CITES Express Email Web Interface: How to Create Filters

This page contains information about how to create filters in the CITES Express Email web interface.

The CITES Express Email web interface offers the ability to filter your email, which can be useful for organizing your messages and combating spam. This page describes how to set up filters and includes suggestions for controlling spam. Filters set up in the CITES Express Email web interface will also sort email if you use a desktop email client. We recommend that you follow the directions from start to finish. However, you can use the topic links below to skip to sections of most interest to you.

What is a filter?

A filter is a set of conditions against which all incoming email is compared. If an email matches the conditions, an action is performed. Numerous actions are available, including sorting the email into a folder, forwarding the email to a different email address, or having the email automatically deleted.

Tip: CITES Express Email has two options for creating a filter. If your filter has only one condition, then it does not matter which option you choose.

  1. If any of these conditions are met: This option will create a rule that will filter an email if one or more conditions are matched by the email. Up to four conditions, such as who sent the email or words in the subject, can be created per rule. This option is best at filtering email in a wide category, since the email only has to meet one of up to four conditions.

  2. If all of these conditions are met: This option will filter an email only if all conditions are matched by the email. As with the above option, you can create up to four conditions per rule. This option is best at catching very specific emails, since all conditions must be matched before the email is filtered.

Creating a folder for filtered email

One of the most popular uses of filters is to sort incoming email into folders. You might want to create new folders in which to place filtered email.

1. Log in to the CITES Express Email web interface.

2. Click on Folders in the left navigational menu.

Graphic showing Step 2 and 3

3. Type the name of the folder that you would like created into the text box. For this example, we will create a new folder called "spam".

4. Click Add.

You now have a new folder, spam. We will use this folder as an example later in these instructions.

Whitelist filters

Filters are often used to divert email away from the inbox by sorting them into other folders. Conversely, a whitelist filter ensures that email from correspondents is placed into the inbox.

Tip: We recommend that you create a filter rule that whitelists all uiuc.edu email to ensure that campus email is not inadvertently caught by a filter. You can similarly whitelist email from off-campus correspondents.

1. Click on Account Options on the left navigational menu.

2. Click on Message Filters under the heading Account: Choose an Option.

Graphic showing step 2

3. Select If all of these conditions are met.

Graphic showing step 2 and 3

4. Enter uiuc.edu in the first box in the third column. If you have any other addresses that you would like to whitelist, enter them in the other boxes in the third column and change the dropdown box to If any of these conditions are met.

5. Since the default action is to move the filtered email to the Inbox, you do not need to change anything else.

6. Click OK. The filter will be created and listed at the top of the page.

Anti-spam filters

If you are trying to reduce the amount of spam that makes it to your mailbox, try signing up for CITES Spam Control. Using Spam Control is like having hundreds of filters that identify and remove spam, and will be much more effective than personal filters you create in CITES Express Email. Spam Control also allows you to quarantine spam messages in a folder that does not count toward your Express Email quota.

If you also want to use your own personal filters to catch spam, the directions are below. Due to the wide variety of spam received by the campus community, we can offer only general guidelines for anti-spam filters.

Tip: For this example, we are going to create some filters that catch spam. Since we want to catch email with a broad range of characteristics, we will use the If any of these conditions are met option.

1. Select If any of these conditions are met.

Graphic showing step 2, 3, and 4

2. Change the From: fields to Body: in the first column of drop-down boxes.

3. In the text boxes in last column, enter phrases frequently found in the spam you receive. Good phrases to include are "click below", "satisfaction guaranteed", "limited time offer", and "lowest prices".

Tip: Remember that if any of the phrases you use are found in an email, it will be filtered into your designated folder. When creating conditions for a spam filter rule, try to avoid phrases that your correspondents use.

4. Under Take the following action when conditions are met, click Move to and use the drop-down menu to select the folder into which you would like the filtered email to be placed. We will select our spam folder that we made in Creating a folder for filtered email.

