Deleting Spam-flagged Messages Automatically (not recommended)

No spam filter is completely accurate in identifying spam. Some messages flagged as spam are actually legitimate (false positives), while others that are clearly spam slip through the filter (false negatives). Perhaps the most important fact to remember about any spam filtering program is this: Some messages flagged as spam may be important ones you need to keep. Without actually reading those messages, you won't know for sure.

Given this fact, if you are willing to send spam-flagged messages to your Trash folder, empty it automatically and accept the risk of losing important ones that were flagged in error, then the deletion procedure is as follows. No matter what IMAP-compliant email program you are using, you will need to set up a server-side filter in Webmail.
NOTE: All newer Unity email accounts automatically have a filter that sends spam-flagged messages to a spam folder. Setting up a new filter as described below will override that action.

First, set up Webmail to put spam-flagged messages into your Trash folder:

1. Log in to Webmail at http://webmail.ncsu.edu
2. At the top of the window, select the link for "Server-Side Filters."
3. At the bottom right of the new window that opens, click on the "Add a New Rule" button.
4. In the section of the page labeled Condition:
   1. From the "Rule Type" drop-down menu, select "Header Match."
   2. Disregard the drop-down menu next to the words "The condition for the following rules is." It will not be needed to construct this filter.
   3. From the drop-down menu next to "The header," select "X-Spam-Flag."
   4. Make sure that the next box to the right shows the word "contains."
   5. In the box on the far right, type YES. This should be in all caps.
      The condition should now read "The header X-Spam-Flag: contains YES"
   6. If there are any other boxes or menus showing in this section, leave them blank. They would be used to create other conditions but are not needed for this filter.
5. In the section of the page labeled Action:
   1. Click on the radio button labeled "Move message into."
   2. Click on the radio button labeled "the existing folder."
   3. Select "Trash" from the drop-down menu at the right.
6. In the section of the page labeled Additional Actions:
   1. Mark the checkbox next to the stop sign to stop further filtering of spam-flagged messages.
   2. Click on the "Add New Rule" button.
      All new messages flagged as spam will now be put into your Trash folder.
      
      For more information about how PureMessage filters spam and viruses on campus, please see: http://www.ncsu.edu/it/essentials/email_messaging/pure_message/index.html
      

Next, set up your email program empty the Trash folder automatically when you exit.

Last modified October 16, 2006 by cawalker