When mail from a trusted source is repeatedly misidentified to be spam, you may wish to "whitelist" that sender rather than reduce the overall strength and effectiveness of your filters. Likewise, you may wish to whitelist certain topics and keywords important to you.
To whitelist a sender or subject, create filter rules in your mail client as follows:
- Sender contains sales@flowers.com - Move to Inbox
- Sender contains macromedia.com - Move to Inbox
- Body contains loan - Move to Inbox
- Body contains viagra - Move to Inbox
- Header X-Spam-Tests-Failed contains WEIGHT25 - Move to Trash folder
- Header X-Spam-Tests-Failed contains WEIGHT10 - Move to Quarantine subfolder
The first rule accepts all mail from sender "sales@flowers.com." Perhaps you have joined the company's opt-in mailing list, though their online advertising has gotten them in trouble with SPAMCOP or another organization that influences our tests.
The second rule accepts all mail from company Macromedia. Perhaps this company's mail (even special advertisements) are welcome. By specifying only a domain name to check for in the sender field -- not a complete e-mail address -- we allow any sender from macromedia.com to reach us.
The third rule accepts any mail that contains the term "loan" in its message body. Many spam-detection tests look for keywords popular in unsolicited advertisements, like "sex," "loans" and "insurance." This may be unwelcome if you are employed in such a field or interested in the subject matter.
The fourth rule accepts any mail that contains the term "viagra" in its message body. Like the "loan" filter, this test targets a keyword but is much more specific. Perhaps you are a doctor or patient that requires relevant information.
Lastly, any messages unaffected by the whitelisting rules are processed by the spam filters, moving them to quarantine or trash folders, accordingly.
Multiple Rules, One Whitelist
Depending on your mail client software, you may be able to combine your whitelisting rules into a single filter for easier management. Look for a "Match any of these conditions" option or the ability to separate multiple rules by an "OR" operator. Since their action is always the same -- move to Inbox -- there is little reason to create individual filters for each rule.
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