5. Click OK. The filter will be created and listed at the top of the page.

Graphic showing step 6

6. Spam commonly contains HTML attachments. To create the next filter rule, which will filter email containing HTML attachments into a designated folder, change the From: to Attachment MIME type: in the first box under If all of these conditions are met.

7. Type text/html in first box of the third column.

8. Select the spam folder from the Move To: drop-down box (Same as Step 4).

9. Click OK.

Tip: Email matching these filter rules will be automatically sorted into the spam folder as they are received. Remember to periodically check the contents of your spam folder to make sure an email from a correspondent is not inadvertently caught. Also, the contents of your spam folder counts toward your total space usage, so be sure to delete the messages regularly.

Anti-virus filters

Viruses are often spread via email attachments. CITES Spam Control will automatically delete known viruses sent to your netid@uiuc.edu email address, regardless of whether you've signed up to use the Spam Control service (to find out more, visit the CITES Spam Control web pages). As an extra precaution, we also recommend that you filter email that contains attachment types commonly used to propagate viruses.

1. Select If any of these conditions are met.

2. Change the From: fields to Attachment file name: in the first column of drop-down boxes.

3. Change the contains: fields to matches: in the second column of drop-down boxes.

Graphic showing steps 2, 3, and 4

4. In the text boxes in last column, enter the following:

*.exe
*.com
*.cmd
*.bat

5. Under Take the following action when conditions are met, click Move to and use the drop down menu to select the spam folder.

Tip: Some might choose the action Discard (message is irrevocably lost) instead of moving the email caught by the filter to the spam folder because the email is most likely a virus. However, if you choose the discard action you risk losing legitimate email. You can periodically look at the list of email in the spam folder to make sure that no legitimate email was caught. As long as you do not open the email, you will not infect your computer with the virus.

6. Click OK to create the filter.

7. Repeat steps 1 through 3.

Graphic showing steps 7 , 8, and 9

8. In the text boxes in last column, enter the following:

*.pif
*.scr
*.vbs
*.hta

9. Under Take the following action when conditions are met, click Move to and use the drop-down menu to select the spam folder.

10. Click OK.

11. Repeat steps 1 through 3.

Graphic showing step 11 , 12, and 13

12. In the text boxes in last column, enter the following:

*.cpl
*.reg

13. Under Take the following action when conditions are met, click Move to and use the drop down menu to select the spam folder.

14. Click OK.

Use this method to add any other file attachment types to your filter list.

Ordering filters

All incoming email is compared against your filters. The filters that we have created so far had the default setting Do not apply any more filters to this message if action is taken, which means that the only the first filter that "catches" an email will have its action performed. This is an important concept, because an email can meet the conditions of more than one filter. Order your filters so that the most important filter is applied first.

For instance, we created the whitelist filter first, so it has the top priority. Our anti-spam filter is second. If you receive an email from a correspondent with a uiuc.edu email address, your whitelist filter will immediately move the email to your inbox, even if your correspondent used the phrase "click below" in his or her message. If we reversed the order of the whitelist and anti-spam filters, your correspondent's email would be caught first by the anti-spam filter and moved to the spam folder. These two results illustrate the importance of carefully ordering your filters.

You can change the order of your filters by pressing the blue triangle next to the Order Number of the filter. If you press the triangle that points up, the filter will switch places with the filter above it and increase in priority. Likewise, if you press the triangle that points down, the filter will switch places with the filter below it and decrease in priority.

Graphic showing priority

Tip: Because whitelists are used to exempt email from other filters that might catch them, your whitelists should be ordered first. If you receive a lot of viruses from uiuc.edu email addresses, you should put the attachment filters created in the Anti-virus filters section first, followed by the uiuc whitelist.

Help

You can contact the CITES Help Desk for more assistance with filters.

CITES Help Desk (see homepage for hours and additional information)

  • phone: (217) 244-7000, (800) 531-2531
  • email: consult@uiuc.edu
  • walk-in: 1211 Digital Computer Lab, 1304 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana, IL 61801