Filtering Mail Using Rules

The Pacific Online mail server can automatically filter messages using automated rules. Rules may be used to perform actions on messages that meet a certain set of criteria. For example a rule may forward, delete or send an automatic reply every time a specific e-mail address sends you a message.

Each rule has a name, priority, a set of conditions, and a set of "actions". The higher priority rules are checked first: a rule with the priority level of 9 is applied before a rule with the priority level of 1.

If a message meets all rule conditions, the rule actions are performed, and automated processing either stops, or proceeds checking other, lower-priority rules.

Mail administrators may configure rules for any e-mail address they administer. Individual users may configure rules for their e-mail account. For more information on mail administration please see our mail administration tutorial.

Rules are a powerful feature and should be used with caution. Incorrect use of rules may result in lost mail.

Creating, Renaming and Removing Rules

Mail administrators may configure rules by clicking on the account they wish to configure in their Mail Administration Console and then clicking "Autoresponders/Forwarding & Rules".

Any user may configure rules for their e-mail address through WebMail. Login to WebMail then click "Options" then "Autoresponders/Forwarding & Rules".

When the list of rules appears in a browser window, new rules may be created by typing the rule name then clicking "Add Rule". You may also use this screen to delete rules and change rule priorities.

After you have modified the rule names and/or priorities, click the Update button. The list is displayed re-sorted by priority.

Rules with the disabled priority are not applied to the messages, but they are not deleted from the account rules set, and they can be reenabled at any moment.

To remove a rule, select the checkbox in the Delete column and click the "Update" button.

To modify the rule conditions and actions, click the Edit link.

Rule Conditions

Each rule can have zero, one, or several conditions. The conditions are checked in the same order they are specified. If a message meets all the rule conditions, the rule actions are performed.

The condition operations is and is not process their parameters as "pictures": the asterisk (*) symbols in parameters are processed as wildcards that match zero or more symbols in the tested string. To check that a string contains the @thatdomain substring, the is *@thatdomain* operation should be used, and to check that a string does not end with the somedomain.com substring, the is not *somedomain.com operation should be used.

The condition operations in and not in process their parameters as sets of one or more "pictures" separated with the comma (,) symbols. The tested string is compared to all picture strings. The in condition is met if the tested string matches at least one picture string. The not in condition is met if the tested string does not match any picture string in the specified set.

Note: do not use excessive spaces around the comma signs: spaces before the comma sign become trailing spaces of the previous picture, and spaces after the comma sign become leading spaces of the next picture.

The following rule conditions are supported:

From  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

This condition checks that the message From address is (or is not) equal to the specified string.

Sample:

This condition will be met for all messages coming from any account on any of pacificonline.com subdomains.

Sender    [is | is not | in | not in]  string

Reply-To  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

To        [is | is not | in | not in]  string

Cc        [is | is not | in | not in]  string

Reply-To  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

The same as above, but the message Sender, Reply-To, To, or Cc address is checked. If a message has several addresses of the given type, the condition is met if it is true for at least one address. If a message has no addresses of the specified type, the condition is not met.

Any To or Cc  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

The same as above, but all message To AND Cc addresses are checked. If the message has no To/Cc addresses, the condition is not met.

Each To or Cc  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

All message To AND Cc addresses are checked. The condition is met if it is true for each To and Cc address of the message, or if the message has no To/Cc addresses.

Sample:

This condition will be met for messages where all To and CC addresses are addresses in the mycompany.com domain or addresses in the mydept.mycompany.com domain.

Return-Path  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

This condition compares the message "Return-Path" (a.k.a. MAIL FROM) envelope address with the specified string.

'From' Name  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

The same as above, but the instead of the address, the "address comment" (the real name) included in the From address is checked.

Sample:

This condition will be met for messages with the following From: addresses: From: jsmith@company.com (John J. Smith) From: "Bill J. Smith" b.smith@othercompany.com From: Susan J. Smith <susan@thirdcompany.com>

Subject  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

This condition checks if the message subject is (or is not) equal to the specified string.

