Spam Filtering for Microsoft Outlook 2003

This document focuses on the setup of filters to move and eliminate messages tagged as spam by SpamAssassin. This walk-through will enable you to create such rules to move junk mail to other folders, delete it immediately, or highlight for later viewing. This document will focus on client-only configuration.

Open Microsoft Outlook 2003. As you can see, I have added some tagged spam to the image below to help demonstrate the importance of this rule.

As you can see from the image above, I have received a serious of spam messages. These messages are usually annoying but since they have been caught and tagged by SpamAssassin, I can now create a power filter in Outlook to move the tagged spam to a different folder (other than my Inbox).

Note #1: Also notice that the spam message in the image above has not only had its subject line modified from 'Pos.sible meeting' to '[SOHO.Spam] Pos.sible meeting', but SpamAssassin has also eliminated the risks involved in opening this spam message from filtering out any viruses to attaching the spam message so that you do not have to view it unless you know it's something you want.

Note #2: If you do receive a message you want to keep, simply drag the attached message from the email it is attached to and drop in into the Inbox or another folder where you would like it moved to. This will allow you to recover the message if it is labeled incorrectly.

Note #3: Notice that the points system used by SpamAssassin is documented in the message. This provides information to you and to your mail administrators (that would be us) if anything goes wrong.

Let's get started. Select the Tools menu. In case the Rules Wizard is not visible, first put your mouse over the two arrows at the bottom of the menu (move your mouse over them; do not click). This will show all options on this menu. Now select the Rules Wizard menu option.

You are now presented with a dialog box entitled Rules and Alerts. This utility helps Outlook users create powerful mail filters to better handle their messages. The steps you take in this manual can be expanded to allow the sorting of newsletters, customers, your friends, or your mom into specific folders which will eliminate the need to move them all around manually.

For more information on using rules, check out our SOHO.News section for tutorials we have written on the subject.

To create a new rule, select the New Rule button on the Rules and Alerts window. The Rules Wizard will appear. It provides an easy interface to build filtering rules, but we will need to ensure that our spam rule is properly created so we will manually create our rule. It is not hard, it just requires a few extra steps.

First, select the Start from a blank rule radio box.
Next, select the rule in the box labeled Step 1 that is entitled Check messages when they arrive.
Now select Next.

On the next screen, you are asked to select condition(s) that you want Outlook to check against each message you receive. Take a look at each one of the conditions in the box.

When finished, check the box next to the condition entitled With specific words in the subject. You will see this condition appear at the bottom in the Edit the rule description box. Go ahead an click on the hyper linked phrase entitled specific words in the bottom box. A Search Text window will appear.

In the Search Text dialog box, enter each of the following phrases (exactly as listed) and click the Add button for each. Your window should look like the image below.

[SOHO.Spam
[SOHO.Virus
[WS.Spam
[WS.Virus

Once done, go ahead and click Ok. As you can see from the image below, the phrase we entered has now replaced the specific words placeholder we saw before in the Rules Wizard window. Go ahead and click Next to move to the next screen.

The next screen requests that you select an action for Outlook to perform once a message matching our condition is found. Take a look through the different options that are available to give you an idea of what types of actions can be taken if you create your own rules.

When ready, select the Move it to the specified folder check box. Look below at the lower box entitled Edit the rule description and select the hyper linked word specified to pick a folder to move the spam to.

The Rules Wizard opens up a dialog box entitled Rules and Alerts after clicking on the specified link which allows you to select a folder to move the tagged messages to. Go ahead and click once on the Junk Mail folder and click Ok.

As you can see from the image below, the folder you selected has now replaced the specified placeholder we saw before. Go ahead and click Next to move to the next screen.

You will not need any exceptions in this rule so you can go ahead an click Next when ready.

Looks like you are almost done! Follow the instructions below to turn this rule on and rid your Inbox of that evil spam:

Enter a name for your rule in the Step 1: Specify a name for this rule text box.
Under Step 2: Setup rule options check the Run this rule now on messages already in "Inbox" check box.
Ensure that the Turn on this rule check box is checked.

Click Finish and the program will remove all of the spam from your Inbox and place it in the Junk Mail folder.

This puts you back at the main Rules and Alerts window. This window allows you to create additional rules and alerts, modify existing ones, move them around and do various other things. Hit OK to get back to your Inbox.

Ahh, just as we had hoped, Outlook has banished the evil spam from your Inbox.

If you select the Junk Mail folder, I believe you will find the spam that the Outlook rule had banished. Looks like the filter did its job. If you have further questions, please feel free to ask them in our support forums or call or email us.