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Managing custom filters
Initially, you will not have any custom filters. After you have created
custom filters, they will be listed in the Filters list to the left.
- To create a new filter, click [add] at the bottom of the Filters
list.
- To edit an existing filter, select it in the Filters list. Then in the
summary area that appears, click [edit]
- To enable or disable a custom filter, select it in the Filters list and
click either [enable] or [disable]. Disabled filters will not be applied to
incoming email, but they will stay present so that you can re-enable them
later if you wish.
- To permanently delete a custom filter, select it in the Filters list and
click [delete]. You will be prompted for confirmation.
Adding and editing custom filters
Adding a custom filter (click for larger image in a new window)
While you are adding or editing a custom filter, other areas of the filter
management tool will be disabled and greyed out. These will be re-activated
when you Save or Cancel your edits.
The Save button only saves your changes to your browser. You will still
need to click Apply to make the changes permanent and active on your
account.
The configurable settings for custom filters are:
Filter name:
This is a descriptive name for your filter. It will appear in the Filters
list to the left. Valid filter names contain alphanumeric characters and
spaces.
When a message matches:
This controls how the conditions specified below should be grouped.
- any of the following: When this is selected, the
filter's action will be taken if any of its conditions match
- all of the following: When this is selected, the
filter's action will be taken only if ALL of its conditions match
Conditions:
These define the conditions under which a filter will match a message. A
single filter must have at least one condition, and can have multiple
conditions; multiple conditions will group together according to your
setting for When a message matches, described above.
- You can add and remove conditions by clicking [more] or [less].
Conditions added appear at the bottom of the list; removing a condition will
always remove the last. The order of conditions is not significant.
- A condition is made up of three parts. The three parts together create a
simple sentence that describes when the filter should match.
A condition must have one of several match types. These are:
- contains: This will match an email if the specified
text occurs somewhere within the selected field.
- doesn't contain: This will match an email if the
specified text does not occur anywhere in the selected field.
- is: This will match an email only if the selected
field contains exactly the specified text; no more, no less.
- isn't: This will match an email if the specified text
is not an exact match for the selected field.
- begins with: This will match an email if the selected
field begins with the specified text.
- ends with: This will match an email if the selected
field ends with the specified text.
Note:
When filtering based on email addresses, you generally want to use
contains rather than is. This is because the From, To, CC,
etc fields often contain additional information (eg full name), which can be
arranged in a variety of ways. If a filter on one of these fields uses
is, it will not match in many cases even though the actual address is
the same.
Actions:
- Leave the message in my inbox: When this is
selected, no action will be taken. Messages that match this filter will be
left alone. This is useful for creating specific cases in which a later
filter should not be applied.
- Move the message to the folder: When this is
selected, the message will be placed in the folder you specify rather than in
your Inbox. Your email client may or may not automatically see it in here -
you may have to click the folder to make it notice there are new
messages.
- Forward a copy of the message to: When this is
selected, the message will be delivered to your Inbox. A copy of the message
will also be forwarded to the address you nominate. When it arrives at this
address, it will look as though the original sender had BCC'd the message to
this address.
- Delete the message permanently: When this is
selected, the message will be silently dropped. Since dropped messages are
never stored on disk, it is impossible for these messages to be recovered from
backup! Use with extreme caution, sparingly, and at your own risk. It is
strongly suggested that if you wish to use this, first set up the filter to
forward the messages to a special folder reserved only for this filter. Once
you are sure that the filter is matching as expected, you might then change
the action to delete.
Setting the order of custom filters
The order in which filters appear in the list is important. When an email
arrives for your account, each filter in the list is checked in order. If a
match is found, its action is taken and no more filters are checked.
This means that if you have a filter that needs to "override" the action of
a second filter, it needs to be placed above the second filter in the list.
If you have a filter that should be checked only if several other filters
haven't already matched the message, it will need to be placed lower in the
list. Generally, more specific rules should be placed towards the top, while
more general rules should be placed towards the bottom.
- To change the order your custom filters are checked in, select a filter
and click either [move up] or [move down] at the bottom of the list. The
selected filter will swap its position with the filter immediately above or
below it.
- The built-in spam and whitelists filter cannot be moved; spam and
whitelist checking is always performed first, before any custom filters are
checked.
- New custom filters are automatically added to the end of the
list.
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