Howtos

Configure Outlook 2003’s Junk E-Mail Filter

Posted: June 03, 2009

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 includes features designed to manage junk e-mail messages (spam) that users receive. These features give the user the ability to control what kinds of messages are delivered to their Inbox.

This valuable tool can be used as an alternative to server side filtering or in addition to server side filtering - often, combining the two tools provides better protection, but as different individuals e-mail usage varies so does each users consideration of what is Spam.

In Outlook 2003, the Junk E-Mail Filter is turned on by default. However it is set to a low setting which only will handle the most obvious spam messages.

To configure the Outlook Junk E-Mail Filter:

  1. On the Tools menu, select Options.
  2. In the Options dialog box, in the E-mail section, click Junk E-mail.
  3. Choose the level of junk e-mail message protection you want. Click OK.

You can also add either a sender's e-mail address or their domain name to the Safe Senders List or the Safe Recipients List. Safe Senders and Safe Recipients will NEVER be treated as Junk E-Mail.

To add sender's addresses to the Safe Senders List or the Safe Recipients List:

  1. Click the Safe Senders or Safe Recipients tab.
  2. Click Add.
  3. In the Enter an e-mail address or Internet domain name to be added to the list box, enter the name or address you want added, and then click OK.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each name or address that you want to add.

  • If you want your Contacts to be considered safe senders, select the Also trust e-mail from my Contacts check box on the Safe Senders tab. By default, the check box is selected. All e-mail addresses in your Contacts folder will then be used by the Junk E-mail Filter to evaluate messages.
  • If you want people who are not necessarily in your Contacts but are people you correspond with regularly to be considered safe senders, select the Automatically add people I e-mail to the Safe Senders List check box on the Safe Senders tab.

The Blocked Senders List can be configured to ALWAYS treat e-mail from addresses in the list as spam.

To add sender's addresses to the Blocked Senders List:

  1. Click the Blocked Senders tab.
  2. Click Add.
  3. In the Enter an e-mail address or Internet domain name to be added to the list box, enter the name or address you want added, and then click OK.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each name or address that you want to add.

  • You can quickly add a name to the Blocked Senders List by right-clicking the junk e-mail message, and then, on the shortcut menu, pointing to Junk E-mail and clicking Add Sender to Blocked Senders List on the shortcut menu.

 

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