Using Email Filtering To Manage Emails And Delete Junk Mail
What Are Email Filters?
Email filters provide a method of automatically managing emails into the relevant folders, and can also help to automatically remove unwanted folders. By creating several filters all incoming email can be logically filtered according to the sender, recipient, subject, and other header contents. The email can then be actioned according to the filter and deleted, forwarded, or moved to the relevant folder. The exact steps to set up email filters vary according to the email client or web email account that you use but the principles are identical in all cases.
Domain Filtering Through Your Hosting Account
Some email hosting accounts offer domain filtering. Rather than filtering the emails that arrive for each person, domain filtering enables users to apply filters to every email on a particular domain. For removing spam or junk mail according to subject or sender this can provide a good way of keeping all of your email accounts, or those of the website you manage, clean and operational. Again, the exact method of performing domain filtering will depend on the host account that you use but the steps are usually similar.
Email Filtering For Desktop Email Clients
Once you have opened your email client find the filters option. Typically this is found under the Tools menu in the main screen of the client. It may also be located under the Options or Edit menu but will always include the words filter or filters.
Setting Up A New Filter
Set up a new filter by clicking the New button. This will usually bring up a short and fairly self explanatory new filter wizard. In this wizard you can set the conditions of the new filter. For example if you wish to delete all emails that contain the words “replica watches” within the subject of the email you should choose the follow (or similar) settings:
l Check email on arrival
l For all emails containing “replica watches” in the subject
l Delete email
Finish The Filter
When you have selected all filtering options click on the OK or Finish button. Typically this will direct you back to the list of filters. Some email clients will present you with the opportunity to run your new email filter on your existing emails. This not only gives you the opportunity to clean out junk email or manage existing emails according to your settings it also provides you with the opportunity to test your new filter before releasing it into the wild.
Using Multiple Filters
Continue setting up as many filters as you need. Remember that most email clients will prioritize the filters according to the order they appear in the filter list. Those at the top will be performed first, followed by the next on the list, and so on. By first setting up filters that move emails from your contacts into a specific folder (away from your Inbox) you can ensure that you do not accidentally delete any genuine emails with another filter.
Setting Up Domain Filtering Via Your Web Control Panel
Hosting accounts that include web based email typically have similar options and can be found within the control panel of your account. Even if you download all of your emails from this account to your desktop client it can be a good idea to add filters at this level in order to reduce the time it takes to download emails and to prevent the receipt of junk or unwanted messages. To work with domain filtering (sometimes also known as server side filters), if offered, follow these steps.
l Navigate to the domain of your web based email account, for example mail.examplehosting.com
l Login to the main administrator or manager account
l Under domain settings or email settings look for an option that resembles domain filtering, domain content filtering, or email filtering. The name will vary depending on the service you use
l Add a new filter by using the New Filter, or Add Filter option
l Set up the filter in the same way as described above for desktop email clients
l Click Next or Finish and, if necessary, Save the filter
Email Filtering And Its Uses
Email filters can be used for any purpose. It is possible to set up an email folder for all contacts within your address book and have emails received from those contacts forwarded into the appropriate folder. Alternatively, if you receive a lot of junk mail with similar topics or from the same senders you can also set up filters to delete these spam emails without having to view them in the first place. The exact instructions on how to set up an email filter will vary slightly according to the email client you use and the rules of the filter. However, the principle steps remain the same.