junk filter stopped working

[Ed K]

My junk filter rule to send to my Junk Email folder includes any email that
has "greeting" in the "subject or body". But, when I run this filter, the 6
emails currently in my Inbox, all of which contain the word "greeting" in
BOTH the subject and body, still sit in my In box.

I have:
1. Uninstalled the latest junk filter updated, and rebooted
2. Made sure there are absolutely no addresses in the "Safe Recipients"
list, and rebooted
3. Downloaded latest junk filter from MS (Update for Microsoft Office
Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter (KB968503) ). During update, routine
indicated my machine already had the update installed.

Any other suggestions? I do notice that the word "AND" is placed by MS
between each of the conditions you can select in the filter list. IMHO, it
should be an "OR" not an "AND" between each of the conditions.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

My junk filter rule to send to my Junk Email folder includes any email that
has "greeting" in the "subject or body". But, when I run this filter, the 6
emails currently in my Inbox, all of which contain the word "greeting" in
BOTH the subject and body, still sit in my In box.

Rules you create have no connection to the Junk E-mail filter, which operates
before your rule ever sees the messages.

I have:
1. Uninstalled the latest junk filter updated, and rebooted
2. Made sure there are absolutely no addresses in the "Safe Recipients"
list, and rebooted
3. Downloaded latest junk filter from MS (Update for Microsoft Office
Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter (KB968503) ). During update, routine
indicated my machine already had the update installed.

None of these actions apply to your issue.

Any other suggestions? I do notice that the word "AND" is placed by MS
between each of the conditions you can select in the filter list. IMHO, it
should be an "OR" not an "AND" between each of the conditions.

AND is used when you choose multiple conditions. OR is used for multiple
strings within the same condition. Post your exact rule and an exact example
of a message you think it should catch and we may be able to tell you what's
wrong. Be sure to mask any real addresses in the example.

 

[Ed K]

I receieved email notification that someone replied to this question, but
cliking on it only gave me a blank browser page. Also, I do not see the
reply showing up in this thread.

How do I get to the reply offered?

Ed K

 

[Ed K]

My filter rule is pretty simple: Any email found in my Inbox with the word
"greeting" in the subject or body is to be sent to JunkEmail folder. Running
the rule does nothing, and, of course, it is not automatically filtering the
"greeting" emails for me.

The following is exactly what the filter displays in the design window for
the filter:
Apply this rule after the message arrives with greeting in the subject or
body, move it to the JunkEmail folder.

The words "greeting" and "JunkEmail" our blue and underlined, something I
can't display on this message board.

 

[Ed K]

Ben, did you see my reply?
Ed

Rules you create have no connection to the Junk E-mail filter, which operates
before your rule ever sees the messages.


None of these actions apply to your issue.


AND is used when you choose multiple conditions. OR is used for multiple
strings within the same condition. Post your exact rule and an exact example
of a message you think it should catch and we may be able to tell you what's
wrong. Be sure to mask any real addresses in the example.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

My filter rule is pretty simple: Any email found in my Inbox with the word
"greeting" in the subject or body is to be sent to JunkEmail folder.
Running
the rule does nothing, and, of course, it is not automatically filtering the
"greeting" emails for me.

The following is exactly what the filter displays in the design window for
the filter:
Apply this rule after the message arrives with greeting in the subject or
body, move it to the JunkEmail folder.

The words "greeting" and "JunkEmail" our blue and underlined, something I
can't display on this message board.

You did not include an example of a message that you believe should be
processed by the rule.

Is the folder really "JunkEmail"? If so, did you create a second folder
different from Outlook's default "Junk E-mail" folder? Do you have any other
rules besides this one?

 

[Ed K]

Copy of the body in the offending email is as follows:

Good day.
You have received an eCard

To pick up your eCard, choose from any of the following options:
Click on the following link (or copy & paste it into your web browser):

http://wallmotion.com/

Your card will be aviailable for pick-up beginning for the next 30 days.
Please be sure to view your eCard before the days are up!

We hope you enjoy you eCard.

Thank You!

________

The actual folder specified in my filter into which offending emails are to
be moved is "Junk E-mail".

There is no other filter criteria in the filter (to keep it simple so I can
diagnose the problem).
B/c of your reply, I changed the folder's name to "JunkEmail", which is
another folder I have. I just ran the filter and it worked (moved offending
email to "JunkEmail" folder).

I will change my other filters to send offending emails to "JunkEmail" and
will let you (and readers here) know whether that worked.

Thanks for the great advise.

Ed

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Copy of the body in the offending email is as follows:

....snip...

No where do I see the word "greeting" in that message. How do you expect the
rule to process it when it doesn't match the criteria you specified?

The actual folder specified in my filter into which offending emails are to
be moved is "Junk E-mail". ....snip...
I will change my other filters to send offending emails to "JunkEmail" and
will let you (and readers here) know whether that worked.

Why would you want to misspell the name of the Junk E-mail folder? "Junk
E-mail" and "JunkEmail" are not identical.

