Order of Pegasus Mail‘s filtering tools (for incoming messages)

Thomas_N_

posted May 31 '07 at 11:42 am

Order of Pegasus Mail‘s filtering features (for incoming messages)

Pegasus Mail has several features to have your messages sorted and filtered automatically. At the time of writing, these filtering capabilities are:

POP3-filtering rules, also known as server-sided filtering rules;
Spamhalter, an anti-spam tool based on Bayesian spam filtering;
content control (with black- and whitelists, if needed);
New Mail filtering rules (as on-open rules and on-close rules);
general filtering rules (as on-open rules and on-close rules);
copy-self filtering rules.

If you are not familiar with these tools, you may want to read Pegasus Mail‘s help file to find out more about them.
You do not have to enable all of them - just use those tools you think they meet your needs.

The following text describes which of these filtering tools are applied when you are receiving new mail and in which order they are handled. (Note that the general filtering rules and the copy-self filtering rules are not covered here - they simply have a different goal.)

In a nutshell, the order is:

POP3-filtering rules
Global Whitelist
Spamhalter
content control definitions and their lists
4.1 the whitelist for a content control definition
4.2 the blacklist for a content control definition
4.3 the content control rules for a content control definition
New Mail filtering rules

5.1

5.2

Just read on if you want to have a more comprehensive description:

POP3-filtering rules (also known as "server-sided filtering") -> these filtering rules are applied to mail in the POP3 mailbox before it is downloaded to your computer
Global Whitelist -> any message sent from an address listed in the Global whitelist will be checked neither by Spamhalter nor by content control; such a message will be applied to your New Mail filtering rules
Spamhalter -> a message classified as Spam will be moved to your Spamhalter folder
content control definitions and their lists
4.1 the whitelist for a content control definition -> any content control definition can have a whitelist of its own: a message sent by an address listed in that whitelist will not be checked by the respective content control definition
4.2 the blacklist for a content control definition -> any content control definition can have a blacklist of its own: a message sent by an address listed in that blacklist will automatically be applied the action of the respective content control definition to
4.3 the content control rules for a content control definition -> the content control rules of that content control definition will be applied to the message, and if the content control weight has been reached, the content control action defined for that content control definition will be executed (Note that each Pegasus Mail user can have as many content control definitions as needed.)
New Mail filtering rules -> these filtering rules are applied to the messages that are currently in your New Mail folder
5.1 on-open New Mail filtering rules -> these rules are automatically applied to the New Mail folder:
(a) when you open a New Mail folder window of its own (which you may want to do especially if you use the list mode), or
(b) when you switch to the New Mail folder while you are in the preview pane (given that the option "Apply filtering rules when previewing folders" is checked [to be found at "Tools" | "Options" | "Incoming mail" | "Preview mode settings"), and
(c) to any new mail that arrives in the New Mail folder while it is open
Note: the on-open New Mail filtering rules are applied only to those new messages that are unread (or have been re-marked as unread)
5.2 on-close New Mail filtering rules -> these rules are applied automatically when you close the New Mail folder window (i.e. when you use the preview pane and you switch from any folder to the New Mail folder, the on-close New Mail filtering rules are not applied; they are only if you close a New Mail folder window of its own). Unlike the on-open New Mail filtering rules, the on-close New Mail filtering rules apply to both read and unread messages.

Some hints:

If a message is deleted or moved to another folder by any of the steps above, the further steps will not be applied.
A message whose sender is on your Global Whitelist will be handed over to the New Mail filtering rules (i.e. from step 2 to step 5).
As far as spam filtering is concerned, note that the first local anti-spam line is Spamhalter (if enabled), which is really easy to handle as far as user maintenance is concerned. Spamhalter does need some training (as any Bayesian spam filtering tool does); however, this is easier than keeping Content Control rules up-to-date (whereas content control allows you to use very specific tests to detect messages).

