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Thunderbird SPAM Mail Filter

Resources > Instructions > Thunderbird - SPAM Filter

Thunderbird SPAM (JUNK) Mail Filter

One of the best features about Thunderbird is the spam (junk) mail filter.

Thunderbird has a built-in filter which can be adjusted and tuned in for your needs. You may need to spend a week or two teaching it what is spam and what's not, but it will be worth it.

The first you need to do is localize the settings panel for the spam filter.

Go to Tools > Junk Mail Controls

*you may get this window:(if this is the first time accessing Junk Mail Controls). Just click OK.
In the following screenshot select which account these settings will apply for, as some accounts require their own filter settings.

In the screenshot above you see the junk controls are turned off by default, so the first thing you want to do is check the boxes under Handling that say:
- Move incoming messages determined to be junk mail to:
- When I manually mark messages as Junk:

Adaptive Filtering

Thunderbird's primary method of dealing with junk mail is an adaptive filter. Thunderbird's adaptive filter actually learns how it should classify e-mail by learning from your habits.

Click on Tools > Options > Junk Mail Controls
Click the Adaptive Filter tab
Enable the Junk Mail adaptive filter (check it, if it is unchecked)

If you consistently mark a certain type of e-mail as junk, Thunderbird will learn that that type of e-mail should be marked as spam in the future. However, e-mails that you wish to receive will not be marked as spam, because Thunderbird's filter is entirely based on your actions.

The junk button

Thunderbird uses something called "Bayesian filtering", in other words you need to teach the mail client what is spam, and what isn't.

highlight a mail message and press the "junk button" , or
right click on a message and mark it as "Junk" or "Not junk".

By checking or marking your messages you're teaching Thunderbird which emails are spam. After a few weeks the client should be able to remove most of the spam that dumps into your inbox.

Block Loading of Images

Another trick for preventing spam is to disable remote images from loading. This ensures spammers cannot embed secret images in their e-mail and track you when you open them.

Go to Tool > Options > Privacy and enable Block Loading of remote images - this will stop spammers from verifying your email address with images, and reduce the amount of spam you'll receive.