The Webmail interface can be used to create Email filters to handle incoming email automatically. Filtering applies a set of rules to incoming email and then executes a specified action.

For example, you may subscribe to a mailing list that has good information but clutters your Inbox daily. You could create a filter that would direct this mail to a specific mail folder in your account where it can be reviewed later.

Or you might be receiving messages that you'd rather not and which can't be dealt with using the Proofpoint Blocked Senders List. A Webmail rule based on a subject line might do the trick.

You can filter your incoming email messages to:

• Sort them into folders
• Automatically tag them
• Forward them
• Discard them

Each filter rule consists of one or more conditions and one or more actions.

Conditions described

Conditions include:

• Specific addresses in the From, To, Cc addresses in the email header
• Email messages that are under or over a specific size.
• Date is before or after a specified date
• The presence or absence of file attachments
• Specify that addresses that are or are not in your Address Book.
• Words or character strings in the subject or body of the email message

There are a number of conditional statements (e.g., matches exactly, contains) that can be applied to any of the conditions, but they all allow for some form of specifying a "not" condition. For example, you can filter email messages that do not contain a particular word.

You can combine conditions to search for email with more complex characteristics.

Actions described

Each filter rule can specify one or more actions. Actions include:

• Leave the message in the Inbox (no action)
• Move the message to another specified folder
• Tag the message
• Mark the message as read or as flagged
• Discard the message. This action drops the email message silently, which means that the message does not reach your mailbox. It is not the same as the Delete action on your menu. Deleting an item moves it to the Trash folder.
• Forward the message to a specified email address

Creating filters

1. Log in to Webmail.
2. Click the [Preferences] tab and then select the [Mail Filters] tab.
   
3. Click [New Filter] button to display the "Add Filter" pop-up window.
   
4. Type a name for the rule in the "Filter Name" text box.
5. In the "If [any or all drop down menu] of the following conditions are met" area, choose any or all from the drop-down.
   • Any: if any of the conditions in the filter are met, then the action will be applied.
   • All: all conditions in the filter must be met in order to apply the action.
6. Add the condition you wish to filter on. You can add additional criteria by clicking the [+] button.
7. Add the action you wish to have act on the mail messages that meet your conditions.
8. Click [OK] to save the filter and return to the main "Mail Filters" screen.

Filters can be disabled by unchecking the "Active" checkbox and will no longer be applied to any new messages.

Prioritizing filters

If you created more than one filter you may want to assign priorities so that mail is handled as you intended. If a message fits the conditions of more than one filter, the one with the highest priority will be followed.

1. To change the priority of a filter, single click the filter name in the "Mail Filters" window.
2. Click [Move Up] or [Move Down] to reorder the list.