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Friday August 2nd, 2013

OIT > Email > Spam > Thunderbird Windows

Junk Filtering in Thunderbird for Windows

Summary: Mozilla Thunderbird 2 includes built in Junk filtering. Use the instructions below to configure both Thunderbird's Junk Mail Controls and UCI's SpamAssassin rules.

Setting Up Thunderbird's Junk Mail Control

  1. Launch Thunderbird
  2. From the Tools menu, select Account Settings (See Figure 1)
    Figure 1: Account Settings menu
    Figure 1
  3. Select Junk Settings in the left pane. You may have to click on the plus sign next to your account name to expand this list.
  4. In the Junk Settings window, check Enable adaptive junk mail controls for this account. (See Figure 2)
  5. Check Trust junk mail headers set by: and select SpamAssassin from the drop down menu.
  6. Check Move new junk messages to: and click the radio button next to Junk folder on: [your account].
  7. Click OK.
  8. Junk Mail control is now enabled within Thunderbird.
Figure 2: Junk Settings Window
Figure 2

Configuring Thunderbird to Filter Out Junk Mail

OIT tags incoming email using SpamAssassin to determine if we believe it is Junk or Spam. You can use OIT MailBox Service's My Email Options to filter out Junk mail via a simple Web form or you can use Thunderbird to filter out Junk mail. Use the directions below to manually configure Thunderbird to filter out Junk mail

  1. In Thunderbird, click on the Tools menu at the top of the screen, then choose Message Filters (See Figure 3)
Figure 3: Message Filter menu
Figure 3
  1. Click the New button and type UCI Junk Mail in the Filter Name field.
  2. Click on the Subject drop down menu and select Customize (See Figure 4)

Figure 4: Filters configuration
Figure 4
  1. Type X-UCIRVINE-Spamscore into the text box and click the Add button and then OK.
Figure 5: Headers
Figure 5
  1. Select X-UCIRVINE-Spamscore from the drop down list. Select contains and type sssss in the text box.
    This will set your Spamscore to 5. (See Figure 6) You can lower this score by typing in fewer s's for stricter filtering rules.
  2. Select Move Message to from the drop down menu and select the Junk folder on your account.
  3. Click OK. This will filter email sent to your '@UCI.EDU' address.
Figure 6: Filters configuration
Figure 6

  1. Close the Message Filters window.
  2. Thunderbird will now filter any messages marked by UCI as Junk and move them to your Junk Folder.

Please Note: Because SpamAssassin and Junk Mail Control are unable to determine with 100% accuracy if a message is unsolicited, you will want to check your Junk folder frequently for legitimate emails, as well as to delete the actual Spam.

If you have any problems, please call the OIT Help Desk at 949-824-2222, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.