 

[Ed K]

I have two folders:

Junk E-mail
JunkEmail

....snip...

No where do I see the word "greeting" in that message. How do you expect the
rule to process it when it doesn't match the criteria you specified?


Why would you want to misspell the name of the Junk E-mail folder? "Junk
E-mail" and "JunkEmail" are not identical.

 

[Ed K]

Ok, the Junk Filter I wrote is still not working, either automatically or
when I select it to run. So, this is still my problem: why is it not
filtering the junk mail that contains the criteria I specify in the filter

Another spam email from greetingcard.org just arrived in my Inbox. This
email is exactly the spam email I provided in a prior (7/16/09) reply, so you
can see the contents.

My exact filter is as follows (I added quotes because blue, underlined
format can't be shown on this message board):

Apply this rule after the message arrives
from "greetingcard.org"
and with "You've received a greeting ecard" in the subject
and on this machine only
move it to the "JunkEmail" folder

Any advise would be greatly appreciated -- not sure why a routine in Outlook
is not running as specified.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Ok, the Junk Filter I wrote is still not working, either automatically or
when I select it to run. So, this is still my problem: why is it not
filtering the junk mail that contains the criteria I specify in the filter

Another spam email from greetingcard.org just arrived in my Inbox. This
email is exactly the spam email I provided in a prior (7/16/09) reply, so
you
can see the contents.

My exact filter is as follows (I added quotes because blue, underlined
format can't be shown on this message board):

Apply this rule after the message arrives
from "greetingcard.org"
and with "You've received a greeting ecard" in the subject
and on this machine only
move it to the "JunkEmail" folder

Any advise would be greatly appreciated -- not sure why a routine in Outlook
is not running as specified.

First your rule says it must have BOTH "greetingcard.org" and "You've
received..." in it or it will not be caught. Second, if it's an HTML message
and either of those two strings are contained within an image, Outlook can't
match. Also if either string is strictly within an HTML tag, Outlook won't
see it. Moreover, if either contains embedded HTML, like this:

You've received a greeting ecard

or

You've <font>received</font> a greeting ecard

Outlook can't find it either.

Just curious, but why make your own "JunkEmail" folder when Outlook's Junk
E-mail folder is there to use? There's nothing inherently wrong with that,
but it just seems redundant to me.

 

[Ed K]

It is strictly a text message only, with no HTML of any kind.

Microsoft's Outlook puts the "AND" between conditions, not me. I noted in
an earlier reply that, IMHO, it should be an "OR" , especially based on the
screen presented by Outlook to the user (me) to build the filter conditions.
That is, I want emails sent to my JunkEmail folder if ANY condition is met,
not if ALL conditions are met.

That said, the spam email actually does meet both conditions:
1. "greetingcard.org" is in the From field
2. "You've received a greeding ecard" is in the Subject field.

However, I just found the fix, and it now works. I removed criteria #1,
above, from the filter, then ran the filter on my Inbox. It moved the
offending email to JunkEmail folder. So, I won't be selecting the criteria
"from people or distribution list" on any future filters I build. Well,
unless you can tell me how I used that criteria incorrectly.

Thanks very much for the advise -- it helped me resolve the problem (well,
for now, anyway).

Ed

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

It is strictly a text message only, with no HTML of any kind.

Microsoft's Outlook puts the "AND" between conditions, not me. I noted in
an earlier reply that, IMHO, it should be an "OR" , especially based on the
screen presented by Outlook to the user (me) to build the filter conditions.
That is, I want emails sent to my JunkEmail folder if ANY condition is met,
not if ALL conditions are met.

Obviously I did not make myself clearer earlier. Selecting multiple
conditions in the same rule is ALWAYS and AND. Selecting multiple strings
within the same condition is OR. If you want any of a number of conditions to
be used, then you must have a separate rule for each condition.

That said, the spam email actually does meet both conditions:
1. "greetingcard.org" is in the From field
2. "You've received a greeding ecard" is in the Subject field.

The string "greetingcard.org" may be in the From field, but there's more to
the From address than just "greetingcard.org". It must have some username as
well: (e-mail address removed). The "From condition expects the entire From
field to match, not a substring. The condition you want is "with specific
words in the sender's address". Then use "greetingcard" or "greetingcard.org"
as the specific words.

So, I propose two rules:

Apply this rule after the message arrives
with "greetingcard" in the sender's address
move it to the "Junk E-mail" folder
and stop processing more rules

Apply this rule after the message arrives
with "greeting ecard" in the subject
move it to the "Junk E-mail" folder
and stop processing more rules.

This will cause messages with either "greetingcard" in the sender's address OR
"greeting ecard" in the subject to be moved to Junk E-mail.

If you're happy with just the one rule as you describe, that's fine.

 

[Ed K]

Thanks, Brian. Understand now how the AND is placed between conditions
"checked" in the filter build screen.

I will construct two rules now, per your suggestion. I'll also review my
other Rules to make sure they are doing what I really want them to do.

Ed