Using Outlook 2003 and 2007, how can I control junk email?

Note: The spam quarantine service analyzes all mail delivered to Indiana University Cyrus/Webmail and Exchange accounts. Any spam messages you receive are quarantined for five days in a Spam (Cyrus/Webmail) or Junk E-mail (IU Exchange) folder in your account. After five days, the spam service deletes these messages automatically. For more, see At IU, what is the spam quarantine service?

Note: To use the client-side Junk E-mail Filter (in addition to the UITS spam filter) with a Microsoft Exchange Server account, you must enable Cached Exchange Mode. See In Outlook 2003 and 2007, what is Cached Exchange Mode, and how do I enable or disable it?

Outlook 2003 and 2007 offer a variety of features that enable you control unwanted email, or spam. For more, see Microsoft Office Online.

On this page:

• Configuring the Junk E-mail Filter
• Reviewing and emptying the Junk E-mail folder
• Safe Senders, Safe Recipients, and Blocked Senders lists

Configuring the Junk E-mail Filter

In Outlook 2003 and 2007, the Junk E-Mail Filter is on by default. To change its settings:

1. From the Outlook Tools menu, select Options.
   
   
2. In the Options dialog box, in the "E-mail" section, click Junk E-mail.
   
   
3. Choose the level of junk email protection you want and click OK.
   
   You can also choose to delete messages instead of moving them to the Junk E-mail folder. To do so, check the box next to Permanently delete suspected junk e-mail instead of moving it to the Junk E-mail folder.

Reviewing and emptying the Junk E-mail folder

Reviewing messages

1. From the Outlook Go menu, select Folder List.
   
   
2. In the Folder List, click the Junk E-mail folder.
   
   
3. In the Junk E-mail folder, right-click any message you don't want marked as junk.
   
   
4. From the resulting contextual menu, select Junk E-mail, and then click Mark as Not Junk. Messages you mark in this way are moved to your Inbox or the folder you were previously in. When you mark individual messages in this manner, you will also be prompted to add the sender to your Safe Senders or Safe Recipients list.

Emptying the folder

In the Folder List, right-click the Junk E-mail folder, and from the resulting contextual menu, click Empty Junk E-mail Folder.

Safe Senders, Safe Recipients, and Blocked Senders lists

Note: If you are using a Microsoft Exchange Server email account, names and addresses in the Global Address List are automatically considered safe.

1. From the Outlook Tools menu, select Options, and click Junk E-mail.
   
   
2. Click the Safe Senders, Safe Recipients, or Blocked Senders tab, and click Add... .
   
   
3. In the Add address or domain dialog box, enter the name or address you want to add. Click OK.
   
   
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each address you want to add.

You can also add your Contacts to your Safe Senders list. To do so, from the Safe Senders tab, check the box next to Also trust e-mail from my Contacts.

You can quickly add an address to any of these lists by right-clicking a message from the address you want to add. In the resulting contextual menu, select Junk E-mail, and then click the appropriate selection:

• Add Sender to Blocked Senders List
  
  
• Add Sender to Safe Senders List
  
  
• Add Sender's Domain (@example.com) to Safe Senders List
  
  
• Add Recipient to Safe Recipients List

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