Filtering email with SpamAssassin

Dynamic Net, Inc. has selected the software program SpamAssassin to help reduce the volume of unsolicited commercial email. SpamAssassin is a filter that tests email headers and body text to identify spam.

What follows are instructions to make it work with the email programs Netscape Messenger, Outlook 2002, Outlook XP, Outlook Express 6, and Eudora.

Using SpamAssassin with Netscape Messenger

Login to Netscape Messenger
Select Message Filters from the Edit menu. The Inbox folder must be selected in the "Filters for:" field.
Click the "New" button.
Type Spam Filter in the Filter name field.
Click the "Advanced" button.
Type X-Spam-Flag in the New message header field.
Click "Add."
Click "OK."
Select "Match any of the following."
From the pull down menu directly above the "More" button, select X-Spam-Flag.
In the field to the right of "Contains", type YES.
Click the New Folder button.

Type SpamFolder in the Name field.
Click "OK".
Change the Inbox folder to the SpamFolder by selecting "SpamFolder" in the pull down left of the New Folder button.
Click "OK" to create the filter rule.
Click "OK" to exit.

Using SpamAssassin with Netscape Messenger 6

First do the Enabling SpamAssassin setup at the top of this document.

Select Message Filters from the Edit menu and click on New.

Type Spam Filter in the Filter name field.

Click Any of the following. The matching condition should be Subject contains ***SPAM***

Click the New Folder button.

Select the Click here to select button.

Select your mail account and choose here for the parent option.

Type SpamFolder in the name field and click OK.

Click OK to create the Filter Rule.

Click OK to exit the Message Filters window.

Using SpamAssassin with Outlook 2002

Login to Outlook 2002
Select Rules Wizard from the Tools menu.
Select your Inbox folder for the "Apply changes to this folder" field.
Click the New button.
Select "Start from a blank rule".
Select "Check messages when they arrive".
Click "Next."
Checkmark the Condition "with specific words in the subject".
Click "specific words" in the Rule description field to edit it.
Type ***SPAM*** in the "Specify words or phrases..." field.
Click "Add" and then click "OK".
Click "Next."
Checkmark "move it to the specified folder" from the "What do you want to do..." list.
Click "specified" in the Rule description field to edit it.
Click "New" to create a new folder.
Type SpamFolder in the Name field
Click "the appropriate post office in the "select where to place the folder" field and click "OK."
Click "Finish" to create the rule.
Click "OK" to exit.

Using SpamAssassin with Outlook XP

These instructions apply to both POP and IMAP email accounts.

Start Outlook.
On the Tools menu, click Rules Wizard.
(Outlook uses the term "rules," but rules and filters are the same thing.)
When the Rules Wizard dialog box is displayed, click the New button.
Click Start from a blank rule and ensure that Check messages when they arrive is highlighted. Then, click Next to continue.
In the conditions section, check the box labeled with specific words in the subject.
In the rule description section, click the link for specific words.
When prompted to specify a word or phrase to search for in the subject, type ***SPAM*** and then click Add. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Click Next to continue.
When prompted for what to do with the message, check the box for move it to the specified folder.
In the rule description section, click the link for specified folder.
Click the New button to create a new folder.
In the Create New Folder dialog box, enter the following information:
- Name: type Filtered Spam (or any name you wish)
- Folder contains: ensure that Mail and Post Items is selected.
- Select where to place the folder: click the folder under which you want the Filtered Spam folder to be created. If you are using IMAP you may want to create the Filtered Spam folder on the server.
Click OK to close the Create New Folder dialog box.
When asked is you would like a shortcut to this folder added to your Outlook Bar, click Yes to add the shortcut or click No to not add the shortcut.
Click OK to close the dialog box.
Click Next to continue.
No exceptions are necessary, so click Next to continue.
Enter a name for this rule, verify that the box for Turn on this rule is checked, and click Finish.
The last screen of the Rules Wizard will be displayed.
- If you have multiple rules, you will probably want the spam rule to run first. Rules are run according to their order from top to bottom. Select the spam rule and then click the Move Up button to move the spam rule to the top of the list.
- If you only want to run this rule on new messages, click OK to exit the Rules Wizard.
- If you want to run this rule on selected folders, ensure that the spam rule is checked and click Run Now.
If you chose to run the spam rule now, the Run Rules Now dialog box will be displayed.
- Ensure that spam rule is checked.
- If you want to run the rule on a folder other than the one displayed in the Run in Folder field, click Browse to select a new folder.
- Select the type of message to which you want the rule to apply: all, read, or unread.
- Click Run Now to run the spam rule on the selected folder.
After the spam rule has run, click Close to close the dialog box.
Click OK to exit the Rules Wizard.

Using SpamAssassin with Outlook Express 6
NOTE: Outlook Express 6 can only filter local folders used by a POP3 protocol connection. If you are using an IMAP protocol connection, you must use another mail client to filter mail identified as spam by Spam Assassin.

Login to Outlook Express 6
Go to the Tools menu
Select "Message Rules," then select "Mail."

Select "Where the subject line contains specific words" in the Conditions list.
Click "contains specific words" in the Rule Description field.
Type ***SPAM*** in the "Specify words or phrases..." field.
Click "Add," then click "OK."
Select "Move it to the specified folder" from the Actions list.
Click "specified" in the Rule description field to edit the folder.
Click "NewFolder" to create a new folder.
Type SpamFolder in the Folder Name field and click "OK."
Select "SpamFolder" and click "OK."
Type Spam Filter in the "Name of the rule" field. · Click "OK."
Click "OK" to exit.

Using SpamAssassin with Eudora

These instructions apply to both POP and IMAP email accounts.

First you need to create a mailbox in which to transfer your filtered messages.
- For a POP account: In the Mailbox window, right-click on the Eudora mailbox. In the pop-up menu, click New. Name the new mailbox Filtered Spam and click OK.
- For an IMAP email account: In the Mailbox window, right-click on the IMAP Inbox mailbox. In the pop-up menu, click New. Name the new mailbox Filtered Spam and click OK.
On the Tools menu, click Filters.
In the Filters window, click the New button to create a new filter.
Define the filter as follows:
- Check the boxes for Incoming and Manual.
  This automatically filters your incoming messages and lets you invoke the filter from the Special menu by choosing Filter Messages.
- For Header, choose Subject.
- In the Subject contains box, type ***SPAM***
- In the first box in the Action area, choose Transfer To.
- Click the button to the right of the Transfer To box and choose the Filtered Spam mailbox. Incoming messages with ***SPAM*** in the subject line will be transferred to this mailbox.
Note: If you have multiple filters configured, you will probably want the spam filter to be applied first. The filter title pane displays the filters you have configured. Filters are applied according to their order from top to bottom. Click the spam filter and drag it to the top of the list.
On the File menu, click Save to save your changes and then close the Filters window.

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