Tech Corner

Tech Corner: Getting the most from your e-mail filters and groups

BY ELIZABETH STEPHENS
Special to the Rice News

E-mail is an invaluable tool for keeping pace in today’s hectic world, and computer users can maximize the efficiency of their
e-mail software with several handy tools: “groups” and “filters.”

Groups are a function in the e-mail address book that allows users to send one message to a set group of recipients, such as “our department” or “ski club members,” instead of addressing identical messages individually to each of the recipients. Once a user creates a group, simply typing the name of that group into the address field will send that message to each member.

Filtering allows for effective management of e-mail folders. Filters, also called “rules” or “filtering rules” in some programs, can be set up to recognize a variety of criteria, including certain text in an e-mail subject line or a specific sender. Messages that meet the criteria will then be automatically managed in the manner dictated by the filter. For instance, messages from a newsletter could be automatically routed to a “newsletter” folder for reading at a later time, and e-mails from crazy cousin Larry could be automatically deleted.

Senior PC systems administrator Mike Lucas said filtering is a way to keep e-mail messages sorted and organized. Rice helps to make the filtering process even easier by labeling all mailing-list messages with a tag specific to that group. For example, all-departments e-mails are tagged with “[ALLDEPTS]” in the subject line. A filter can be created to manage e-mail that contains that specific text in the subject line.

Rice’s current anti-spam tool, Spam Assassin, tags many spam messages by placing the ***SPAM*** tag in the subject line. These messages can be filtered to a spam folder so the recipient can review the contents of the folder before deleting them to be sure the messages are indeed spam. A new spam filtering tool, DSPAM, is currently in the test phase and should be rolled out to the entire campus in the next month.

“Most current e-mail clients already have built-in junk-mail filters,” Lucas said. “In addition to identifying obvious spam, the junk-mail filter can be trained to recognize e-mail that the reader considers junk, and the filter can direct those types of messages to a spam or junk folder.”

For more information on e-mail tools and options, visit <www.rice.edu/it/accounts/email.html> or call the Help Desk at 713-348-HELP (4357).

—Elizabeth Stephens is a Will Rice senior.