Outlook rules

stevemcol

Hi

I'm trying to use rules to cut down the amount of SPAM I'm getting. I can't get the rules to run automatically when emails arrive, I have to run manually.

Outlook 2007 with hotmail. I've tried having the rule delete the emails and also tried moving it to the deleted folder. No joy.

m5rcc

have you created the rule by clicking "New Rule" and under the "Start from a blank rule" section, highlight "Check messages when they arrive"?

stevemcol

m5rcc wrote: »

have you created the rule by clicking "New Rule" and under the "Start from a blank rule" section, highlight "Check messages when they arrive"?

yes I have done that.

m5rcc

This is what I do which works fine:

1. Start Outlook.
2. Click "Tools" and select "Rules and Alerts".
3. Click "New Rule" and under the "Start from a blank rule" section, highlight "Check messages when they arrive".
4. Click "Next".
5. Check the box next to "with specific words in the message header". The rule description will appear in the box below. Click "Specific Words". This is where we'll put in the criteria to match any spam. Enter the following:
   
   X-xmail-Spam-Level: ************
   
   The number of asterisks are critical. If there are more asterisks, then the more chance the message is spam. 12 asterisks is a good number to catch all spam. Any that may not be spam will be caught in the next rule.
6. Click "Next".
7. Check "delete it" and scroll down and check "stop processing more rules".
8. The rule in the lower window should now read:
   
   Apply this rule after the message arrives
   with X-Xmail-Spam-Level: ************ in the message header
   delete it
   and stop processing more rules
9. Click "Next", and then "Next" again. Give the rule the name "Delete definite spam" and click "Finish".
10. This rule should always be at the top of the list otherwise, the next rule we create will override it.

Now we'll create the rule that moves potential spam into the "Junk E-mail" folder.
To do this, follow the steps above, until we get to step 5.

1. Now, check the box next to "with specific words in the message header". The rule description will appear in the box below. Click "Specific Words". This is where we'll put in the criteria to match any spam. Enter the following:
   
   X-Xmail-Spam-Level: ******
   
   This rule will catch messages with 6 to 12 asterisks - a good number to catch most spam, but also messages that may be incorrectly tagged.
2. Click "Next".
3. Check "move it to the specified folder" and scroll down and check "stop processing more rules".
4. In the lower window, where it reads "move to the specified folder", click the blue underlined "specified" word to select a folder to move the potential spam mail in to. Highlight the "Junk E-mail folder" - this is a good folder as it allows a bulk delete function similar to the Trash folder. Once you have chosen the folder, click "OK".
5. The rule in the lower window should now read:
   
   Apply this rule after the message arrives
   with X-Xmail-Spam-Level: ****** in the message header
   move it to the Junk E-mail folder
   and stop processing more rules
6. Click "Next", and then "Next" again. Give the rule the name "Move possible spam to junk e-mail folder" and click "Finish".
7. Finally, the new rule will be above the "Delete definite spam" rule, so highlight the rule and move it down by clicking the blue arrow to the left of the "Run Rules Now" button.

stevemcol

all good advice and i'll give it a shot but it's not that my rule doesn't do what its meant to, it just doesn't run automatically, even though i've set it to run as message arrives. if i run it manually, it correctly deletes the spam.