Blocking and Filtering mail in Outlook Express

To block messages from a sender

You can block messages from a particular sender. When you block a sender, no e-mail or news message from that sender will arrive in your Inbox or in the news messages you read. E-mail from blocked senders goes directly into your Delete folder. (If you need to have messages automatically deleted from the server see Advanced Filtering below).

• From your e-mail Inbox or the list of messages in a newsgroup, select a message from a sender you want to block.
• On the Message menu, click Block Sender.

To manage the blocked senders list

• On the Tools menu, point to Message Rules, and then click Block Senders List.
• To remove a sender or domain from the list, select the name and click Remove.
• To change a sender's name or domain on the list, select the name and click Modify. Make your changes in the dialog box and click OK.
• To add a new sender or domain to the list, click Add. Enter the information in the dialog box and click OK.
• Click OK in the Message Rules dialog box to apply rules that have been added or changed.

Advanced Filtering.

Messages Rules can also be used to filter large volumes of incoming e-mail more efficiently by automatically sorting messages into different folders and also to delete messages automatically from the server.

To Create a Filtering rule

On the Tools menu, point to Message Rules, and then click Mail, and then New.

Select the conditions for your rule by selecting the desired check boxes in the Conditions section. You must select at least one condition, for example ‘Where the From line contains people…’

Select the actions for your rule by selecting the desired check boxes in the Actions section. You must select at least one action, such as ‘Copy it to the Specified Folder…’

One of the available actions is ‘Delete it from Server’. This can be used to block mail from a dubious source from ever reaching one’s computer.

Creating Rules from a message.

You can create a rule from a message by selecting a mail message in the main window and then on the Message menu clicking Create Rule from Message. This helps by automatically filling in the name of the person on the From line; no other information from the message, however, is entered into the rule.