I am using Outlook 2003 and am trying to find a way to filter for blank body
sections in my emails. In Outlook Express I can reverse the logic and search
for emails that have a body section that doe not contain a or b or c or d,
etc. which effectively does this for me. However, in Outlook 2003 I cannot
find a way to do this. Many spammers are now sending blank emails with
attachments and this is what I am trying to filter out by using rules.
Any ideas would be welcome.

"InteriorMall" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:B8E9C0A9-B742-4788-9D80-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am using Outlook 2003 and am trying to find a way to filter for blank
>body
> sections in my emails. In Outlook Express I can reverse the logic and
> search
> for emails that have a body section that doe not contain a or b or c or d,
> etc. which effectively does this for me. However, in Outlook 2003 I cannot
> find a way to do this. Many spammers are now sending blank emails with
> attachments and this is what I am trying to filter out by using rules.
> Any ideas would be welcome.


Thanks to Brian Tillman for teaching me that rules are substring matches:

Apply this rule after the message arrives
which has an attachment
and on this machine only
move it to the Junk E-mail folder
except if the body contains 'a' or 'e' or 'i' or 'o' or 'u' or 'y'
stop processing more rules


Now, the downside is twofold:
If the spammers start putting words in the email, this rule will stop
working.
It will produce a false positive on any message you get with only an
attachment and nothing in the body (so if your coworker sends you a quick
email with only the attachment, it will get caught, hence the reason I don't
recommend deleting the message, but, instead, moving it to the junk email
folder).

--
f.h.

Have you heard of Sisyphus? He would probably know about combating spam
with Outlook rules...

Better install a good spam filter, and don't think about it any more.

InteriorMall wrote:
> I am using Outlook 2003 and am trying to find a way to filter for blank body
> sections in my emails. In Outlook Express I can reverse the logic and search
> for emails that have a body section that doe not contain a or b or c or d,
> etc. which effectively does this for me. However, in Outlook 2003 I cannot
> find a way to do this. Many spammers are now sending blank emails with
> attachments and this is what I am trying to filter out by using rules.
> Any ideas would be welcome.

Pat Willener <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Have you heard of Sisyphus? He would probably know about combating
> spam with Outlook rules...

Sysiphus should try pushing Mick Jagger up the hill instead of the stone we
was using.
--
Brian Tillman

Is there a way to set up a rule based on the contents of the attachment? For
example, if the spreadsheet attachment contains a certain word(s), forward it
the email to a specified distribution list. If not, stop processing.
--
Barbara


"F. H. Muffman" wrote:

> "InteriorMall" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:B8E9C0A9-B742-4788-9D80-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I am using Outlook 2003 and am trying to find a way to filter for blank
> >body
> > sections in my emails. In Outlook Express I can reverse the logic and
> > search
> > for emails that have a body section that doe not contain a or b or c or d,
> > etc. which effectively does this for me. However, in Outlook 2003 I cannot
> > find a way to do this. Many spammers are now sending blank emails with
> > attachments and this is what I am trying to filter out by using rules.
> > Any ideas would be welcome.
>
>
> Thanks to Brian Tillman for teaching me that rules are substring matches:
>
> Apply this rule after the message arrives
> which has an attachment
> and on this machine only
> move it to the Junk E-mail folder
> except if the body contains 'a' or 'e' or 'i' or 'o' or 'u' or 'y'
> stop processing more rules
>
>
> Now, the downside is twofold:
> If the spammers start putting words in the email, this rule will stop
> working.
> It will produce a false positive on any message you get with only an
> attachment and nothing in the body (so if your coworker sends you a quick
> email with only the attachment, it will get caught, hence the reason I don't
> recommend deleting the message, but, instead, moving it to the junk email
> folder).
>
> --
> f.h.
>
>

"Barbara" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3C400F2C-DEBD-4F59-9161-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Is there a way to set up a rule based on the contents of the attachment?
> For
> example, if the spreadsheet attachment contains a certain word(s), forward
> it
> the email to a specified distribution list. If not, stop processing.

Not out of the box.

I suppose, theoretically, something could be written... but I'm not sure
it's entirely possible.

--
f.h.