How to filter junk Email

If you find that the amount of junk mail in your inbox has gotten out of hand, Outlook offers a number of features that make it easier to control the influx of unsolicited messages.

For example, Outlook can search for commonly used phrases in e-mail messages and automatically move messages containing these phrases from your Inbox to either a junk e-mail folder created by Outlook, to your Deleted Items folder, or to any other folder you specify.

To automatically remove junk mail from your Inbox:

1. On the standard toolbar, click Organize
2. Click Junk E-Mail
3. In the bulleted items for Junk and for Adult Content messages, in each of the first lists, click move. When you click move, the second list on each line will change from a list of colors to a list of folder destinations
4. You can leave the default destination (Junk E-Mail), click Deleted Items, or click Other folder and choose or create one
5. Click Turn On to enable the feature
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for both the Junk and Adult Content lines

You can also filter unwanted messages by e-mail address. As you receive unwanted e-mail messages, just create a list of the e-mail addresses of these senders. To do this, right-click the message, point to Junk E-Mail, and then click Add to Junk Senders list or Add to Adult Content Senders list.

When you first begin using these features, or when you make modifications to them, you should review messages that are automatically removed from the Inbox to make sure that any wanted messages are not accidentally removed.

To review, add, edit, or delete e-mail senders on your junk e-mail list:

1. On the Standard toolbar, click Organize
2. Click Junk E-Mail
3. Click the underlined phrase click here
4. In the second bulleted item, click Edit Junk Senders or Edit Adult Content Senders

In addition to using the built-in Outlook filters, you can create custom rules to filter out specific types of unwanted messages. You can use custom rules to search for words or phrases that are not included in the Filters.txt file.

For other useful tips on how to keep junk mail under control, read Manage Junk and Adult Content Mail in Outlook 2002.