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  • 02:44:22 pm on February 10, 2011 | # | Comments Off on Managing Unwanted Mail (Junk & Spam Filtering)
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    LPS staff members receive the benefits of many system tools in place to eliminate most of the hundreds of thousands of unwanted messages that bombard our email servers every day. However, no script or algorithm can accurately predict which authentic mail messages will annoy you, or your colleague. Therefore, there are a few different ways you can deal with unwanted messages in Zimbra. See if one of these tools or strategies works for you.Junk Mail Settings

    To set up your individual junk mail options in Zimbra:

    1. Go to Preferences and select Mail from the list on the left hand side.
    2. Scroll to the bottom to view the Junk Mail Options section.
    3. Enter complete email addresses for senders that you want to block or allow. You can add up to 100 blocks and 100 allows.

    Sometimes a message may be put in the Junk folder that is not really junk mail. If that happens, drag the message to another more appropriate folder.

    You can empty the Junk folder by right-clicking (CONTROL-clicking) the folder from the left-hand pane and choosing “Empty Junk.” If you do not delete them manually, they will be purged from the Zimbra system after 30 days.

    Mail Filters

    In Zimbra you also have your own “Filters“. These are rules that give you powerful and fine grained control over exactly how each message they hits your inbox is handled. You may choose to use a filter to set up your own “Spam Filter” to route certain senders to a junk folder if that is something you are interested in. If you are interested in setting up a SPAM folder of your own, try these settings:

    • Filter Name: JUNK MAIL
    • If ANY of the following conditions are met:
    • From | contains | _________
    • Perform the following actions: File into folder | Junk
    • (uncheck) Do not process additional filters

    This creates the initial filter. From now on, as messages arrive in your inbox that you would consider unwanted do the following:

    1. Right-click (CONTROL-click) on the email address of the sender.
    2. From the menu that pops-up, choose “Add to Filter > JUNK MAIL“
    3. Adjust the settings as desired and click OK.

    NOTE: For much more information on the process of creating Mail Filters refer to Zimbra’s help page on Mail Filters.

    LPS SPAM

    If you find that you are receiving a large number of unwanted mail messages from a particular source, know that LPS does have a shared “Spam” folder you can subscribe to for the purpose of submitting these messages to a system administrator.

    To find the shared LPS Spam folder:

    1. In Zimbra’s Preferences tab, choose “Sharing” from the left column.
    2. In the “Show folders shared with me by the following user:” field search for “spam“.
    3. In the results, Accept the folder it finds. This will add the folder to your left hand menu in the Mail tab.

    Simply drag messages into this folder if you believe they are mechanically generated garbage that no one in LPS would want to see. A Computing Services employee reviews this folder regularly and if they agree with your assessment the email address of the sender of the spam is manually added to the LPS block list.