The global spam filter
Spam mails are an incredibly annoying part of our daily lives. Unfortunately, the problem is very hard to fix, but you can limit the number of spam mails.
The administration interface konsoleH has a user-friendly spam filter that allows you to actively fight spam in your mailboxes.
konsoleH's spam filter is an intelligent program that analyzes emails using several dynamic and constantly updated filtering rules. It is very accurate at labeling messages as spam or as a solicited email (sometimes also called "ham", "good mail", or "non-spam"). If the program detects spam, it forwards the spam to a special folder (the spam bucket). Your normal email inbox will remain (almost) spam free.
Configuring your spam filters
You can configure your spam filters using three settings:
- Spam filter status: Here you can turn the spam filter on or off.
- Spam filter strength: You can set how "strong" the spam filter should be. The higher the number, the less spam it will detect. The lower the number, the greater is the chance that your "ham" or "good mail" will be incorrectly labeled as spam. The default is 5.
- When to delete spam: The program will automatically delete spam after a specific period time. You can change how long this period is. If you receive a lot of mail, it is wise to set it to a shorter period of time, like 14 days.
Click on "Save" to save the settings for your spam filter.
The settings you make here will affect the global spam filter for your domain. You can overwrite these for each specific mailbox.
Please note: A very aggressive spam filter (1-3) can increase the number of emails incorrectly labeled as spam. We recommend that you use the strength to 5 and regularly check the inbox and the spambucket to see if you need to change the setting to make it stronger or weaker.
The spambucket folder
If you have activated the spam filter, then the program will send all emails that it defines as spam into a special folder. This folder is called "spambucket". Once the mail is in this folder, you can decide what you want to do with it. Legal regulations prevent us at Hetzner Online from simply deleting the messages.
Please note: For technical reasons, you can only access this folder via webmail and IMAP, but not via POP3.
Global blacklist
Using this mail filter tool, you can block (blacklist) certain email addresses.
If you receive an email from an address that is on your blacklist, the program will delete it immediately.
The settings you make here will affect the global spam filter for your domain. You can overwrite or add to these for each specific mailbox.
You can easily edit the list as a text field. Use one line for each email address you want to block. It is also possible to block emails from specific domains. Enter "*@domain.de" as the address. This will block all emails of the domain "domain.de". If you are satisfied with list you have created, click on "Save" to activate the blacklist. A confirmation message will appear on konsoleH. To delete an address from the list, simply remove it from the text field and save the list again.
Blocking emails with specific attachments
In addition to filtering emails based on the sender's address, you can also block emails with specific and potentially dangerous attachments. You can choose, for example, whether you want to block executable files such as (.exe, .bat, .com) or Office documents (such as .doc, .xls, .pdf). You can find a complete list of file extensions here:
- Executable file extensions: exe, pif, scr, com, gadget, msi, msp, hta, cpl, msc, bat, js, jse, vb, vbe, vbs, ws, wsf, wsc, wsh, lnk, ps1, ps1xml, ps2, ps2xml, psc1, psc2
- Office documents: doc, docm, xls, xlsb, xlsm, ppt, pptm, odp, ods, odt
- Encrypted archives: zip, rar, 7z (if encrypted)
Note: We may add more extensions to this list at any time if it becomes necessary. Office documents that cannot contain Macros (docx, xlsx, pptx) are not filtered.
Global whitelist
The program will not direct messages from senders on this list through the automatic spam filter. Instead, the emails from these senders will go directly to your inbox. You can also edit this list directly as a text field. Use one line for each email address you want to block. It is also possible to whitelist emails from specific domains. Enter "*@domain.de" as the address. This will send all emails from the domain "domain.de" directly to your inbox. If you are satisfied with list you have created, click on "Save" to activate the whitelist. A confirmation message will appear on konsoleH. To delete an address from the list, simply remove it from the text field and save the list again.
Messages that come from your whitelisted senders will go directly to all the mailboxes for your domain. But you can set the program to send them to specific individual mailboxes.
If an address appears in both your blacklist and your whitelist, the whitelist will have a higher priority, so the program will send these mails to your whitelist.