Outlook 2003 junk mail filter problems.

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I'm hoping to be able to make the new junk mail feature that is included in outlook work. I'd rather not use a plugin program if at all possible

Himerus,

I am having exactly the same experience with the junk filter. Did you ever get a satisfactory solution? Below is text I posted to several outlook forums on microsoft.com - but still no solution from them. What did you do to get it to work?
_________________________
I have Outlook check the mail on several accounts and then I have rules set up to move the mail from each account into a separate folder. If I turn off the rules that move the mail to the folders, the junk filter picks up most spam and moves it to the junk email folder. However, if I use the rules then the junk filter doesn't work at all (the messages are moved to the folder that the rule specifies even if it is junk). Is it possible that when Outlook uses rules to move mail around that the rule "kicks in" before the junk filter and when outlook follows the rule and moves the email to the specified folder it then no longer checks to see if it thinks the email is spam? If so, how to I make Outlook still screen for spam even if it's moving the email because of a rule?
_________________________

Bruce Hamilton

There is a New Junk Mail Patch on MS Office Update page!

I tend to use a combination of Spam Assassin at the server level, the default Outlook 2003 junk mail filters to catch anything that Spam Assassin may miss (which it has done, and Outlook has been superb at picking it up and sticking it in the Junk Folder) and a series of own rules to catch anything else that I can think off.

Regards,

Martyn

I've tried the "Safe sender list only" option.
It works great, except that it handles replies to mails I send other people as spam as well.
Has anyone seen a method of accepting replies to sent mail?

Go to www.officeupdate.com and check for updates. Theres an update for the spam filter, and with the update it works well.

I found this thread because I am also having the same problem. I agree that I think that the rules are superceding the moving of the email to the junk email folder. Downloading the latest Outlook 2003 updates did not help.

Mitch

I've got the same problem here to...

I've got 4 pop account's, one goes directly to the normal mail box.
The others go in to another folder by means of a set of rules I created..

The first account goes through the junk filter.. but the other three just go directly into the folders I created.. and I can't find any options to activate the junk filter on these folders..

Hope someone has got the answer for me/us..

YES! I have the same problem! Some of the above replies, while are good attempts, do not seem to address the real problem!

Has anyone found a solution! It seems like when you create custom rules, they take precedence over the junk-email filter!

I have the exact same issue; where I created rules to move messages to folders, I get SPAM, when I turn the rules off, it catches the spam!

This is a really serious and obvious issue, while MS finally integrated a cool and somewhat complex filter, it seem REALLY dumb that they overlooked this and did not provid (what is trivial) an option to change the order!

:evil:

^Kick..

I've tried the new service packs (1a I believe) and Junkmail updates from Microsoft but it still doesn't work..

Me too.....

I'm having exactly the same problem, can anybody provide a solution please?

I have several pop accounts, and I want messages delivered to different Inboxes for each account. Outlook created just one MAIN Inbox for all accounts (another nuisance), and the rest of the Inboxes I had to create them manualy (one for every PST File). So I created custom rules to deliver messages to different Inboxes. Sadly, this rules seem to precede the Junk Mail Filters, and now all the Spam is being delivered everywhere.

I really think this is a very basic error and cannot understand how Microsoft didn't see it on time.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Claus

HI mcclausky, welcome to TechTalk :)

This being your first post I'm sure that you aren't aware of our posting guidelines, but we do ask that members not tag their questions on to a thread previously started by another member. Answering multiple members' problems in a single thread can quickly get quite confusing.

Please post this question in its own thread.

Thanks,

-DMR

I think the junk mail filter on Outlook 2003 is bogus. It puts every sinble email I recieve into the junk folder, even after I specify safe senders and safe recipients, and even after I have selected the least aggressive option for the filter.

Several things. Firstly - there have been a number of updates to the Junk Mail filter on the Microsoft Office downloads site over the past few months - have you been there and upgraded? Secondly, do you have any rules that may be overriding the junk filter? The junk filter alone is pretty good and is catching a lot of stuff, but I find that it needs Spam Assassin on the server side (plus a rule to move anything marked as spam to the Junk folder or alternatively drop it at the server side) or something like SafetyBar from www.cloudmark.com (or alternatively Inboxer from http://www.inboxer.com) to get the most effectiveness.

