Email Filtering

Using the online central mail.uark.edu filtering system allows you to personalize which messages are blocked or redirected before you check mail. Message filters configured using the online mail.uark.edu filtering system will be effective regardless of the computer or email program from which you check your email. This is referred to as server-side filtering.

Redirect or Remove Messages tagged as {SPAM?}

University Information Technology Services tags suspect spam messages with {SPAM?} in the Subject line. You can use the {SPAM?} tag to create a filter that will move tagged messages to a folder for review to ensure that legitimate email messages are not accidentally filtered as spam. You will need to empty your spam folder regularly to prevent the filtered messages from using up your email quota.
Note: Not all spam will be clearly marked.

1. Open a browser and go to https://mail.uark.edu:8443/; log in using your UARK username and password.
2. Click Set Mail Filter. Click Add.
3. In the Add Filter Rules window, under Select a mail filter:, choose File to Folder.
4. Name the filter rule spam.
5. Select Subject from the drop-down menu next to If the header line.
6. For Contains the phrase: type:
   {SPAM?}
7. For Then file into the folder: type:
   spam
   A new folder named 'spam' is automatically created on the mail server and will appear after a new message meeting this criteria has been received.
8. Click OK. Click Clear Status. Click Save. If you do not click Save, all your changes will be lost!

Create a uark.edu “Whitelist”

You might want to create a filter that redirects all incoming uark.edu mail to a separate folder. You can easily build upon this filter rule by adding outside (other than uark.edu) addresses to this folder to create a "whitelist".

1. Open a browser and go to https://mail.uark.edu:8443/; log in using your UARK username and password.
2. Click Set Mail Filter. Click Add.
3. Select mail filter: choose File to Folder.
4. Name the filter rule uark mail.
5. Next to If the header line select From on the drop-down menu.
6. Next to Contains the phrase type:
   uark.edu
7. Next to Then file into the folder type:
   uark mail
   A new folder named 'uark mail' is automatically created on the mail server and will appear after a new message meeting this criteria has been received.
8. Click OK. Click Clear Status. Click Save. If you do not click Save, all your changes will be lost!

Available mail.uark.edu Filter Templates

The following filter templates are available to assist with creating email filters on your account.

• Discard Large Messages will delete all incoming messages over a designated size.
• Reject Large Messages will reject all incoming messages over a designated size and allows you to create a reply message with the reason for rejecting messages.
• File To Folder (most popular) will move incoming messages that match between one and four strings of text contained within the header fields. You have a choice of matching a string of text of your own to anything contained within the From, To, or Subject header fields in an incoming message. For example, a good choice includes moving a message with a Subject containing $, to the Trash folder.
• Spam Messages will discard messages that contain a header line known to be spam.
• Redirect Messages will forward incoming messages that match between one and three strings of text contained within the header fields to another email address.
• Accept will take an incoming message and saves it to the Inbox. With the Accept filter action, you can elect to match a string of text from an incoming message in the From, To, or Subject header fields to a specific one of your choice. This is useful for accepting a valid message (for example, your online phone bill) that might get tagged as {SPAM?}. This rule needs to precede any other spam filters you create.
• Reject will discard and reply to messages that match one string of text contained within the header fields. You have a choice of matching a string of text of your own to anything contained within the From, To, or Subject header fields in an incoming message.

Notes

• If you check email from multiple locations, IMAP must be enabled on each email client. UA Mail, XpressMail, and Pine are IMAP clients by default. Eudora and Outlook should be IMAP enabled.
• Each filter rule that you create is taken in order to see if a message matches its criteria. Once a matching rule is found for a message, subsequent rules are not processed for that message. To refine the order in which the filter rules are applied, use the Move Up and Move Down feature within the mail filter window.

Notes on Characters and Strings

• Filter strings must contain only regular characters, numbers and symbols.
• Special characters within filter strings will not work.
• Filter strings will only operate on exact matches.
• Filter strings are not case sensitive.
• Wild card characters (* and ?) may be used. The asterisk (*) will substitute for multiple characters. The question mark (?) will substitute for a single character.
• When using an asterisk or a question mark, designate it as a part of the string by typing a backslash (\) in front of the wild card character.

Examples:
ttrojan -- ttrojan
ttrojan* -- ttrojan@usc.edu or ttrojan234@spam.com
ttrojan? -- ttrojan1 or ttrojan9
ttrojan\* -- ttrojan*