Junk E-mail Filter
Junk E-mail Filter and Spam Digests Frequently Asked Questions
How does the CSU Junk E-mail/Spam filter work?
The CSU Junk Email/Spam filter is a server based anti-spam tool that detects and quarantines spam messages before they can get to your inbox. Messages are “scored” from 0-100. Messages that receive a score from 50-100 are considered to be spam, and will be held in quarantine before reaching your inbox.
What happens when messages are quarantined?
The scored messages are held for 14 days and then deleted. You will receive a “digest” or list of the quarantined messages, and have an opportunity to release any valid email messages, to be sent to your inbox.
What is the CSU Junk E-mail/Spam Digest?
The Junk Email/Spam filter scores messages and moves them into a quarantined holding area before the messages reach your mailbox, and then sends a “digest” listing those messages it has quarantined. Our campus has set the Junk email/spam filter Digest to be sent to you daily at 3pm. You can then review the digest for messages that are not spam, and release those to your inbox. If no ”false positive” or improperly marked messages are found in your digest, then the digest itself can be deleted.
What do the options mean in the Junk E-mail/Spam Digest?
The Digest lists emails that have been placed in your personal Quarantine.
For each of the quarantined messages listed, you have the following options:
Release: delivers the email to your inbox.
Safelist: delivers the e-mail to your inbox and add the e-mail sender to your Safe Senders List. This ensures that no emails from that sender will be blocked in the future. Future messages from this sender will not be sent to the Quarantine.
Not Spam : To report messages that are not spam but are reported in the digest.
If you do nothing, these messages will be deleted for you after 14 days.
Do I need to set a spam rule in Outlook for the spam filter to work?
No, you don’t need to set a rule to filter spam, but you may want to set up a rule that moves your daily digest message to a folder in your mailbox. Doing this will keep your digests in one place for ease of reviewing and keep the digests separate from your other email messages.
We have provided a tutorial to help you create a rule for moving your digest to a folder in your mailbox: digest filter.
Some users find that they rarely if ever have “false positives” where a valid message is marked as spam. The spam filter works with great accuracy and you may want to have the digests deleted weekly from your digests folder in the same way the deleted items folder is emptied on a regular basis.
What options does Manage My Account provide?
To manage your Digest, click the Manage My Account link in your Digest. The Manage My Account link opens a web page that allows you to make several changes to your Digest.
Here are several options available to manage your account:
Add and delete email addresses from your personal Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists. To make changes click Lists to view your personal Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists. Use the New, Edit, and Delete buttons on the top of the page to add, change, or delete entries to your lists.
Choose whether or not you want to receive a Digest even when you do not have messages in the Quarantine. This is an Empty Digest. Click Settings in the left side to determine if you want to receive an empty Digest
Click Account or Profile in the left side to view your email aliases, if you have any. You cannot make changes to this list.
Click the Save button or link to save your changes.
How do the links Request Summary Digest, and Request My Safe/Blocked Senders List work?
Request Summary Digest: The updated Digest includes messages that have been placed in the Quarantine since your last Digest was sent.
Request My Safe/Blocked Senders List: Click on Request My Safe/Blocked Senders List to request your personal list of Safe Senders or Blocked Senders.
A browser window opens to let you know the request is being processed.
Check your email for a response to your request.
How do I stop my digests from being moved to my Junk E-mail folder?
Right-click on a digest in Outlook, select Junk E-mail, and click Add Sender to Safe Senders List.
Click OK.
What is a spam score?
Messages identified as spam will be marked with the word "SPAM" followed by a numeric score, and the score will appear at the beginning of the subject line. Messages are scored from 0-100. Messages that are held in quarantine have been rated with scores from 50-100. A score of 100 is rated as certain to be spam.
This filter not only protects against current spam, but it also learns to identify new sources of spam. It is an intelligent technology, which is continually being trained to defend against new forms of spam and to predict and adapt to those new forms as they appear. It’s ability to defend against spam attacks does not degrade over time.
Do quarantined messages count in my mailbox quota size?
No, quarantined messages do not count against mailbox quota size. Quarantined messages are held for 14 days on a different server, before they ever reach your account. You must manually release them from the digest, to be delivered to your mailbox. Only when a message is actually in your mailbox, is it counted in your quota size limit.
What is the Safe/Blocked Senders List?
Your Safe Senders List is a list of e-mail addresses of individuals and organizations approved by you as “safe” (or not spam). This list ensures that e-mails from that sender will be delivered in the future and not filtered as spam. You can add/delete senders to the list as needed and you can always request an updated Safe Senders List for review.
Your Blocked Senders List is a list of e-mail addresses of individuals and organizations blocked by you as “not-safe.” It ensures that no e-mails from that sender will be allowed in the future and they will be filtered as spam. You can add/delete senders as needed and you can always request an updated Blocked Senders List for review.
