Content Filtering

Content filtering is a great way for users to perform actions on incoming emails that meet specific criteria. For example, it's possible to use content filters to delete messages with certain attachments (e.g., attachments with a .exe extension), forward messages from a specific email address to another account, move messages to a certain folder or even alter the subject of a message by appending something to it prior to delivery. While content filters are most commonly used to organise email by moving messages to specific folders, they're extremely flexible and allow you to filter messages the way you want to.

Content Filtering is available under Settings in the navigation menu, and is used to see any existing filters as well as to manage filters.

Once the Content Filtering section is accessed, any existing filters will be listed. Content filters run in order, from top to bottom. That means that if a message could be managed by more than one, it will be handled by the FIRST content filter encountered. So, if you're seeing weird or unexpected behavior for messages, you may want to re-organise the order of your filters. You do this by moving them by clicking the Up and Down arrows next to the content filter names, moving them up and down in the "order of operations."

To delete a content filter, simply select it from the list and click the Delete button.

Create/Edit Content Filters

When adding a content filter, the following cards will be available, each with options pertaining to the conditions you want to use for the rules, and the actions that are taken based on the conditions you set:

General

Name - The friendly name chosen to describe the rule.
Match Type - Because multiple conditions can be configured per content filter, Mweb Webmail provides the option to require ALL conditions to be met or ANY of the conditions to be met in order for the rule's action to be triggered. Select the appropriate option from this list.
Enable wildcards in search strings (* and ?) - Wildcards can be used to replace a specific word, phrase or character, where a question mark (?) represents a single character and an asterisk (*) represents any text. For example, if you wanted to block sales01@domain.com, sales02@domain.com and sales03@domain.com, you could enter sales??@domain.com. If you wanted to block all sales addresses, you could enter sales* instead.

Conditions

Click on New Condition to specify the criteria that triggers the rule's action(s). For each condition selected, you will be able to add specifications and enter any necessary details, as required. For example, if you choose to filter on 'From Address', you can enter one or multiple email addresses. If you choose to filter on 'Contains specific words or phrases', you can enter the specific text and choose to look for that text in an email's subject, message body, header, etc.

On many conditions, you also have the ability to reverse the logic of the criteria item by changing the Comparison selection. For example, imagine you only want to accept email from specific domains. You would choose the 'From specific domains' condition and set the Comparison field to 'Does Not Match". Any messages sent from domains that do not match what you've entered in the text box can be deleted.

The following conditions are available, separated by Condition Type:

From Address

This condition allows you to select whether you want to run the filter against specific addresses or domains, or trusted senders. Then, you set the comparison type: whether the field matches or doesn't match the condition type. Then, you enter in the addresses or domains you want to use for the filter. The fields to use include:

From specific addresses
From specific domains
From trusted senders

Contains Specific Words or Phrases

This condition allows you to look in various areas for words or phrases, then take action when those words or phrases are found. You can set the comparison type, whether the words/phrases are found or not, and then the words or phrases you want to use for the filter. You can further refine a phrase search by enclosing the phrase in quotation marks. (The same can be done to individual words.) The fields to use include:

Subject
Body
Subject or Body
From Address
To Address
Email header
Anywhere in message

To Address

This condition allows you to look in the To: or Cc: fields for specific addresses or domains. You can set the comparison type, whether the address or domain are included in the selected field, then the addresses or domains you want to use for the filter. The fields to use include:

To specific addresses
To specific domains
Only to me
My address in to field
My address not in to field
My address in to or cc field

Attachments

This condition allows you to filter emails based on whether or not messages have attachments, or even by specific filename, extension type, or file size. The fields to use include:

Has any attachment
Specific filenames
Specific extensions
Over specific size

Other

This condition allows you to filter based on a number of different criteria, including flag type, message size, spam probability, etc. The fields to use include:

Flagged as high priority
Flagged as normal priority
Flagged as low priority
Message automated (no return address)
Sender authenticated
Message over size
Message under size
Received in date range
Sent through a specific server (by IP address)
Spam probability

Actions

Click on New Action to specify what should occur when an email triggers the content filter condition(s).

The following actions are available:own list.

The following actions are available:

Delete message - Deletes the message so that it will never arrive at your Inbox.

Bounce message - Sends a message back to the sender of the email saying that the message was bounced, and not delivered.

Move message - Delivers the incoming message to the folder you choose from the dropdown list.

Add Header - Adds an email header within the incoming message, which can be useful when performing additional filtering through Outlook or other email clients. Headers should be formatted like "X-someheadername: value"
Add Text to Subject - Appends a prefix to the subject line of the email. This is useful for categorising emails as the subject line will be altered to include the text you specify in the text box.
Forward message - Forwards a copy of the message to another email address and leaves you a copy of the message as well.
Mark as read - Automatically marks the messages as read, which means it will not show up in your inbox, or any other folder, as unread.
Set Priority - Automatically elevates the priority of a message. For example, if you create a content filter that flags a message from a VIP, you may want to set the priority of the message to High as well to denote its importance.
Flag message - Automatically flags the message for follow-up. This makes it easy to find messages that have been acted upon by your content filter.

Manually Running Filters

Users can manually trigger one or more of their content filters to run against a specified email folder. The ability to run content filters on-demand is a convenient way to clean up the mailbox, as actions can be performed on EXISTING emails rather than incoming email only.

It's possible to run a content filter on a specific folder simply by selecting the folder name and then selecting Run Content Filter from the Actions menu icon that appears at the bottom of the Mweb Webmail interface. (It's to the right of the folders icon.) Once selected, a modal opens and you are able to select the content filter to run from the dropdown, then clicking OK. The filtering process may take some time to complete, but you may continue to work while the process runs in the background. When the filtering process has completed, an Action Succeeded toast notification will appear within the Email section.