Getting Started: Filters
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This guide to filtering messages assumes you are up and running.
Pictures soon!
This is not a "how to" guide, as each program will have a different setup method. This is more of a general explanatory guide.
Synonyms: Actions, rules.
Alternate meaning: Some take "filter" to mean only "deleting messages on the server."
Filters, if a feature in your e-mail client, allow you to set your client to take various actions on messages automatically:
- File messages in other folders/mailboxes (or file a copy)
- Delete messages (same as above basically, but mailbox is "trash")
- Forward or redirect the message
- Reply to the message with a pre-written reply
- move the attachments from the default attachment folder to another folder
- and more...
You have to enter criteria so that the e-mail program knows which messages to do what with. Examples of such criteria include:
- A particular header (i.e. "From" includes "joeblow@example.edu" or "Subject" is "grade report")
- Any header (looks at all headers, not just one)
- Body (look at the body of the message)
Why use filters?
At first, you may only be receiving a trickle of e-mail, and you either do not need multiple folders in which to store your messages, or you can transfer the messages on your own. But, after a while, you may be getting many messages. I personally find it easier to have Eudora file messages for me. Messages from some people go to mailboxes dedicated to that person. Other mailboxes contain any message sent from the college I went to. A couple of mailboxes catch incoming mail sent to alternate addresses of mine.
Again, this is not meant to be a guide to how to use your program's filters. But as an example of how they work, note a potential conflict: Say I filter all mail from "college.edu" to "college" mailbox. If I also have a later filter for all mail from "joeblow@college.edu" to go to mailbox "Joeblow", that mailbox will be empty! Why? Because Eudora has already filtered that message to the "college" mailbox. Thus I have to make sure that the "joeblow" filter is *above* the "college" filter. As Eudora operates on filters from first to last, this ensures that Eudora will first catch Joeblow's message and transfer it to the "joeblow" mailbox.
Common questions/comments:
- But I want to see all my new mail!? I have Eudora set to open all mailboxes containing new mail after filtering. (Alternatively, I could have Eudora not filter on incoming messages, but instead I could invoke the filtering after I have gone through my inbox. Each Eudora filter can be set to filter on incoming messages, outgoing messages, or upon your request, or any combination thereof. Outgoing filters can be used, for example, to determine where copies of your outgoing messages will be saved, if you save them.)
- What about spam? You can take various measures such as filtering from known correspondents, and anything leftover is likely spam. But in general it is difficult to accurately detect spam with such filters. Instead, see the spam section.
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