Spam Filtering: Configuring Microsoft Outlook

Open Outlook & go to your usual e-mail In-Box.

From the Menu bar at the top of the screen, select "Tools". From the "Tools" drop-down menu, select "Rules and Alerts..." (or "Rules Wizard... " in some earlier versions of Outlook)

" panel (titled "" in some earlier versions of Outlook.Rules WizardRules and AlertsThis will open the "

Click the "New Rule..." button (this is just labeled "New..." in some earlier versions of Outlook). This will open a new window.

Select the "Start from a blank rule" radio button (found near the top of the window). Then highlight "Check messages when they arrive".

" button.NextThen click the "

The next "Rules Wizard" panel opens, asking "Which condition(s) do you want to check?"

Scroll down if necessary until you find an option which says "with specific words in the message header". Check the box to the left of that option, as shown in the example below.

When you check the box, the phrase "with specific words in the message header" will appear in the "rule description" box in the lower-half of the window.

Click on the underlined "specific words" phrase which appeared in the "rules description" box at the end of the previous step. A new window will open titled "Search Text".

In the top line of this window, under "Specify a word or phrase to search for in the message header:" enter the phrase "X-Spam-Level: *****" exactly as it is displayed here. The phrase IS case sensitive and the quotes should not be entered. See the screenshot for clarification. There is only one (1) space after the colon. There should be at least five (5) asterisks in a row, with nothing between them. You might want to start with six (6) asterisks at first, until you become more familiar with the types of messages that are getting screened out.

Click the Add button to complete your entry. The window should now appear like the following example. Note that your "X-Spam-Level: *****" entry has now moved to the "Search list:" panel in the bottom half of the Search Text window. Also note that your entry is surrounded by "quotes," even though you did not type the quotes. This is normal; the quotes were added by Outlook when you clicked the Add button.

window will disappear.Search Text window. The Search Text button at the bottom of the OKNow click the

You are back at the "Rules Wizard" window. Note that the "rule description" panel now contains a line reflecting the entry you just made in the previous step. Now click the Next button at the bottom of the Rules Wizard window. The next panel of the Rules Wizard will open:

Here is where you tell Outlook what you want it to do when it encounters a message matching your criterion. We stronglypermanently delete it" or "."". This will give you a "safety net"--an opportunity to go back and review the messages intercepted by your filter, to make sure you're not inadvertently losing messages which are important to you. Later, after you have become more familar (and comfortable) with the operation of the filter, you may wish to come back here and change this selection to "Move it to the specified folder recommend that you select the first option, "delete it

After you click the check-box next to "Move it to the specified folder", the screen will change, as shown in the following example:

" is underlined.specified" panel in the bottom half of the window, and the word "Edit the rule description" have appeared in the "move it to the specified folderYou will see the words "

Click the underlined word, "specified".

Outlook will display a panel listing available folders. You may select an existing folder, or use the New... button to create a new folder for Outlook to use for your filtered mail. We have selected the "Junk E-mail" folder for this example.

:" panel will disappear, and you will be back at the Rules Wizard "Choose a folder" button to confirm your choice. The "" panel. You can see the selection you just made reflected in the "rule description" panel at the bottom of the window.What do you want to do with the message?Click the "OK

" button to proceed.Click the "Next

The next panel asks you "Are there any exceptions?"

Review the options available. It may be that you wish to allow certain messages which would otherwise be caught, to pass the filters if they meet certain other criteria. Even if you do not elect to specify any exceptions at this time, it may be useful to know that these options are available, in case you find that you want to "fine tune" your filter later.

One exception which you may wish to consider at the outset is found near the bottom of the list: "except if sender is in specified Address Book". Selecting this will prevent the filter from screening out mail from people in your address book. If you elect to implement this exception, click the check-box next to "except if sender is in specified Address Book". You will see that the "rule description" panel in the bottom half of the window has a new line: "except if sender is in specified Address Book".

In the bottom panel, click the underlined word "specified". You will see a window listing the various address-books which you have defined to Outlook. In this example, we have selected the Outlook "Contacts" list.

" window will close, returning you to the Rules Wizard's "exceptions" window. If you wish to add additional address-books to the exception, you may repeat this step as needed.Add Address List button, and the "AddClick the

Here, we have added the single exception of "except if sender is in Contacts Address Book." You can see that the "rule description" panel has another line indicating this addition.

button to proceed to the next step, once you have completed creating your rule description.NextClick the

Now we are at the final panel of the Rules Wizard. Review the settings, and make any changes you wish.

button to complete the process.FinishThen click the

The Rules Wizard window will close, and you will be back at the Rules and Alerts summary window, with your new rule listed in the Rules panel, as shown in the example, below.

. The Rules and Alerts window closes and you are back to your Outlook in-box. Your new spam-filter rule is now active. All incoming messages matching the criteria you specified will be automatically handled according to the choices you made when you created the rule.OKClick