Sample:

This condition will be met for messages with the following Subject fields: Subject: we urgently need your assistance Subject: Urgent!

Message-ID  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

This condition checks if the message ID is (or is not) equal to the specified string.

Sample:

This condition will be met for all messages without the Message-ID flag and for messages that have Message-ID without the @ sign.

Message Size [is | is not | less than | greater than] number

This condition checks if the message size is less than (or greater than) the specified number of bytes.

Sample:

This condition will be met for messages larger than 100 kilobytes.

Human Generated

This condition checks if the message is not generated by some automatic message generating software. It actually checks that the message header does not contain any of the following fields: Precedence: bulk Precedence: junk Precedence: list X-List* X-Mirror* X-Auto* X-Mailing-List

This condition also checks that the message has a non-empty Return-Path.

Header Field  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

This condition checks if the message RFC822 header contains (or does not contain) the specified header field. The additional fields added using the Add Header operation (see below) are checked, too. Sample:

Any Recipient [is | is not | in | not in] string

This condition compares message "Envelope" addresses and the specified string.

Each Recipient  [is | is not | in | not in]  string

The same as above, but the condition is met only if it is met for all message envelope addresses (if used in an Account-Level Rule - for all message addresses routed to that account).

Time Of Day[is | is not | less than|greater than]time string

This condition checks the current time of day in the Server time zone. This condition allows you to compose rules that are applied to messages only at certain times of day.

A time string should be specified as hh:mm or hh:mm:ss, where hh is the hour, mm - minutes, ss - seconds. Time strings can contain the am or pm suffix.

Sample:

Current Date   [is | is not | less than | greater than]  date

This condition checks the current time and date. This condition allows you to compose rules that are applied to messages only before or after the specified date and time.

A date string should be specified in one of the following formats:

DD MM YYYY DD MM YYYY hh:mm DD MM YYYY hh:mm:ss DD MM YYYY hh:mm:ss +ZZZZ

DD MM YYYY hh:mm:ss -ZZZZ

where: DD is the day of month MM is month specified as 3-letter English abbreviation:
Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec YYYY is the year hh is the hour mm is the minute ss is the second +ZZZZ or -ZZZZ is the time zone; if the time zone is not specified, the Server time zone is used.

Sample:

Current Day   [is | is not | in | not in]  day string

This condition checks the current day of week (using the Server local time zone). This condition allows you to compose rules that are applied to messages only on certain days of week.

Days should be specified either as numbers (0 for Sunday, 6 for Saturday), or as RFC822 abbreviations (Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat).

Sample:

Rule Actions

Each rule can have zero, one, or several actions. If a message meets all the rule conditions, the rule actions are performed.

The following rule actions are supported:

Stop Processing

This action should be the last one in a rule. Execution of this rule stops and no other (lower-priority) rules are checked for that message. The message is stored in the INBOX.

Discard

This action should be the last one in a rule. No other (lower-priority) rules are checked for that message. The message is not stored in the INBOX, but a Delivery Notification is sent back to the message sender (if requested).

Sample:

IF From is *that_annoying_guy@* THEN Discard

Reject [error message text]

This action should be the last one in a rule. No other (lower-priority) rules are checked for that message. The message is rejected, and a negative Delivery Notification is sent back to the message sender.

If the action parameter text is not empty, it is used as the error message text.
You can still store the rejected message using the Store action before the Reject action.

Sample:

IF Subject is *UCE* THEN Reject please do not send such messages here

Mark operation [, operation...]

This action sets or resets the specified flag(s) for the message. Initially, the set of message flags is empty.

The Read operation adds the Read (Seen) flag to the message flag set, the Unread operation removes the Read (Seen) flag.
The Flagged operation adds the Flagged flag to the message flag set, the Unflagged operation removes this flag.
The Answered operation adds the Answered flag to the message flag set, the Unanswered operation removes this flag.

