OIT Frequently Asked Questions


Problem: How do I filter SPAM using Outlook 2003?
Entry: 0326

Solution:

WARNING: The Office of Information Technology supports only the configuration of Outlook for the specific purpose of connecting to our servers. For problems or questions concerning its use, please consult the application's Help menu or Microsoft's web site.

Outlook 2003 has built-in "Junk Mail" filtering to help eliminate spam, but you may choose to augment or replace this with Georgia Tech's custom spam rating header. These instructions assume that you have already created a folder named "Junk" for storing spam.

  1. Start Outlook
  2. On the Tools menu, choose Rules and Alerts…
  3. Click New Rule…
  4. Choose Start from a blank rule, then choose Check messages when they arrive and click Next >
    New Rule
  5. On the list of conditions, check the box next to "with specific words in the message header"
    Conditions
  6. Click on "specific words" in Step 2
  7. Enter "X-GT-Spam-Rating: #####" and click Add (this will apply to any message with a spam rating of 50 or higher)
    Search Text
  8. Click OK
  9. On the list of actions, check the box next to "move it to the specified folder"
    Actions
  10. Click on "specified" in Step 2
  11. Choose the Junk folder under your Spectrum account and click OK
  12. The window should now look something like this
    Completed Action
  13. Click Next > then click Next > again
  14. Enter a descriptive name, such as "GT Spam Filter", for this rule
    Finish Rule
  15. Click Finish

All incoming mail will now be processed against this rule.  You will need to periodically check your Spam/Junk folder to delete spam and ensure that no legitimate mail was incorrectly identified as spam.


Feel free to submit a request for help for any of the following reasons:

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