Troubleshooting "Rules" - two problems

[jayney]

Hi, I am trying to cope with spam by creating rules from messages in my Junk
folder. I am hilighting the message and then selecting either the "From"
option or the "Subject" option. All seems to go well up to that point.
However . . .

After clicking OK and then selecting "run this rule in this folder now", the
only message that is deleted is the one that I am using to create the rule,
instead of going through the whole Junk folder, as expected.

Another problem that I am having is with the Search funciton. Again in my
failaing efforts to cope with overwhelming spam, I am searching for terms or
certain words in my Junk folder, going to Edit, Slect All and then hittin
gDelete. Only problem is that only a few of these messages are deleted.

If anyone can help with either of these two problems it would be most
appreciated.

Jayney

 

[John]

If I understand your post correctly, you created a rule to delete messages
coming From: <whatever the selected email address is> or with a Subject:
<whatever that subject line is>. Problem is, spammers use randomly generated
email addresses/subject lines to dodge spam filter. It's very likely that
there's only 1 occurence of a message coming from that particular email
address or with that particular subject line. Hence, 1 message deleted.

Are you using Outlook to connect to Exchange server? Is there an error
message when you try to delete all junk messages? What anti spam filter do
you use? What Outlook version is it?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Hi, I am trying to cope with spam by creating rules from messages in
my Junk folder.

If they're in your Junk E-mail folder, you don''t have to create a rule for
them, since they were already detected as being junk. First, using rules to
combat junk mail is nearly pointless. Second it is the messages that don't
get moved to the Junk E-mail folder that you want to process.

I am hilighting the message and then selecting
either the "From" option or the "Subject" option. All seems to go
well up to that point. However . . .

After clicking OK and then selecting "run this rule in this folder
now", the only message that is deleted is the one that I am using to
create the rule, instead of going through the whole Junk folder, as
expected.

Whi not just empty the entire folder? It's junk, after all.

Another problem that I am having is with the Search funciton. Again
in my failaing efforts to cope with overwhelming spam, I am searching
for terms or certain words in my Junk folder, going to Edit, Slect
All and then hittin gDelete. Only problem is that only a few of
these messages are deleted.

You first: what version of Outlook and what type of account?

 

[Swifty]

First, using rules to combat junk mail is nearly pointless.

Whilst I mostly agree with this, there is one rule which I've found
extremely useful. Paraphrased, it is something like this

Move to folder "Unknown origin" unless sender in in my address book.

Whenever you find an email from someone you know in the "Unknown origin"
folder, you simply add them to your address book and it won't happen
(for them) again. I believe there is also an option to add the people to
whom you send email to your address book; this helps to teach it faster.

It all depends how many people you know.

The "Unless sender in my address book" wasn't present in Outlook
Express, I first noticed it in Outlook 2003.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Whenever you find an email from someone you know in the "Unknown
origin" folder, you simply add them to your address book and it won't
happen (for them) again. I believe there is also an option to add the
people to whom you send email to your address book; this helps to
teach it faster.

There is no such option in Outlooks newer than Outlook 2000

 

[Swifty]

I believe there is also an option to add the

There is no such option in Outlooks newer than Outlook 2000

Well, this *is* turning out to be a good day! You'll notice the weasel
words I used, and that is because I knew I'd seen it somewhere, but also
knew that I wouldn't be able to find it if pressed.

Now I know why. I can go to bed happy tonight. Thanks, Brian!

 

[jayney]

Hi John, Thanks for getting in touch.
The messages that I am trying to delete actually have the same email
address or subject line - so I would have expected the rule to delete every
instnace of that address or subject, not just the one that I am using to
generate the rule.

I am using Outlook 2007 and don't have a spam filter as such - as I had
tought that Vista had added this facility - although I am new to Vista and am
not totally sure of exactly what it does do just yet.

Hope these answers help,

Jayney

 

[jayney]

Hi Brian,

The reason that i am trying to create rules for the Junk folder is that many
of my emails that I do want end up in there but as I am getting around 4000
emails a day in my Junk folder it is a nightmare to try to sort through them
all to find the ones that I actually may want. Unfortunately, the emails
that I do want are coming from random people contacting us for advice (we are
a non-profit org) so simply deleting all Junk is not an option. Any further
suggestions?

I'm using Outlook 2007 (12.0.6023.5000)

 

[Swifty]

The reason that i am trying to create rules for the Junk folder is that many

of my emails that I do want end up in there

In recent versions of Outlook, the Junk Mail filter runs before your
rules. If the filter decides that it is junk then it gets put in the
Junk Mail folder and your rules don't process it.

It sounds as though you should turn off Junk Mail processing. The
following instructions are taken from Outlook 2003 (all I have):
Right click any mail item
Click on "Junk E-mail" then "Junk E-mail options..."
Click on "No Automatic Filtering"

Once you have this setup, you will have the converse problem of junk
mail staying in your inbox. But you can now process all of your mail
with your rules. You may find a 3rd-party spam filter useful if you get
too much junk.