Outlook Web Access has a few advantages over other email clients for configuring Junk email filtering for Exchange accounts.
For the most part, the detection and filtering of junk email will be handled by the new email gateway before it is ever delivered to the account.
Since very little spam will be delivered to the account, the Junk E-mail filtering function in Outlook Web Access is used primarily to choose where items are delivered that are Spamtagged by the mail gateway for review and to filter any other email that comes into the account. If it is active, messages with Spamtag in the subject will be placed in the Junk E-mail folder. If Junk E-mail filtering is turned off, Spamtagged messages will be delivered to the Inbox.
In addition to determining the delivery location of Spamtagged messages, Junk E-mail filtering within Outlook Web Access may also be used to add email addresses to a Safe Senders list (never goes to Junk E-mail folder) or a Blocked Senders list (always goes to Junk E-mail folder). This will affect only that email delivered to the account. Items discarded by the email gateway will not be affected by this process. There are instructions below for users of Internet Explorer and for other browsers.
If you want to turn off Junk E-mail filtering and have Spamtagged messages delivered to your Inbox, sign into your account using Outlook Web Access (http://owa.ku.edu). Click on Options at the bottom of the Navigation Pane on the left side of the screen. Scroll down to the Privacy and Junk E-mail Prevention section. Un-check the Filter Junk E-mail checkbox. Click Save and Close at the top of the screen to save these changes. You may want to create rules to deal with spam that comes into your Inbox.
If you have questions about this process, please contact the IT Customer Service Center by calling 864-8080 or by sending a message to itcsc@ku.edu.
Open Internet Explorer and go to http://owa.ku.edu. The following screen will appear. Type your KU Online ID and Password in the appropriate boxes and click Log On to start Outlook Web Access.
The following window will appear. This is the main Outlook Web Access screen. In Outlook Web Access Help, there is a section about junk email filtering that you can read by clicking on the Help button (next to Log Off).
On the Help screens, go to the Getting Started section on the left side of the screen and double-click on Security and Privacy. In the resulting list, click on Manage junk e-mail and read the information that appears on the left side of the screen. This will explain how junk email filtering works in Outlook Web Access. When you're done, click the X in the top right corner of the window to close Help and return to the main Outlook Web Access screen.
As instructed in the Help screens, click on Options at the bottom of the Navigation Pane on the left side of the screen.
Scroll down to the Privacy and Junk E-mail Prevention section. This is where you will turn on Junk email filtering and where you will manage lists of Safe Senders and Blocked Senders.
Check the Filter Junk E-mail checkbox and the Block external content in HTML e-mail messages checkbox. Then click on Manage Junk E-mail Lists to access the lists of Safe Senders and Blocked Senders.
The list of Safe Senders is the first one you see. Add an email address or domain to this list to make sure that anything coming from these addresses is never treated as junk email. You can either add users to this list here, or by right-clicking on an email message in your Inbox and choosing Add Sender to Safe Senders List. This is also where you can Edit and Remove people from the list.
There are a couple more choices on this screen that you may want to try. If you never want messages from anyone in your Contacts to be marked as junk email, click the Trust e-mail from your Contacts checkbox.
Another, more restrictive option is the Treat all e-mail as Junk E-mail unless it has come from a member of your Safe Senders or Safe Recipients lists. This means that someone has to be on your Safe Senders list in order to have messages delivered to your Inbox. Messages from anyone else will end up in the Junk E-Mail folder. If you check this box, you will need to check your Junk E-mail folder very frequently. Checking this is not recommended in the KU environment, since important email may come from many unexpected sources.
When you're done on this screen, open the pull-down selection list next to Safe Senders and select Blocked Senders to open the Blocked Senders list.
The Blocked Senders list is where you Add, Edit or Remove addresses that you want always to be treated as junk email. When you're done, click OK to exit the Manage Junk E-mail Lists screens, then click on Inbox to look at your incoming messages.
If you look at your list of Folders on the left side of the screen, you should see a Junk E-mail folder that might not have been there before. One nice feature of Outlook Web Access when accessed using Internet Explorer is the ability to right-click on the Junk E-mail folder and choose Empty Junk E-mail without having to select the messages one screen at a time and delete them.
Another nice feature when using Outlook Web Access through Internet Explorer is the ability to right-click on a message and choose Add Sender to the Safe Senders List or Add Sender to Blocked Senders List. This allows you to quickly add senders to either of the lists without opening the Options screens.
When you're done turning on Junk Email Filtering (essential) and adding users to your Safe Senders or Blocked Senders lists (optional), you can log off of Outlook Web Access and manage the Junk E-mail folder using any email client. You will never need to go into Outlook Web Access again unless you want to modify the Safe Senders or Blocked Senders lists.
Activating junk email filtering in a browser other than Internet Explorer is done slightly differently.
Open any web browser and go to http://owa.ku.edu. The following screen will appear. Type your KU Online ID and Password in the appropriate boxes and click Log On to start Outlook Web Access.
The following window will appear. This is the main Outlook Web Access screen. In Outlook Web Access Help, there is a section about junk email filtering that you can read by clicking on the Help button in the upper right corner of the Outlook Web Access screen.
On the Help screens, click on the Security and Privacy section on the left side of the screen. In the resulting list, click on Manage junk e-mail and read the information that appears on the left side of the screen. This will explain how junk email filtering works in Outlook Web Access. When you're done, click the X in the top right corner of the window to close Help and return to the main Outlook Web Access screen.
As instructed in the Help screens, click on the Options button in the Navigation Pane on the left side of the screen.
Scroll down to the Privacy and Junk E-mail Prevention section. Check the Filter Junk E-mail checkbox and the Block external content in HTML e-mail messages checkbox.
After Filter Junk E-mail is checked, click on Manage Junk E-mail Lists to access the lists of Safe Senders and Blocked Senders. Using these lists is optional.
The list of Safe Senders is the first one you see. Add an email address or domain to this list to make sure that anything coming from these addresses is never treated as junk email. You can either add users to this list here, or by right-clicking on an email message in your Inbox and choosing Add Sender to Safe Senders List. This is also where you can Edit and Remove people from the list.
There are a couple more choices on this screen that you may want to try. If you never want messages from anyone in your Contacts to be marked as junk email, click the Trust e-mail from your Contacts checkbox.
Another, more restrictive option is the Treat all e-mail as Junk E-mail unless it has come from a member of your Safe Senders or Safe Recipients lists. This means that someone has to be on your Safe Senders list in order to have messages delivered to your Inbox. Messages from anyone else will end up in the Junk E-Mail folder. If you check this box, you will need to check your Junk E-mail folder very frequently. Checking this is not recommended in the KU environment, since important email may come from many unexpected sources.
When you're done with the Safe Senders list, scroll down to the Blocked Senders list.
The Blocked Senders list is where you Add, Edit or Remove addresses that you want always to be treated as junk email. When you're done, scroll up to the top of the screen, above the Safe Senders list and click Save and Close to save your changes.
Click on Junk E-mail to look at your new Junk E-mail folder. This is where messages identified as junk by the Intelligent Messaging Filtering process will be delivered. To delete all of the messages in the Junk E-mail folder at once, click on the little recycling bin in the toolbar and answer OK when asked Are you sure you want to permanently delete all the messages and subfolders in the Junk E-mail folder?
When you're done turning on Junk Email Filtering (essential) and adding users to your Safe Senders or Blocked Senders lists (optional), you can log off of Outlook Web Access and manage the Junk E-mail folder using any email client. You will never need to go into Outlook Web Access again unless you want to modify the Safe Senders or Blocked Senders lists.