When a message is stored in a mailbox as a result of the Store in action, as well as when a message is stored in the INBOX after all rules are applied, the message is stored with the specified flag set.

Sample:

IF Sender is *list* THEN Mark Flagged

Add Headers header fields

This action adds RFC822 header fields to the message. Initially, the set of additional message header field contains the Return-Path field generated using the return-path in the message envelope.

When a message is stored in a mailbox as a result of the Store in action, as well as when a message is stored in the INBOX after all rules are applied, the message is stored with the additional header fields.

Sample:

IF Subject is *purchase*order* THEN Add Headers X-Special-Processing: order

Note: the following actions are not implicit "Discard" actions, and they do not prevent the original message from being stored in the INBOX. If you want, for example, to redirect a message without keeping a copy in your INBOX, specify the Redirect action followed with the Discard action.

Store in mailbox name

The message is copied to the specified mailbox in your account. The mailbox should already exist.

If the mailbox name is specified as ~user_name/mailbox_name, the message is stored in the mailbox_name mailbox in the user_name account. You should have the Insert access right to that mailbox.

Sample:

IF Subject is *Make*$* THEN Store in ~postmaster/abuse Discard

Redirect to addresses

The message is redirected to one or several specified E-mail addresses. If several addresses are specified, they should be separated with the comma (,) sign.

Forward to addresses

The message is forwarded to the specified addresses. The From address is changed to this account address.

Mirror to addresses

The message is mirrored (redirected) to the specified addresses. Unlike the Redirect to operation, the Mirror-to operation does not change the message headers, only the Return-Receipt-to: and Errors-to: header fields (if any) are removed, and the X-Mirrored-by header field is added to the "mirrored" messages.

Reply with message text

The specified text is used to compose a reply message. The reply is sent to the address specified in the Reply-To address of the original message. If the Reply-To header is absent, the reply is sent to the original message From address.

The header fields Subject: Re: original message subject and In-Reply-To: original message-ID are added to the reply message.

The specified message text can contain the following macro symbols that are substituted with actual data when a reply message is composed:

^S is substituted with the Subject of the original message
^F is substituted with the From address of the original message
^T is substituted with the Date field of the original message
^I is substituted with the Message-ID field of the original message

Sample:

If the specified text starts with the '+' sign, the lines following this sign are added to the message header. The text should specify the Subject field, since the system will not automatically add the Subject: Re: original subject and In-Reply-To: original message-ID fields into the reply message.

The specified header portion can contain additional To, Cc, and Bcc fields and the reply message will be sent to those addresses (the Bcc fields will be removed from the message header).

If the specified header does not contain the From field, the account address is added as the From field. If the From field is specified, the account address is added as the Sender field.

The ^S and other macro symbols can be used in the additional header fields, too.

An empty line should separate the message body from the additional header fields:

If the specified text starts with the [charsetName] string, the text is converted to the specified charset (all non-ASCII texts are stored in the UTF-8 charset).

If the text does not start with the '+' sign, the header fields MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=charsetName are added to the message headers.

If the text starts with the '+' sign, the '+' sign must be specified after the [charsetName] string, and you should specify the MIME-Version and Content-type fields yourself.

Reply to All with message text

The same as above, but the reply is sent to all addresses listed in the original message To: and Cc: fields.

React with message text

The specified message text should contain a header, an empty line, and the message body. The header should contain any number of To, Cc, and Bcc fields, the Subject field, as well as any number of additional fields. The composed message is sent to the specified addresses. The system uses the account address to compose the From field for these reaction messages.

If the specified header already contains the From field, the account address is added as the Sender field.

The specified message header and the message body can contain macro symbols listed above. Sample:

The message text can start with the [charsetName] string (see above), in this case you need to specify the MIME-Version and the Content-Type header fields: Sample: