mail@UMD Web Client will automatically scan and identify junk mail and move it to your Junk Mail folder. The Junk Mail folder should be checked periodically to make sure all e-mail moved to this folder is really junk and not from a list-serv. To examine the e-mail marked as junk:

1. Log into the Mail@UMD web client
2. Click on the Options link in the left side panel
3. Click on the Junk Mail Control link at the top
4. Click on the Junk Mail Filter link
5. Set the Filter Condition to Normal

   

6. Set the Filter Action to Move to Junk Mail Folder
7. Select the Do not apply... option
8. Click the OK button
9. Log out (NOTE: the new filter is not in effect until you log out of the web client and log back in)

Entourage for Mac OS X

1. Go to Tools -> Rules.
2. Choose Mail (POP) or Mail (IMAP) from the Rules dialog box (This will depend on the protocol you are using)
3. Click New.
4. In the Edit Rule dialog:
   1. In the If section:
      1. Choose Specific Header in the first pop-up menu
      2. Type X-Spam-Flag in the text box that appears next to the pop-up menu
      3. Choose Is in the next pop-up menu
      4. Type YES into the text box
      5. The line of menus and text boxes in the If section should now read "Specific Header X-Spam-Flag Is YES"
   2. In the Then section:
      1. Choose Move message in the first pop-up menu
      2. Choose a destination folder using the second choice
      3. Make sure Enabled is checked in the bottom left of this dialog box
      4. Click OK

Mac OS X Mail

1. Go to Mail -> Preferences -> Rules and choose Add Rule.
2. Type in a description (e.g., "Spam handler")
3. Under "If any of the following...":
   1. In the first pop-up menu (the one that displays From initially), choose Edit Header List...
   2. In the Panel dialog box that appears:
      1. Type X-Spam-Flag in the text box
      2. Click Add Header
      3. Click OK
   3. Choose X-Spam-Flag, which is now available in that first pop-up menu
   4. Choose is equal to from the next pop-up menu
   5. Enter YES in the text box
4. Under Perform the following action, choose the folder to which you want to move undesired messages
5. Click OK

SeaMonkey and Thunderbird

1. Go to Tools then Message Filters
2. Click New
3. Give the filter folder a name (e.g. Spam handler)
4. Click Match any of the following
5. In the first drop down menu the one that initially displays Subject:
   • Choose Customize
   • In the resulting Customize headers window:
     • Type x-spam-flag in the New Message header box
     • Click Add
     • Click OK to return to the Filter Rules window
6. Click on the same drop down menu Subject and choose x-spam-flag
7. Choose is in the next drop down option
8. Type Yes into the text box
9. Under Perform these actions, select Move Message to and specify the folder to which you want to send spam messages
10. Click OK

Outlook Express

1. Go to Tools -> Message Rules -> Mail...
2. Choose Where the Subject line contains specific words.
3. Choose Move to Specified folder.
4. Click Contains specific words in the Rule Description box
5. Type in the text box the subject-line prefix you've set in the Junk Mail Analyzer ( [Junk Mail] by default ).
6. Click Add, click OK.
7. Click Specified in the Rule Description box
8. Choose the folder in which you want to store spam
9. Click OK
10. Click OK again to save the new rule

Outlook XP

1. First, create a folder in which to store your spam
   1. Go to File -> Folder -> New Folder...
   2. Type a name for your folder in the Name box in the window that opens
   3. In the Folder Contains list, Mail and Post Items should be selected
   4. For the location of the folder, choose Personal Folders
2. Next, create an Outlook message rule to direct spam to this folder
   1. Go to Tools -> Rules Wizard
      1. In the Rules Wizard window click on New
      2. Click on Start from a blank rule
      3. Choose Check messages when they arrive
      4. Click Next
   2. In the next screen,
      1. Under Which condition(s) do you want to check?, scroll down and choose with specific words in the message header. Be careful not to choose any other options.
      2. After you made your selection, a new line of text appears in the Rule description box
      3. Click on specific words (it will be underlined)
      4. In the Specify a word or phrase box, type X-Spam-Flag: YES . Make sure you have typed it exactly as given
      5. Click Add, to put it into the search list
      6. Click OK to close this box
      7. Click Next
   3. In the next screen,
      1. Choose move it to the specified folder under What do you want to do with the message
      2. Click on the word specified in the third line that appears under rule description
      3. Choose the folder you have created in the first step
      4. Click Next
   4. In the next screen, you can add exceptions to the rule if you want
   5. Click Next for the final screen
   6. Choose a name for your rule, turn it on, and click Finish
3. You will see the new rule in the rules list with a checkmark next to it. If you have any other rules, you should move this one to the top of the list so that spam messages are not processed by these rules in error

Pine

1. Type S (for Setup) from the main menu screen
2. Type R (for Rules)
3. Type F (for Filters)
4. Type A (for Add) to enter the setup menu for a new filter
5. You should now be on the Nickname field
   1. Press Enter to edit the existing name
   2. Replace it with an appropriate name for this filter (e.g. "spam move")
   3. Press Enter again to set it
6. Type X (for eXtraHdr) to add the custom header on which the filter will be based
7. Type X-Spam-Flag as the name of the header field, and press Enter
8. There should now be a X-Spam-Flag patt= option under the name of the filter, and it should be highlighted
   1. Press Enter to edit it
   2. Type YES as the pattern
   3. Press Enter again to set it
9. Press CTRL+W and type Move to get to where Move is specified as a Filter action
10. Type an asterisk to select it if there is no asterisk next to Move to indicate it is set as the desired action
11. Move down one line to Folder List and press CTRL+T to go to your list of folders
12. Move to the folder to which you want to move spam messages and press Enter to select it
13. Type E and press Enter to exit the add a filtering rule screen and establish the rule
14. Type E and press Enter again to exit the setup filtering rules screen and save the settings