Hi,
FWIW, here is what I have done to filter mail. I have not seen a
detailed plan for filters anywhere, so I created my own bunch of
filters. Hope it it helpful for someone.
1) I created several mail category mail boxes:
2Work
3Companies
5Groups
7Friends & Family
4ever
Beneath each I put several sub-folders, most of which I created as I
create each new filter. The numbers are for easy instant access to
my primary folder. I also changed my account name to 1Jerry, for the
same reason. Now to get to my Outbox from any one of my 100 or so
folders I press 1o. Now I have specific folders, which I can easily
filter messages into. Most of the folders I turn of the 'show
unread message on ticker'.
2) I created a set of Incoming Mail filters for the account.
a. each valid addressee: move to various boxes
One filter for each person (address) I want to keep in a folder by
themselves. This is easy to set up when you get mail from them.
1. Press ctrl-shft-F to create a new filter.
2. Check 'override existing filters'. This will put this at the top
of the filter list.
3. Click on the icon to the right of 'move to folder'. Do this
BEFORE clicking any other button, or you'll created the default
named folder. Point to, or create a folder in a logical place.
4. OK! or Edit. I used edit to add further options. E.G. I mark all
newsletters (like Amazon or Travelocity) as 'read', so they don't
interrupt me at all.
b. my specific addresses, trusted: move to various boxes
I use may different addresses on several domains, which all get sent
through my primary mail provider. Some of these address are ONLY
used for specific purposes, and are never used by me in places that
could lead to spam, so I can check them before the spam filters.
c. mailing lists (several)
I would like an easier way of marking certain subjects as
'interesting', and have only those message appear in a mailbox. This
is a primitive way of doing that. I have three filters for each
mailing list.
1. subjects I am interested in --> interested
I have to manually add a new filter set for each topic I am
especially interested in. A pain, really.
2. subjects to ignore (x) --> ignore
again, I edit manually to add a new set. These message are marked
as read.
3. other --> name-of-list
This folder has the ticker off, but I don't change the read status.
d. AB groups (vendors, support)
I have a filter for each address book group. Example, if the address
is in group 'vend' (vendors), I place the message in 3Companies.
e. IDENT:root@mailroute2 --> Bad account, ident
This is the start of SPAM checking. I found a common string in a
group of junk mail I have received. The subjects, senders, addresses
were all different, BUT there was a commons string starting
'IDENT:root@mailroute2'. I check against kluges, then mark as read,
delete from server, and move to a folder in a different account "bad
messages". I like having junk mail off my account, for searches, but
still want to check it for possible mail from aunt Edna, who I didn't
know had my address. All mail I move to bad account gets marked as
read.
f. names in SPAM AB (group 'ignore') --> Bad account, names
A few people who use the same address and/or people I just want to
ignore, I add them to the AB (with ctrl-W), SPAM address book, and
group 'ignore' (since I don't see how to filter on the name of the
address book, I have to do the extra step of a group name.)
Advanced: 'address must be in address book', 'sender', group 'ignore'
g. filter:@, recipient, No --> Bad account, trash
-or- (under Alternate) undisclosed in Recipient.
If there is no "@" in the recipient list (meaning it is blank), or it
is sent to 'undisclosed', (and it didn't hit one of the above
filters), trash it.
h. my specific addresses, other
Some of my address (Jerry123, JerryBerry) might fall into the wrong
hands, so I place the filters AFTER the primary spam filters. I
usually send each specific address to a folder. Some I mark a read
so I only see it when I look in the folders.
i. filter:RE:, subject, Yes --> Inbox
Here begins some filters that attempt to determine 'good' mail, and
copy it to Inbox (since I see no way of leaving it alone in Inbox).
The last filter will take all mail that does not look 'good'
j. filter:undeliverable, subject, Yes --> temp
returned mail box
k. others in AB, fw:|fwd:, subject, No --> inbox
this allows anyone in my AB to appear in the inbox UNLESS they are
forwarding something to me, which I ignore.
l. other to myoldaddress & ",", recipient, No --> unknown sender
I have one address that I have had for 10 years. It gets most of my
junk mail. This filter checks to see if it is the *only* address on
the line (no commas), then retains the message.
m. All recipients in address book --> Inbox, (colored)
I the message is sent only to any other address I use (I put them all
in the AB), I let it pass, but use the colors, so I can see the
'unknown' senders easier.
Advanced: 'address must be in address book', All Recipients.
n. other xxx@mydomain --> Bad account, Inbox
Since I have some domains which forward any and all mail sent to that
domain, this filter removes the names I don't know about.
o. filter:@, sender, Yes --> Bad account, filtered
Anything left! Discard it! This filter is named LAST ON LIST to
remind me not to put any after it.
As you can see, this took a bit of time to set up. But it saves me a
lot of time. I receive 50-100 messages a day, I only am alerted (on the
ticker) to a few, and I have only 45 messages in my Inbox since 9/1/01
(I don't tend to remove them).
I also have some Outgoing filters so that if I send to someone in my AB,
it gets placed in a particular folder, driven by the AB Group.
3) in my Inbox, I have sub-folders respond today, 1todo, issues, etc to
hold specific items. I only COPY messages into my 'respond today'
folder, that way when I'm done responding, I can delete the copy.
Tops on my wish lists is the ability to search filters. Every once in a
while I need to find the filter for a folder. Sometimes that isn't very
easy. Even if there was a way of dumping the filter list to a text
file in order of processing, just for searching purposes, that would be
real useful!
Now that I've used half my day writing this, I have to work twice as
fast the rest of the day!
TGIF & merry Christmas!
--
Jerry
PS. Is there a space after my two dashes above? How can I tell??
Pressing <end> always puts the cursor after the -, like the spaces are
being stripped off.
Using The Bat! v1.53d on Windows 98 4.10 Build 1998
400Mhz P-II, 384meg memory, AT&T@Home connection
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