Outlook's Junk Filter is not a miracle worker :)

Regards,

Martyn

I'm having the same trouble and I've been looking for a solution for a month now. I've tried everything.

There is a BUG in the program. 1000's of people all over the country are posting on boards all over the place with the same issue.

On the Microsoft Outlook forum the MSFT people won't even address the issues. They can't fix it (HotFix) and they don't care because the next Ver of Outlook will use a different type of filter.

One again MSFT give it to it's customers in "the end".

Thanks Microsoft

Several things. Firstly - there have been a number of updates to the Junk Mail filter on the Microsoft Office downloads site over the past few months - have you been there and upgraded? Secondly, do you have any rules that may be overriding the junk filter? The junk filter alone is pretty good and is catching a lot of stuff, but I find that it needs Spam Assassin on the server side (plus a rule to move anything marked as spam to the Junk folder or alternatively drop it at the server side) or something like SafetyBar from www.cloudmark.com (or alternatively Inboxer from http://www.inboxer.com) to get the most effectiveness.

Outlook's Junk Filter is not a miracle worker :)

Regards,

Martyn

I had the same problem - Outlook 2003 junk mail filter being completely ignored and everything ending up in my inbox. I tried quite a few things, including setting up a new profile, and installing a plug-in (OutlookSpy) that was supposed to be able to delete the invisible junk mail rule script so that it would rebuild itself. But no luck. In the end I simply used the Help>Detect and Repair function and that fixed it! Two days later I had the same problem and went through the same procedure and fixed it again. I suspect an email containing a script that somehow disables the filter - even though I am running the latest and greatest virus etc. etc. protection.

The Outlook junk filter has worked flawlessly for me -- until yesterday. Now it blocks nothing. Although I've set it to block all but five top-level domains, 100+ domains, and several specific addresses, it suddenly stopped blocking all of them, and I'm flooded with junk that's never passed through before. I haven't changed any settings, installed any updates, or added any software in the last few days -- nothing has changed, except that Outlook stopped blocking. Anyone have a fix for this?

The Outlook junk filter has worked flawlessly for me -- until yesterday. Now it blocks nothing. Although I've set it to block all but five top-level domains, 100+ domains, and several specific addresses, it suddenly stopped blocking all of them, and I'm flooded with junk that's never passed through before. I haven't changed any settings, installed any updates, or added any software in the last few days -- nothing has changed, except that Outlook stopped blocking. Anyone have a fix for this?

Like yourself, my Outlook 2003 junk email filter just suddenly stopped working. Mine stopped about a week ago. I did not install any upgrades or other significant events at the time. I have scoured (IOW ... Googled) tirelessly and have seen a very large amount of blogs, etc. of others having this very same problem, yet not one known issue or fix. The one fix that MS put out a few years ago does not apply per the description on their hotfix. I have tried most of the various theories and/or suggestions I have seen but not a one has corrected this. I have removed all from my Safe Sender list, no change. I have disabled my rules, no change. I have used the Help:Detect and Repair pull down, no change. The only thing I can think of that I have not attempted is to uninstall Outlook 2003 and reinstall. I would rather not go to that extreme until I feel there is no other fix to attempt.

I use Outlook 2003 to connect to one POP3 server to access my email. Prior to this current problem, I was very happy with the performance of the junk email filter. If anyone has any knowledge that I have not been able to find I would sure appreciate the information.

There are actually a few junk mail add-ons that you can purchase, download, etc. I just keep multiple e-mail addresses. Outlook is really customizable. Outlook Track-It is a good plugin for followup email reminders, then there's xobni and other programs. If you have a problem, there seems to be a way to solve it via an add-on or whatnot.

The junk email filter does not work. So why use Outlook 203, except for those who must. Is there any way to re-set Outlook to filter email correctly?