Filtering Email Using USC Web Mail

USC Web Mail has a built-in feature that allows you to create filters for incoming email messages. Follow the steps below to create and manage email filters.

1. Click the Options tab.
2. Click the Mail Filters link on the left panel. An Options - Mail Filters panel will appear:

Filter Options

The following describes the purposes of each of the buttons you see in your window:

• New... - Adds a new email filter
• Edit... - Edits or changes an existing email filter
• Delete - Deletes an existing filter

The set of filters you design will be executed in order from top to bottom. If you have an incoming message that is a positive match for more than one of the filters you have in your set, only the first matching filter's action will be executed.

Creating New Email Filters

To create a new filter, click the Add... button.

Enter a name for the new filter in the Filter Name text field. The name of the new filter must be different from any previously created filters.

To enable the filter, select Enabled in the Status dropdown menu. Filters that are left Disabled will not be applied to incoming messages.

Matching Incoming Email Messages

Select the scope of the filter for incoming messages. Filters can match either all messages, or messages that satisfy certain specified criteria:

• Sender - matches against text in the From: header
• Recipient - matches against text in the To:, Cc:, or Bcc: headers
• Subject - matches against text in the Subject: header
• Size - matches messages that are less than or greater in size than the specified limit (in kilobytes). Found in the Advanced section.

The type of match must also be specified:

• Contains - matches if the text can be found anywhere in the header
• Does not contain - matches if the text is not found anywhere in the header
• Is - matches if the text matches the header exactly
• Is not - matches if the text does not match the header exactly
• Begins with - matches if the text is found at the start of the header
• Ends with - matches if the text is found at the end of the header
• Matches - matches if the text is found in header. This is a literal match that does not apply wildcard substitution.

The filter can also match any or all of the criteria for multiple headers by selecting the appropriate term from the Match _______ of the following conditions dropdown menu.

Wildcards and Character Limitations

USC Web Mail will only filter strings consisting exclusively of regular characters, numbers and symbols. It has difficulties reading special characters within filters; for example, characters that might be common in other languages. Search strings are not case-sensitive.

When entering text to match those in header fields, the filter will only operate on messages that contain exact matches. To allow for variations, wild card characters may be used:

• * (asterisk) - substitutes for multiple characters
• ? (question mark) - substitutes for a single character

To use an asterisk or a question mark in a string for a filter, it is necessary to designate it as a part of the string by typing a backslash (\) in front of the wildcard character (eg., \*, \?). Text should also not include double quotation marks (") as this can cause the email system to misread the supplied filter information and cause the filters to be unaccessible to the user.

Below are some examples of strings, and what they will match from the headers of email messages:

Examples of matches

ttrojan

ttrojan

ttrojan*

ttrojan@usc.edu, ttrojan234@spam.com

ttrojan?

ttrojan1, ttrojan9

ttrojan\*

ttrojan*

Setting Filter Actions

Filters can automatically file or move matching messages from the Inbox to another folder, forward a message to another email address, or discard the message.

To move a message to another folder automatically:

1. Click the checkbox labled File message to folder.
2. Select the folder to file the message to from the dropdown menu on the right side.
3. A copy of the message can be left in the Inbox by marking the Keep a copy in Inbox checkbox.

To forward a message to another email address:

1. Click the checkbox labled Forward to email address.
2. Enter the forwarding email address in the textbox on the right side; only one email address can be specified in this field.
3. A copy of the message can be left in the Inbox by marking the Keep a copy in Inbox checkbox.

To discard the message, click the Discard message checkbox.

Save the email filter by clicking the Save button on the bottom right side of the New Mail Filter panel.

Editing Email Filters

To edit an email filter, highlight the filter name to edit and click the Edit... button. Once necessary changes have been made to the filter, click the Save button in the bottom right side of the Edit Mail Filter panel to save the changes.

Deleting Email Filters

To delete an email filter, highlight the filter name to delete and click the Delete button. You will be prompted whether you want to delete the selected email filter. Click OK to delete the filter or Cancel to back out.

Problems Managing Email Filters

If you are unable to access your filters and the email system says that you must contact your administrator, please contact the Customer Support Center at (213) 740-5555. A consultant will be able to examine your current filters and remove invalid filter entries.