Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.2

This document is based on Thunderbird v. 1.5.0.2

ITS has implemented a new way of marking spam messages. Potential spam or junk mail messages are flagged in the subject line of each message as POTENTIAL SPAM. This allows CU-Boulder e-mail users to filter spam and junk mail messages away from their inbox. For more information about ITS's effort against spam go to www.colorado.edu/its/email/spam.html

Some Pre-Configuration Steps:

Because Thunderbird initially sets its internal junk-mail filtering method to learning mode, it is not necessary to change the internal filtering settings for this particular client.  Simply add an additional rule that tags any incoming message marked with POTENTIAL SPAM in the subject line and send it to the junk mail folder.

Creating a Spam Filter

To set up a filter:

1. Open Mozilla Thunderbird.

2. Go to your Mail Folder.

3. Click on your e-mail account's root folder (i.e.,  your.name@colorado.edu)

4. Click on the File drop-down menu, select New and then Folder, as shown below:

5. In the window that opens, type SPAM, as shown below:

This will create a new folder in your mail account called SPAM. 

6. Click on the Tools drop-down menu select Message Filters. 

7. Click on the New button.

8. In the window that opens, give the filter a name such as Spam.  For the first drop-down menu, select Subject. In the second drop-down menu, select contains, as shown below:

9. In the text box, type POTENTIAL SPAM, as shown below:

10. In the Perform these actions: section, select Move Message to from the first drop-down menu. From the second drop-down menu, select Junk on Local Folders, as shown below:

11. Click OK.

12. In the Message Filters window, make sure all of the settings are correct and click Run Now if you have Potential Spam messages in your inbox.

Congratulations!

Mozilla Thunderbird will now automatically move all mail that CU's mail filter thinks is spam into the folder called SPAM and not into your Inbox.

*Note: You should check your SPAM folder just as often as your inbox to ensure that there were no important messages accidentally misread by the CU SPAM filter.  After all, the filter is effective, but by no means perfect

For more information about spam go to www.colorado.edu/its/email/spam.html