Order of Pegasus Mail‘s filtering features (for incoming messages) Pegasus Mail has several features to have your messages sorted and filtered automatically. At the time of writing, these filtering capabilities are: <UL><LI>POP3-filtering rules, also known as server-sided filtering rules;</LI><LI>Spamhalter, an anti-spam tool based on <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_spam_filtering" target="_blank" mce_href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_spam_filtering">Bayesian spam filtering</A>;</LI><LI>content control (with black- and whitelists, if needed);</LI><LI>New Mail filtering rules (as on-open rules and on-close rules);</LI><LI>general filtering rules (as on-open rules and on-close rules);</LI><LI>copy-self filtering rules.</LI></UL>If you are not familiar with these tools, you may want to read Pegasus Mail‘s help file to find out more about them. You do not have to enable all of them - just use those tools you think they meet your needs.   The following text describes which of these filtering tools are applied when you are receiving new mail and in which order they are handled. (Note that the general filtering rules and the copy-self filtering rules are not covered here - they simply have a different goal.) In a nutshell, the order is: <OL><LI>POP3-filtering rules</LI><LI>Global Whitelist</LI><LI>Spamhalter</LI><LI>content control definitions and their lists 4.1 the whitelist for a content control definition 4.2 the blacklist for a content control definition 4.3 the content control rules for a content control definition</LI><LI>New Mail filtering rules</LI> 5.1 on-open New Mail filtering rules 5.2 on-close New Mail filtering rules </OL> Just read on if you want to have a more comprehensive description: <OL><LI>POP3-filtering rules (also known as "server-sided filtering") -&gt; these filtering rules are applied to mail in the POP3 mailbox before it is downloaded to your computer</LI><LI>Global Whitelist -&gt; any message sent from an address listed in the Global whitelist will be checked neither by Spamhalter nor by content control; such a message will be applied to your New Mail filtering rules</LI><LI>Spamhalter -&gt; a message classified as Spam will be moved to your Spamhalter folder</LI><LI>content control definitions and their lists 4.1 the whitelist for a content control definition -&gt; any content control definition can have a whitelist of its own: a message sent by an address listed in that whitelist will not be checked by the respective content control definition 4.2 the blacklist for a content control definition -&gt; any content control definition can have a blacklist of its own: a message sent by an address listed in that blacklist will automatically be applied the action of the respective content control definition to 4.3 the content control rules for a content control definition -&gt; the content control rules of that content control definition will be applied to the message, and if the content control weight has been reached, the content control action defined for that content control definition will be executed (Note that each Pegasus Mail user can have as many content control definitions as needed.)</LI><LI>New Mail filtering rules -&gt; these filtering rules are applied to the messages that are currently in your New Mail folder 5.1 on-open New Mail filtering rules -&gt; these rules are automatically applied to the New Mail folder: (a) when you open a New Mail folder window of its own (which you may want to do especially if you use the list mode), or (b) when you switch to the New Mail folder while you are in the preview pane (given that the option "Apply filtering rules when previewing folders" is checked [to be found at "Tools" | "Options" | "Incoming mail" | "Preview mode settings"), and (c) to any new mail that arrives in the New Mail folder while it is open Note: the on-open New Mail filtering rules are applied only to those new messages that are unread (or have been re-marked as unread) 5.2 on-close New Mail filtering rules -&gt; these rules are applied automatically when you close the New Mail folder window (i.e. when you use the preview pane and you switch from any folder to the New Mail folder, the on-close New Mail filtering rules are not applied; they are only if you close a New Mail folder window of its own). Unlike the on-open New Mail filtering rules, the on-close New Mail filtering rules apply to both read and unread messages.</LI></OL>   Some hints: <UL><LI>If a message is deleted or moved to another folder by any of the steps above, the further steps will not be applied.</LI><LI>A message whose sender is on your Global Whitelist will be handed over to the New Mail filtering rules (i.e. from step 2 to step 5).</LI><LI>As far as spam filtering is concerned, note that the first local anti-spam line is Spamhalter (if enabled), which is really easy to handle as far as user maintenance is concerned. Spamhalter does need some training (as any Bayesian spam filtering tool does); however, this is easier than keeping Content Control rules up-to-date (whereas content control allows you to use very specific tests to detect messages).</LI></UL>

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